Results 1-20 of 779 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I wish to raise an issue I have raised numerous times before in this Chamber, which is the N24 road. I noticed that the Taoiseach has spoken about a Ministry for infrastructure. This is the key infrastructure for the south-east region. It has been in the plan for a number of years but it has not received funding this year to get it to planning stage. My colleague, Councillor Pat Dunphy in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Inheritance tax has been well flagged in the past number of weeks as something that might be considered in the budget. I really hope it will be because the threshold at the moment is quite low regarding what people have to pay capital gains tax on if family members leave them more than €335,000. Even if we make changes to the threshold and increase it to something like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Will Dr. Coates repeat the numbers in terms of closures and reopenings in the hospitality sector? Will he also elaborate on what he means by the hospitality sector? Is it like for like in terms of opening and closures?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: What was the period?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I am sure Dr. Coates appreciates that we get the opposite from groups representing the hospitality sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: In his view, this would be very different from what they are saying. Are they exaggerating the situation that exists in the hospitality sector at the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Does the Department not see an increase in the incidence of firm closures compared with last year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. If we compare it with January to May of last year, there is no significant increase in the number of closures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. It is interesting because that is very different from what we are getting from other groups. We are in a budget period, however, so it is understandable. The Low Pay Commission is recommending the abolishment of the payments for under-19s. In 2017, it recommended introducing this measure. What has changed? The commission knew all about the issues we are discussing in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I understand the then Minister asked for a review of it. It just seems like a total shift in opinion from the commission's previous recommendation. I cannot see anything that would not have been foreseen beforehand in the context of equal pay for everyone or people being paid less, the challenges that brings and the possibility of exploitation. I do not understand why the commission has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I have one more question. It is hard to agree with 18- and 19-year-olds being paid a lower wage. I know education is a factor, but the majority of 18- or 19-year-olds are finished secondary school. As only 4% of 19-year-olds are being paid that wage, surely it would not be a big cost for the sector to give them full minimum wage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: And considering that employers are paying almost all of them full wages.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: It was stated that one of the arguments against changing the sub-minimal rates is that young people might be the first to go, which is an obvious possibility when an employer is making a decision. Do the witnesses have statistics on the increase in youth employment when this was introduced? Obviously an employer would have seen it as an incentive at the time to take on someone young at a...

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: For clarity, we are talking about someone doing work experience for the rate of €450 where someone else in that same company is working the same amount of time but getting the higher rate of pay. If they are doing work experience, they are not doing the same work as a full-time employee. If they are qualified to do that work, they would take on full employment. It is similar to...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: What the Senator is saying just does not make sense. No person who works in the Department of Social Protection will send someone on work experience if they are fully qualified for that role. A chef, for example, might lose his or her job for whatever reason and go into the social welfare office to look for guidance and to engage with social protection on how he or she should go forward and...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: That absolutely makes no sense. Essentially, what the Senator is saying is that for anyone who is out of work, the Department of Social Protection will look at people who are fully qualified chefs to go into-----