Results 1,161-1,180 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: I understand that even in Tory Britain, its aim, officially, is to go to the 66% figure. Is that the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: The Government has said it wants this done in four years. The Minister of State, Deputy English, said that to me last night on the radio. Has the Government said that to the commission?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Right now, with this new increase, I think we are at about 51.9% of the median wage. That leaves us a hell of a way to go to doing it in four years. How does the commission see that happening?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Yes, the report is very clear on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: That has not happened in the past three years, though. I need to move on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: I thank Mr. Courtney. I apologise but I have only a minute and 33 seconds, like my colleagues. What do the witnesses make of the arguments they have heard about what I regard as an overly cautious approach to raising the minimum wage? As was pointed out, it has been a pay cut in the past three years. What are the prospects of the Low Pay Commission actually delivering the living wage to...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: It is good to see the Minister of State. He is always welcome. I think the shine is going to go off this budget fairly quickly.

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: I do. I know it comes as a surprise to the Leas-Chathaoirleach. There are a number of topics to cover in the relatively short time I have. I will start with the issue of how we deal with the huge surge in energy costs. Let me be clear. There is no ideal way to deal with this, and I want to acknowledge that straightaway. The difficulty with what the Government is proposing is that the...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: That is the Government's record, yet Senator Casey thinks he can come in here and give us a lecture on housing. Let me remind him also that the Government's target of building 12,600 social and affordable houses this year is not going to be hit. The Minister admitted last week that the figure will be 30% off that target. The Government cannot even deliver the pledges it has made, which are...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: I want to mention the vacant sites tax. I think Senator McDowell will acknowledge just as happily as I will that he and I rarely agree on issues but, my God, this tax is a farce and a fig leaf. Fundamentally, Fine Gael will never tax vacant houses and we can see that now from this proposal. It is so easy to elude having to pay any tax under this measure. It is frankly pointless. Why can...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: The best way to tackle the issue is to apply an effective tax rate to encourage owners to move vacant sites on and back into the marketplace. Let us be frank. This is the last effort we will see the Government make on this matter and it is not an effort at all. It is just another means of avoiding a key issue and looking after its own people as opposed to tackling the issue of vacant...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: It is a joke.

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Agreed.

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: It is factually incorrect-----

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: Is that allowed?

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: It is because he is a Government Member.

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Public Expenditure and Reform): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: The Minister of State is very welcome. I will try not to repeat points I made in my first speech with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath. There are some points in the budget that I do welcome. The decision to cut student fees by €1,000 is very welcome. I do find it bizarre that the Government is going to put that back up by €500 the following year. Perhaps that is...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: European Union (22 Sep 2022)

Paul Gavan: I am very pleased that the Minister has come in because I have raised some of these issues before with her in the previous Dáil. I am delighted she is here and I thank her being here. Six Syrian migrants, including three children, died from thirst and hunger last week while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The children were aged just one, two and 12. They had drifted...