Results 1,781-1,800 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The first grouping is amendments Nos. 1, 3 to 10, inclusive, 13, 17 to 19, inclusive, 23 and 25. The majority are technical in nature and arise from the enactment of the Interpretation Act 2005 which came into effect on 1 January 2006. The other amendments are grammatical in nature. I am indebted to Deputy Howlin for drawing the effects of the Act on the Bill to my attention. These could not...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The second grouping, amendments Nos. 2 and 26, deals with the definition of appointment of employees' representatives. The issue of allowing employees' representatives to be appointed arose on Committee and Report Stages in both Houses. It was also raised in bilateral discussions with the social partners. Having given the matter much consideration, I formed the view that it is important to...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: When dealing with this Bill in the Dáil, it came to my attention that the legislation as presented at that stage would not allow for existing employee representatives to approve a pre-existing agreement. That was because of the nature of the drafting which initially stated "These representatives must be elected or appointed for the purposes of negotiations under this Act." Pre-existing...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: Government amendments Nos. 20 and 24 are relevant in this context. Similar amendments were tabled by Deputy Hogan on Committee Stage in the Dáil. The confidentiality requirement for the employee or third party who receives information in confidence from an individual, which is defined in section 14(1), is general and not qualified. On the basis of advice received from the Office of the...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: Senator O'Toole is quite right in saying that a major redundancy situation begat a directive which led to the transposition in terms of this Bill. He is also correct in saying that the passage of the Bill through the Houses was informed or certainly otherwise affected by the redundancy situation at Irish Ferries. It has come to my attention that a redundancy rebate application was made to the...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: On various occasions when the matter was raised in both Houses during the earlier stages of the dispute, and when the matter was very much in the public eye, I tried to make it clear that the Government's decision would have to be within the parameters of the law. My understanding is that the implications of the redundancy rebate application are currently being considered. No final decision...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Department's customer service target is to turn around payments within six weeks. In this instance, the company is awaiting the rebate. From what Members stated they are extraordinarily sympathetic to the company's plight. Perhaps if there was a delay people would not be as concerned as they would otherwise be. At the same time, it is the intention of the Government to adjudicate within...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I strongly suspect that Senator O'Toole has more information than I do on some of what plays out in Government Buildings on partnership. The Government is bound by the legal provisions in place at present. When it receives definitive legal advice the Government must decide on how to proceed with this case. I do not doubt that the issues which arose in this case and in similar labour relations...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: ——this issue falls to be determined on the basis of the legislation in place at the time the application was made. That may lead the parties to social partnership to form the view that the legislation or process must be changed. However, I previously gave the impression that a question of doubt was likely to be referred to the Employment Appeals Tribunal for its quasi-judicial judgment on...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I brought forward this amendment because the word "usually" in the Bill could have lead to uncertainty about the application of the internal dispute resolution procedures in the event of a first dispute arising, as there would be no history of using the internal procedures. The amendment was drafted on the advice of the Parliamentary Counsel and adds clarity on this matter. It was brought to...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (29 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I thank the Members of both Houses for their co-operation during the passage of the Bill and remind them that I am transposing it a year and three or four days later than the date on which this should have been done. One of the reasons for the delay was that we engaged in long negotiations. I particularly want to thank the officials in the Department for the hard work they did in the...

Written Answers — Trade Union Recognition: Trade Union Recognition (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The case to which the Deputy refers involved the use of financial incentives to induce employees to surrender their rights under United Kingdom law to union representation for collective bargaining. The court found that the use of such incentives was a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. However, the court did not consider that the...

Written Answers — National Minimum Wage: National Minimum Wage (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I am aware of the problem recently raised with regard to the information available on the Department's website concerning the current national minimum wage rates per hour. Following the increase in the national minimum wage in 2005, new updated foreign language information booklets, containing accurate information, were placed on the website on 11 May 2005. However, due to an administrative...

Written Answers — Rights Commissioners: Rights Commissioners (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: Information in relation to the number of rights commissioners in place at 31 December of each year since 2000 is set out in the following table. There was one vacancy in the rights commissioner service at 31 December 2005, which is currently in the process of being filled. In addition, one additional rights commissioner post has been approved in 2006 and this is also in the process of being...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The employment rights compliance section of the Department consists of three units: employment rights information, ERIU, labour inspectorate, LI and prosecution and enforcement unit, PE. The overall complement of staff across the three units is 57, broken down as follows: ERIU 13, LI 38 and PE six. The assignment of previously announced additional labour inspectors was completed in November...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The construction federation operatives pension scheme, generally referred to as CFOPS, has been established on foot of a registered employment agreement for the construction industry. A separate registered employment agreement in the construction sector provides for the establishment of statutory rates of pay and related working conditions of employment. The terms of both agreements apply to...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: In August 2005, SIPTU asked me to establish a scientific review body to examine all work-related illnesses and injuries. The union was concerned that only work-related fatalities that occur due to injuries-accidents inside in the workplace are counted in official statistics and was of the view that there are other examples of work-related deaths that occur but are not counted as such. Arising...

Written Answers — Bullying in the Workplace: Bullying in the Workplace (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, carried out a national survey on the incidence of workplace bullying over the period October 2000 to February 2001, which was commissioned by the task force on the prevention of workplace bullying. The results of the survey show that in aggregate terms, 7% of the workforce at that time...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment circulated a discussion document, Mandate and Resourcing of the Labour Inspectorate, to the social partners in early 2005. That document was the basis for further consideration by the employment rights compliance group, ERCG. The ERCG, which was made up of representatives of the social partners, including the CIF and SIPTU, together with the...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (28 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The labour inspectorate is responsible for monitoring certain employment conditions for all categories of workers in Ireland under the following legislative instruments: Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2004, including employment regulation orders and registered employment agreements; Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996; Organisation of Working Time Act 1997; Parental Leave Act...