Results 101-120 of 246 for long speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...for the past two years? I will be writing to the council as well. This case gives just a small insight into the horrors of human trafficking that have been swept under the carpet in this State for too long. When this story comes to the public's attention, the details will be shocking and have particular reverberations for the horse industry.

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...as well. We should revisit this issue as a matter of urgency in the new year because, unfortunately, it looks as if we are going to potentially be in a further phase of Covid-19. Who knows for how long that phase will last? Hopefully it will not be too long, but the first few months of next year look like they will certainly be dominated by it. In light of the latter, I support Senator...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...the Department of Finance entitled Institutional Investment in the Housing Market noted: There is a risk that, should BTR investment continue at current growth rates, market forces would over the long-term create socio-economic polarisation in some urban areas. Under such a scenario average income earners would be priced-out of purchasing or renting from the private market ... Is that...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...for the response. I propose to press the recommendation. I am anxious to see what comes out of the Department in regard to the Bill mentioned by the Minister, which we have been awaiting a long time. Let us hope we do not have to wait too much longer.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...reluctantly taken by the Government to help alleviate the massive increase in the cost of electricity. Sinn Féin has been raising this issue for months now and we have pushed the Government to act, but it should not have taken this long. People needed help this side of Christmas. The Government needs to tell us how it will ensure this support is extended to households using prepaid...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...to buy in the future. I know I am not saying anything that everyone here does not know already. I am just trying to emphasise how appallingly badly these people have been treated for an awfully long time. This process of trying to address the appalling rate of pay and terms and conditions has been ongoing for three and a half years. I am being very careful here, as it was not the...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...be claims from X, Y, Z and all the rest of it. That will not do. We need to see a clear step change. We do not need to see these talks dragged out any further. Three and a half years is far too long. A mandate must be given to the HR department and to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to sanction a significant pay rise and deal with the other very reasonable issues that...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...calling on him to just do that - to get it fixed and to give these people the respect, the income, the terms and conditions and the decency they deserve and have been denied for far too long.

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (7 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...raised by the Tánaiste.The first is the issue of sick pay. It is something that we were promised a year ago. We saw it in the joint committee on enterprise, trade and employment two weeks ago. It was a hell of a long time coming. Given the great crises we have seen across workplaces this year we really should have acted sooner. I am just worried about how much longer it is going...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...it was necessary. Equally, every time it was introduced, we always said it is an extreme measure that should only be introduced and used in exceptional circumstances, when necessary and for only as long as is necessary. The same logic should apply here. The response from the Government generally with regard to many of the tools that the State has at its disposal and that the Minister for...

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Health): Statements (1 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...the Irish public want to see a much better response from this Government on this key issue. The new variant brings it home to us like never before, nobody is safe until everybody is safe. For too long, the Government has been on the wrong side of this particular argument.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...that something should be done. The second is that they point out the good work the Government is doing in the context of COVAX and so on, and that is important.However, let us be clear that for as long as the Government sides with big pharma against the people of the world, there is something fundamentally wrong. It lacks a moral compass. There is no justifiable argument for not waiving...

Seanad: National Development Plan 2021-2030: Statements (30 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...relate to the mid-west. As the Minister of State is aware, the proposals on the M20 are now for an N-M20. This is a major concern because, way back when I was in college – God knows that was long enough ago – Ed Walsh spoke about the Atlantic corridor, right beside it, as a balance against Dublin. He called for proper regional development based on Limerick, Cork and Galway...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank both witnesses for their presentations. This is a very welcome discussion. Sinn Féin very much welcomes the introduction of a sick pay scheme. It is long overdue and it is good to see employers and unions working collaboratively to achieve this goal. Could both witnesses comment on why Ireland has been an outlier for so long when it comes to the provision of sick pay? We...

Seanad: Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland: Statements (17 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: Perhaps they prided themselves on it but perhaps they did so mistakenly. As the Minister will be aware, the British Government has a long history of not being totally honest and of not honouring the words it would have previously agreed to. Brexit was a prime example of a cart before the horse scenario and the then UK Government promised the sun, moon and stars but was unable to even...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Report of the Commission on Pensions: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...that many of them will not have spent their entire working lives in Ireland? Many will have come in as foreign workers over the past 30 years or so. Many others, including me, will have spent a long time abroad because of our unfortunate tradition of emigration over decades. How realistic is it to expect these people, who have given a lifetime of work, to work on to the age of 68? I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...in three people now rent privately. They have outsourced social housing to the private sector. This does not happen by accident. This is not some natural phenomenon. It is because the Government failed to build houses for so long. Now they tell us they are going to build houses but there are two issues. First, there is no ambition in the targets which are nowhere near what is...

Seanad: Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021: Second Stage (10 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...would enforce safe access zones around all family planning centres, maternity hospitals and healthcare facilities in Ireland that provide or give information on abortion. All credit for this legislation belongs to Together for Safety and its tireless campaigners across the country. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, they cannot be in the Seanad Chamber but I can assure the House that they...

Seanad: Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021: Second Stage (10 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...this Bill. While we would work very constructively with a Government Bill, to be frank we do not have one from him just yet but we do have this Bill and women have already been left waiting too long. Again, I reference the harrowing testimony detailed by Senator Boylan. I wonder if some of the speakers in this debate did not listen to that because it made it very clear that something...

Seanad: Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020: Motion (3 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: ...again, requested more robust, constitutionally compliant legislation with regular scrutiny and engagement on the regulations rather than the every-so-often theatre of motions to renew emergency powers long after that phase has passed. The most recent example of why the Government's approach is bad for lawmaking is the latest hospitality regulations and the litany of problems in this...