Results 1,201-1,220 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: In the ideological disagreements that the Minister and I have occasionally had in the past, on more than one occasion I have accused him – I thought frivolously – of wanting to drive children back into working in the mines. At this late point in the evening, I discover that I was not all that far wrong. I agree with Senator Terry. We have an anomalous situation where it is not permitted...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 19: In page 11, before section 10 but in Part 3, to insert the following new section: "Alcohol-related offences. 10.–(1) The Minister for the Environment and Local Government shall, within 2 months of the passing of this Act, propose regulations lowering the permissible level of alcohol in the blood for persons driving on a provisional licence to zero and for other...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: While I tend to agree with Senator O'Toole's view, I will not rehearse the arguments. Am I correct in understanding from the section that the special exemption order runs to the times designated, be it 1 a.m. or 2.30 a.m., depending on the day, and that the only discretion of the local authority rests with the area to which they are to be applied? Am I correct in assuming that local...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: I interpret it to mean that, for example, Dublin City Council could rule that the regime may apply in Temple Bar but not elsewhere.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: I appreciate that but does it provide that the local authority can have discretion regarding closing times? It does not appear to.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: I am not convinced.

Seanad: Interest Rates Reduction: Statements. (12 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: The thrust of what has been said in recent days is interesting and correct. There is clearly a moral perspective and an aspect of fairness to this issue. The financial sector is the most profitable in Ireland. On occasion, the profits of financial institutions border on the immoral. We are all customers of the banks and we are more than entitled to insist that some of those profits be passed...

Seanad: Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements. (10 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: Perhaps it was intended to cause difficulty.

Seanad: Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements. (10 Jun 2003)

Derek McDowell: This is an interesting debate. Over the last months my attitude has changed. I was in agreement with the notion that we needed to update, modify and codify the treaties, that we required a grand step forward and, in the words of Giscard d'Estaing, that we needed a treaty for a generation so that there would not be a need for its constant changing. The argument for that is clear and does not...

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

Derek McDowell: We discussed this briefly at the end of the debate last week on Second Stage and the Minister told me at that stage that it was intended to deal with the position of temporary agency workers at a later stage. However, we have since discovered that in so far as it may be intended by the European Union to deal with it, we in this country are doing our level best to ensure that they do not, or...

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

Derek McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State's response. What he proposes will add significantly to the protection of the workers in question. Without wishing to be churlish, will he explain what his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, meant when he said on radio that any efforts to extend undue protection to temporary workers in the directive currently under negotiation would be bad, distort...

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

Derek McDowell: If the Minister of State has the opportunity, will he ask him what he meant? I am happy to acknowledge that he has decided to accept the thrust of our amendments and to withdraw the amendment in my name.

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

Derek McDowell: I support Senator O'Toole's amendment. The definition of "remuneration" in the Bill means money while the amendment is intended to extend it to include benefit-in-kind. The Minister of State rightly made much of the Government's decision to define equal treatment as also including wages. It gives greater teeth to the Bill and the protection afforded by it. A logical further step would be to...

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

Derek McDowell: Are there any other changes to this section, which will become section 20? Is the new location of the section the only change that will be made?

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

Derek McDowell: Will the Minister of State clarify the purpose of this section?

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

Derek McDowell: I wish to reiterate that the test set out in section 6, which the Minister of State read out earlier, sets out what will be the comparators. It largely reflects the 2001 Act. I accept that there is a belt and braces element to this matter. I am not sure that this measure is absolutely necessary, but no ill can be served by accepting the amendment put forward by Senator O'Toole, which provides...

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

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 7: In page 10, subsection (4), line 31, after "rights commissioner" to insert "or the Labour Court". I intend to withdraw amendment No. 8. I have proposed amendment No. 7 because it seems logical, if one is referring to the rights commissioner, that one should provide for the Labour Court in the same context. This is essentially a technical amendment.

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

Derek McDowell: It might be helpful if the Minister of State were to set out what objective grounds would be considered to be reasonable to employ somebody on a fixed-term contract as opposed to making him or her a permanent employee. That is at the core of what this section is about.

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

Derek McDowell: Senator Mooney made an interesting contribution to the Second Stage discussion last week when he pointed out that RTE uses rolled-over fixed-term contracts. It does so, I suppose, largely to give it flexibility, in so far as it may want Senator Mooney's particular type of music one year but may not want it the next because it may not be as popular. Presumably, it also does wants to maintain a...

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

Derek McDowell: He could.