Results 1,021-1,040 of 1,279 for speaker:Michael Ahern

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: Section 6 provides that an employee is a "comparable permanent employee in relation to a fixed-term employee" if the permanent employee and the fixed-term employee are employed by the same or associated employer and if one of three conditions is met. If the previous circumstance does not apply, including in a case where the fixed-term employee is the sole employee of the employer, the...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: I thank Senator O'Toole for bringing to my attention this amendment, which seeks to avoid doubt. It is in line with section 9(5) of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001. This amendment is acceptable as it is considered appropriate that a comparator for a fixed-term employee should be of the same or opposite sex to such an employee. It also provides for consistency between...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: I thank Senator McDowell for bringing this amendment to my attention. Its purpose is to provide that the Labour Court will, on appeal from a rights commissioner's decision, have similar powers, where an employer fails to provide a written statement or where such a statement is evasive or equivocal, to draw any inference it considers just and equitable in the circumstances and to determine...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: The wording of sections 8 and 9 is from a framework agreement at EU level. In section 9 there is a reference to: the objective conditions determining the contract whether it is– (a) arriving at a specific date, (b) completing a specific task, or (c) the occurrence of a specific event.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: If there is disagreement between the employer and the employee then the rights commissioner will have to make a call on what constitutes the objective conditions.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: I propose to deal with amendments Nos. 9 and 10 together as they are related. I thank Senator O'Toole for this interesting and thought-provoking amendment which requires further consideration involving consultation with other Departments, and a Government decision should it be accepted. In reality, it will not be possible to give a decision on this amendment, one way or the other, on Report...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: Yes.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: Section 10(1) of the Bill, as drafted, provides that where a fixed-term employee has entered his or her fourth year of continuous employment, the contract may be renewed only once before it automatically becomes permanent. The Government's amendment to section 10(3) provides that the First Schedule to the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973, relating to continuous employment, will...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: The Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel to the Government has drafted this amendment to the Bill to deal with the concern of the Department of Finance that pension claims could be made by an ex fixed-term employee on his or her former employer many years after they have left that employment. This amendment will prevent such claims arising and means that section 15(3) of the Bill will be...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: The effect of this amendment would be to include nurses in training within the ambit of the Bill. Section 18(c), as drafted, excludes nurses in training from the scope of the Bill in accordance with clause 22A of the framework agreement, annexed to directive 1999/70/EC, which provides that member states, after consultation with the social partners, may provide that the agreement does not...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: Under section 2 of the Interpretation Act, on page 6, "fixed-term employee" means a person having a contract of employment entered into directly with an employer where the end of the contract of employment concerned is determined by an objective condition, such as arriving at a specific date, completing a specific task or the occurrence of a specific event, but does not include employees in...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (10 Jun 2003)

Michael Ahern: We will check the position with the Department of Health and Children.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to commence the debate on this important Bill in this House. It is widely acknowledged that social partnership involving employers, employees and Government has been the driving force of change in the workplace over recent years. This social partnership process has been backed up by a well-balanced range of employment rights/labour legislation...

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: I feel like I am on a full-time contract.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: I thank Senators Coghlan, McDowell, Leyden, Mooney and White for their contributions and for their general welcome for this important legislation which deals with those in fixed-term employment contracts. Some questions were raised by the Senators and I will attempt to cover most of them.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: The Senator must wait for four years. He is a little early yet. As regards the SMEs, the Bill provides greater clarity for companies which may want to recruit workers for a certain period on a fixed-term basis to see if they are satisfactory from the point of view of making the worker permanent. The employer knows the framework within which he or she must work to make that person permanent....

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: They will be treated as apprentices for their initial contract. The amount of excess paperwork for employers under section 9(2) was also mentioned. The provision of this written statement helps both employees and employers in terms of the certainty of the employment relationship.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: There will be a separate directive to deal with that.

Seanad: Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: The 1971 Act will be reviewed as agreed under Sustaining Progress. I thank Senators Coghlan, McDowell, Leyden, Mooney and White for their contributions on this important Bill which will benefit the pay and other conditions of employment of 70,000 workers who are currently employed on fixed-term work contracts. I hope the Bill will go a long way towards realising the main aims of the...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accountancy) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (29 May 2003)

Michael Ahern: Following the acceptance of the Government's amendment on Committee Stage, nine bodies have been designated for the purposes of section 6(2). Each of the designated bodies, while being a member of the supervising authority, is entitled to nominate one person to be a director of the authority. The present composition reflects recommendation 9.5 of the review group on auditing. The Minister is...