Results 701-720 of 1,056,573 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: It will come into effect in August.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: No, the current SEO has not expired. The new one will be in place from next August and will also allow for increased remuneration the following August. One reason we tend to sign the SEOs about six months in advance is to give employers enough notice to take account of them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: The weekly contribution coming into effect from August 2025 will be €2.37 for employers and €0.63 for employees, which means the total weekly contribution will be €3.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: I am pleased to hear the Senator wants this to be passed quickly. That is absolutely our intention. For his son who is a third-year apprentice, this will mean he will be at 75% of the craft rate from August 2025, or 75% of €23, which is about €17.25. This is, I hope, good news for the Senator's son and all apprentices in his position. Where somebody is being paid below that,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: Their trade union is there for that reason. That is why people organise in a collective way. Five trade unions were at the table to negotiate this and have worked closely with employers in this sector to agree terms and conditions. Employers will now be legally and statutorily bound from August, once we sign this into law, to pay appropriately in that regard and unfair dismissals...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: The CSO does research on the sector but it is not broken down by craft. We have given a breakdown by craft, so it is a bit difficult to compare and contrast. Ultimately, we saw that the construction sector was a very unfavourable one in which to work during the recession and that this had a considerably negative impact on the pipeline of apprentices. It took Ireland a long time to recover...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: One of the things we have done through the negotiations is set out a stepped pay scale for apprentices. In year one, apprentices are paid one third of the craft rate, but when they get into year two, they are paid half of it. They are paid 75% of it in year three and 90% in year four. This is to recognise the training, development and additional skills they gain each year. Although...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: I thank Deputy Stanton.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2024: Discussion (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Senator. We expect this problem to be resolved very shortly. The WRC inspectorate is staffed by civil servants from my Department. The staff are ranked at executive officer and higher executive officer levels. Resources at inspectorate level in the WRC have increased by almost one third since 2020, with the WRC now having been sanctioned for 80 inspectors, representing an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Messages to Dáil and Seanad (6 Nov 2024)

Emer Higgins: I thank everybody involved, including the five unions, employers, officials in my Department and the Labour Court. We have got to a good place and I will be happy to sign the statutory instrument.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I welcome the Minister. Like myself, she is near the end of the road.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Three of us here are, but we will work to the line. I see that the Minister is doing that. Most of the provisions here are small. There is an extra €12 million in total, however, which I welcome. I recognise what has been done on the local improvement schemes, but in practice, I find that the genuine list of projects that need to be done is way longer than the money that is being...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The issue I raised was that on the Gaeltacht islands the co-operatives, which are called comharchumainn on the islands, are funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta. On the non-Gaeltacht islands, each island or cluster of islands in the case of small islands has a community development project on the island that is funded by the Minister's Department. The community development projects are...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Am I right in believing that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has legislative responsibility for the Dormant Accounts Fund and that each Department makes provision in its Estimates to get money from it? It is a bit like lottery funding. The Departments then expend that money in their day-to-day expenditure.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I have a quick question I was asked to ask the Minister of State. I take it the money will continue for men’s and women’s sheds and will be expanded. It is a very important programme and does huge work in communities.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I thank the Minister for her courteousness and for all the work she has done. There is a huge agenda. These are often the unseen Departments in terms of the Dublin media but they are hugely important and they affect a huge number of people’s lives in a practical way. Most of us have found out in politics that it is the practical things that affect people day-to-day that really count...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (6 Nov 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Good.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Accommodation (6 Nov 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I am extremely disappointed to hear the Minister of State read out another waffle from the Department. The Department is currently assessing the options. Just imagine that. I have a document here from December 2022, when the Department promised 12 modular classrooms to deal with the accommodation. In February 2023 the Department of Education changed it and listed five modular classrooms,...