I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, for being here this evening. A fortnight ago, the Supreme Court published its long-awaited decision on defining employment status. The court ruled that delivery drivers for Domino's Pizza should be treated as employees and not as contractors. The Supreme Court ruling has massive implications in the battle against bogus self-employment. The Government needs to set out in primary legislation how a worker's employment status will now be determined following that landm…

With the greatest of respect, if the Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status was doing all that the Minister of State thinks it might be doing, I genuinely would not be here now. I would have a fighting chance of catching my train, which, I think, I will miss, and I would be gone home. That is not sufficient. Clearly, pursuing the matter for 13 years in the courts shows that it is not sufficient. The Department would not have pursued this matter though the courts if there was already a code of practice in…

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh, for the opportunity to speak on this motion. I thank the Independent Group for bringing it forward. The issue of neutrality is one which Irish people hold incredibly dear. The policy has served us well. It has allowed us to have an objective and even-handed approach to international conflicts. This approach allows us to play a leading role in the pursuit of justice, equality and peace on the international stage. It is this neutral and objective analysis of conflict that has al…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Workers and families continue to struggle under a cost-of-living crisis, and businesses face into the continuation of what is effectively a cost-of-doing-business crisis. With the exception of a limited number of areas, the tax packages announced in budget 2024 will not deliver in a manner which matches the scale of the crisis for workers, families and businesses. Section 33 makes a number of changes to the research and development tax cred…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. We are effectively having statements on the lack of investment in our healthcare service. Members are not discussing the investment in healthcare because, as we know, it is not even enough to stand still. We are discussing the lack of investment. Since the budget, we have had Ministers and others from the Department of Health expressing disappointment and frustration at the lack of additional funding for our health services. This is in conjunction with medi…

I find it a little curious that a person who can figure out how to drive a car cannot figure out how to operate the volume button on their phone when playing Snake or whatever it is they are doing. To the matter at hand, the situation with driving test waiting times has become unacceptable. Indeed, it is beyond unacceptable. The backlog is causing people not to be able to take up new jobs and it is impacting students driving to college or to apprenticeships. It is costing young people their apprenticeships and it i…

I welcome the service providers and the people they serve, as well as those workers who are in the Gallery this evening, and anyone who is watching this debate from home. I acknowledge the pain and anguish caused by the lastminute.com approach of the Government in addressing the long-standing issues around pay. I commend the civil servants and the representatives of the unions, led by Liam Berney, on drafting proposals in the early hours of this morning. One can only imagine what it was like for families going to b…

Is the Minister aware of the specific barriers women founders of technology companies face in accessing State supports? Will he engage with the sector directly and with the stakeholders to address these issues? The issues are many and varied, but a direct engagement would be incredibly beneficial.

I understood the figure to be 27%. The Minister states it is 37%, but it does not matter. It is still not 51%. There we are. Women make up 51% of the population. I acknowledge the progress but the Minister should also acknowledge that there is a huge amount of work left to be done. I have spoken with stakeholders in the area. Some of this, unfortunately, is only anecdotal evidence but I accept the women's bona fides on this, as I am sure the Minister will as well, when they speak about the barriers they face. The u…

With regard to the barriers that women founders of tech companies face in accessing State support, I refer to something that is happening in California. The Governor, Mr. Gavin Newsom, has signed into law Senate Bill 54 which will require venture capital firms in the state to annually report the diversity of the founders they are backing. It is very specific. It is looking directly at the founders. I welcome the fact the Minister of State has engaged with TechFoundHer. I would encourage him to keep that engagement …

The sectoral employment orders, employment regulation orders and registered employment agreements are an essential part of the industrial relations make-up of the State. They are routinely and regularly challenged in the courts and that renders them, in some cases, ineffective. Is the Minister of State aware of any plans or discussions to future-proof them, by which I mean against those challenges specifically in the context of the rising rates of the minimum wage, as it comes closer to the sectoral employment rate…

I commend the work of the trade union movement and all it does in bringing these agreements and orders into place. A lot goes into the discussion only to have an employer swan into court, who has not been part of the negotiations or any other part, and challenge it. Recently, a challenge was withdrawn by the security industry. The increase in the minimum wage will bring it to €12.70. The ERO rate for security workers was only going to be €12.90. It was very cheap for them to withdraw that. Unfortunately, that leave…

Tuesday saw the mechanical SEO struck down. It is greed that is motivating this. The Minister of State says it is the minimum but for many workers it is what they will get. It may be a minimum and there may be an aspiration towards a higher wage but it does not happen. For these workers, the minimum, which is their wage, will be set and it will be struck down. The Minister of State should be under no illusions. It is greed and only greed that is motivating employers to go down to the courts. We are not talking abou…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on budget 2024. While some of the measures in the package announced on Tuesday are welcome, it is clear that the budget has short-changed SMEs. The main announcement for business in budget 2024 was a €250 million package of temporary supports to deal with cost-of-living pressures. It is regrettable that two days on from the budget, we still have no detail about what exactly that is going to entail. In issuing a cautious welcome, I want to say that on my reading of it, it falls sho…

I start by welcoming to the Gallery the members of the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers, and, more importantly, I want to welcome those service users who are here because they are understandably, justifiably, and incredibly anxious at the moment that the Government has allowed this to deteriorate to the level where we are now mere days from a very serious industrial action. As the Minister of State knows, the industrial action is taking place following the breakdown of WRC talks in July. We are no…

This is a quote from a response given by the Minister of State’s Department.

The Minister of State knows that these organisations do not have the capacity to raise the money. The money they get is money in and money out. They do not have reserves or the capacity to go in and negotiate in the way that a private sector employer would and to call them privately owned and operated where they are voluntary services-----

The Minister of State's Department did.

To call them that is, as the Minister of State knows, disingenuous in the extreme. Both the Minister of State and I know they deliver services on behalf of the State for a fraction of the money people directly employed by the State get paid. The Minister of State needs to look at what the public pronouncements are and to consider whether or not there could be perhaps more respect shown to those workers and that perhaps that is the route to a resolution, that is, recognising that these workers deserve their pay incr…

I want to raise with the Tánaiste a long-standing issue that stretches back almost 15 years, namely the pay dispute involving thousands of section 39, section 10 and section 56 workers who have not had a meaningful pay increase during those 15 years. As I am sure the Tánaiste will agree, merely naming just the section 39, section 56 and section 10 workers does a great disservice to these workers and, indeed, to the people who depend on the services. These workers are on the front line. They provide essential servic…