Results 1,321-1,340 of 9,147 for speaker:Pat Breen

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (21 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 287. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he will issue a decision to a person (details supplied) under the carer's allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16831/16]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme Payments (21 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 489. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 203 of 14 April 2016, when he will issue payment to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17067/16]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Disputes (21 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: Issues relating to employees of the Office of Public Works and their terms and conditions of employment are a matter for my colleague, Pascal Donohoe TD, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Issues relating to the tendering of public contracts are also outside my remit and should be addressed to the Office of Public Procurement which operates as an office of the Department of Public...

Other Questions: Zero-hour Contracts (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I will take note of the Deputy's concerns, which the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, and I will try to rectify. We must examine the report, why it was commissioned and the recommendations in it. As the Deputy pointed out, while zero hours contracts are not often used in industry, the "if and when" approach is used, whereby people are not contracted to make themselves available. Outside...

Other Questions: Research Funding (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: Deputy Halligan is the expert.

Other Questions: Zero-hour Contracts (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Deputy Browne for his question. Deputy Coppinger has a similar question but she is not here. I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 47 together in any event. I am committed to considering the appropriate policy response to the report of the University of Limerick of their study of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts. As Deputies will be aware, the University of Limerick...

Priority Questions: Zero-hour Contracts (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan and her team at the Kemmy Business School for preparing the report. The report pointed out that zero-hour contracts are not exclusively used. There is, of course, evidence of if-and-when contracts. The Deputy is right in pointing to a lack of clarity regarding employment status. That is something that is also evident. I believe the Deputy is referring to...

Priority Questions: Zero-hour Contracts (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: This was a very serious report, but it is an independent report. As the Deputy rightly pointed out there will be different views on the matter. The trade unions and NGOs will support the recommendations and the employer and business groups will be against it. Those of us in government and the Department have to strike a balance regarding the employers and the workers. This will take time....

Priority Questions: Zero-hour Contracts (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Deputy Barry for raising this important issue. I am committed to considering an appropriate policy response to the report of the University of Limerick study of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts. As Deputies will be aware, the University of Limerick was appointed in February 2015 to study the prevalence of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts and their impact on...

Priority Questions: Company Closures (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: The Department of Social Protection, as a creditor, is considering how the provisions of the Companies Act 2014, including section 599 to which the Deputy referred, might be used to recover moneys expended from the Social Insurance Fund. The Duffy-Cahill report is a comprehensive document which makes a number of proposals that need to be considered together as no single proposal will...

Priority Questions: VAT Rate Application (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Deputy Quinlivan for his question. The setting of VAT rates is a matter for the Minister for Finance. In July 2011, the VAT rate for tourism related goods and services was reduced from 13.5% to 9% by the Government as part of a measure to promote job creation. This incentive for job creation was due to expire at the end of 2013 but the measure was retained in budgets 2014 and...

Priority Questions: VAT Rate Application (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: Deputy Quinlivan, as a representative of Limerick, will be aware of the importance of tourism to the mid-west region. As a Deputy from County Clare, I know how many people visit King John's Castle alone. The Deputy referred to the Irish Hotels Federation and the judicial review of May 2014 pertaining to the payment of workers outside Dublin and Cork. As I stated, the setting of VAT...

Priority Questions: VAT Rate Application (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: Recent correspondence indicates that an accommodation has been reached with the parties in the hotel sector on terms that are agreeable to both sides. As the Deputy will be aware, the case has been adjourned and the parties are at liberty to re-enter it. We have to be very careful with this. It is important to ensure that people have a decent wage. The Low Pay Commission was set up to look...

Priority Questions: Company Closures (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Deputy Niall Collins for raising this issue. The closure of Clerys department store and the manner in which its workers lost their jobs was totally unacceptable and should not happen again. A number of actions were initiated as part of the Government’s response to the closure of Clerys. They included the Duffy-Cahill expert examination of legal protections for workers....

Priority Questions: Company Closures (15 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: I thank Ms Nessa Cahill, a company law specialist, and Mr. Kevin Duffy, the chairman of the Labour Court, for the work they have done. They are very distinguished, professional people. As the Deputy knows, the idea behind the report was to focus on limited liability in corporate restructuring and the view that it would not be used by a company to avoid meeting its obligations towards...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (14 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 299. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he will process an application (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15528/16]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (14 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 300. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he will issue a decision to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15532/16]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (14 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 303. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) under the carer's allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15580/16]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (14 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 315. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when his Department will issue a decision to a person (details supplied) under the carer's allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15724/16]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Applications (14 Jun 2016)

Pat Breen: 324. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when his Department will issue a decision to a person (details supplied) under the invalidity pension scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15950/16]