Results 1,901-1,920 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: With regard to amendment No. 11, the Bill does not make any provision for disciplinary proceedings against an employee, which is one of the difficulties. The matter of disciplinary proceedings does not arise in the directive and is outside the scope of the transposing legislation. On Committee Stage I spoke about the code of practice, which would deal with the sort of issue raised in the...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I do not drink coffee.

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: On that question, what I said in my initial response was that in regard to individual representation, the code of practice provides that an employee be given the opportunity to avail of the right to be represented by a colleague or a registered trade union during grievance or disciplinary proceedings. With regard to the Bill not making any provision for disciplinary proceedings against an...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The procedure of the dispute settling machinery of the State, the Labour Court and others, has been to take full account of the code of practice heretofore. It is not possible for me to instruct them to go further than that nor is it reasonable to expect them to go further.

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: It is possible to bring matters arising from the code to the dispute settling machinery of the Labour Court or the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the normal way, that is, as the Deputy and everybody else is aware, in accordance with the voluntarist tradition in the Irish system. As far as I am aware, it works perfectly well. The court or other body is expected to take account of the...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The transposition of the directive is obliged to ensure that the provisions of this legislation do not impinge negatively on the rights under existing legislation on information and consultation. That is what is provided for in the existing section. I understand that what the two Deputies seek to include are the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 and the Industrial Relations...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The point made by Deputy Howlin strengthens the argument in regard to what should and should not be included. I made that argument on Committee Stage, having made the original argument just before that. The point is that nothing in the legislation before the House impinges negatively or otherwise on the two items of legislation. Were one to take the view that, perhaps, it might — I do not...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: There is provision in the directive to bring the Bill into effect over a period, starting with undertakings with 150 employees down to undertakings with 50 employees. Deputy Howlin is correct in that it has taken a long time to bring even the first part of it to fruition. In the circumstances and in view of the experience it is sensible to avail of what is provided for under the transposition...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: It is reasonable because it is provided for and it is reasonable to avail of it to allow people consider how best they deal with it in their particular enterprises. Since it is a new concept to many of them, it is sensible to avail of what is provided for in the timescale of the directive. It would not be reasonable to force everybody to immediately implement.

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I am trying to recollect whether I introduced this as an amendment at the request of one of the Deputy's colleagues in the Seanad. I do not think it was in the Bill as originally published but in any event, the option for employees to have the Labour Court request from the employer details relating to the number of employees is important. It appears to be a sensible way to address what could...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: Yes. I am not certain whether it was in the Bill as published. I have a recollection of being persuaded in the Seanad that I should include it but wherever it came from, it is a sensible provision which strengthens the position of the employees in a situation where an employer was seeking to be extraordinarily difficult. I hope there are not such employers but in the event that there are, the...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I agreed on Committee Stage to examine the strong case made by Deputy Howlin in this area. I was concerned that the potential loophole he pointed to might be one that would be available to people. The Bill applies to undertakings. The original choice was whether to go for undertakings or establishments and we went for this option. The Bill applies to undertakings and would not preclude the...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I must confess I was somewhat confused initially by the taking of this amendment with amendment No. 11. In my consideration of it I had it tied in with the Labour Court provision which relates to a previous amendment. My argument lies more with the provision that the Labour Court should be in a position to get these figures on behalf of the employee of the trade union, the nominated body or...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I disagree strongly with Deputy Morgan on that point. The authority of the Labour Court is a deterrent in the first instance. If an employer was not disposed to giving the information, he knows that the Labour Court could carry out an examination and would clearly have more power than any individual or any other body. The effect in the legislation of having a role for the Labour Court in this...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Order for Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, line 21, to delete ", unless the context otherwise requires". These are technical amendments which arise from the Interpretation Act. Arising from an amendment tabled by Deputy Howlin on Committee Stage I undertook to revert to these matters on Report Stage. Following advice from the parliamentary counsel, Government amendments Nos. 1, 6, 7, 9 and 44 are...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: This amendment and related matters were discussed at considerable length on Committee Stage and on Committee and Report Stages in the Seanad. I brought forward an amendment on Committee Stage which was agreed and which resulted in the definition of "appointed" that ensures that employee representatives are truly representative of employees. In other words they must be independent and be...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: We should take account of current practice in the workplace. There are already representatives in place for various purposes. If I accepted Deputy Morgan's amendment or similar amendments, I would preclude the existing representatives from taking responsibility in the context of information and consultation. This would be unhelpful. In a large number of workplaces it is the wish of the...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: Amendments Nos. 3, 4 and 5 would have the effect of changing the definition of "consultation" and "information" as they are in the Bill and would provide only for consultation and information through representatives. In a great many enterprises there is already a system of direct information and consultation in place and this Bill provides for that to continue. One of my concerns was that...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Mar 2006)

Tony Killeen: The two amendments referred to by Deputy Hogan are also included in this group of amendments. They seek to increase the percentage at which a trigger mechanism would come into play. His points were also made strongly by IBEC and some employers, The view is that, especially in workplaces with large numbers of employees, the trigger mechanism is too low. I examined it carefully and believe the...