I move amendment No. 34: In page 42, line 31, to delete “years 7 to 9” and substitute “years 4 to 6”. In terms of the period of time where the Bill allows for seven years to consider those employees who are currently in exempted employment, there is a concern that employees who will not currently be covered by auto-enrolment will be waiting for seven years and we want to reduce that period to between years four and six. I am not clear, and the Minister might provide clarity, as to why years seven to nine were decid…

I move amendment No. 110: In page 88, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “(2) Where it appears to the Revenue Commissioners from information available to them that an employer is making no payment of enrolments and contributions for the benefit of employees to a qualifying occupational pension scheme, qualifying PRSA or qualifying trust RAC, the Commissioners may share that information with the Authority and with a specified body.”.

I move amendment No. 111: In page 88, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “ Hindering the displacement of occupational pension schemes 129. Where a qualifying occupational pension scheme is in place on date on which this Act comes into operation, the employer concerned shall not freeze or wind up the scheme for a period of at least 10 years from that date.”. We raised these issues on Second Stage. They relate to the treatment of an existing occupational pension by an employer when auto-enrolment is in…

On a point of order, because of the division, surely we could afford the Minister the opportunity to at least respond to the amendment.

I am sure the Minister would only take a minute, to be fair.

I ask for clarity about the referral-----

We can go to Senator Lombard.

I am seeking clarity, if possible today, from the Ministers for Justice and integration about the system of referral of international protection, IP, applicants to the International Protection Accommodation Services, IPAS. Most of us in this House agree that the emergence of tents and people being forced to camp overnight along the canal and in other areas around the city is inhumane. It deprives the people of any dignity. The lack of sanitation and so forth is degrading and communities also have legitimate concern…

I thank the Minister for bringing this legislation before us. There will be many descriptions of it but there is no doubt that it is groundbreaking legislation. It is hard in some ways to fathom that it has taken 19 years since the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction to get to this point, that we have had the heads of Bill since 2017, and that, notwithstanding those terrible delays, we have this Bill before us today. Senator Clifford-Lee talked about it being an emotional day. It is certainly emotional for th…

I hear the Minister say this is wrong and I am delighted.

I look forward to his clarification. He might point to exactly how those children are provided for under section 39. To conclude, we welcome the Bill overall. We do not want to see any delays to it. We want to see the gaps that have been identified in the Bill addressed. Senator Seery Kearney covered many of them. We now need to get on with the job of ensuring the regulatory authority is established.

I wish to speak to the amendment as well. When this Bill was going through pre-legislative scrutiny, there was serious concern within the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment about the introduction of seasonal permits. The record has not been good in this country regarding a number of employers and migrant work permits. We have a labour inspectorate that remains short-staffed at the moment. I know there are efforts there to try to beef it up, but the reality remains that we do not have sufficient boo…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I welcome the Bill. I recall that in late 2007, when I was a new official in SIPTU, I met the then Minister, Mary Hanafin, just after the launch of the Green Paper on auto-enrolment. It is sad to think that it has taken 17 years to get to this point, but it is a point we welcome nonetheless. It is important to say that it has been 17 missed years of pension contributions that many workers will not have made, or more than 40% of their working lives. It is important to say that …

I move: That Seanad Éireann: notes that: - Ireland has a privatised waste collection system with a small number of very large operators; in many urban areas, there is significant competition for the market with the result that in some areas, multiple bin lorries from competing companies will travel the same streets; in other areas, market failure arises with no service provision and in other parts of the country, there are monopoly-like operations whereby households face no price competition nor price regulation; -…

Tuigim é sin. There is a critical shortfall there in not having a national waste operator in this country.

We understand that a significant number of legislative changes are required to be put forward. I am sure Senator Wall will indulge me while I go through them. Under the Waste Management Act 1996, there is no specific obligation on local authorities to collect waste because of the number of disapplications that exist in the legislation. Under the Competition Act 2002, it is difficult for a local authority to effectively grant a contract to a single operator. We know from the 2009 case taken by Panda against the four…

I thank the Minister of State for his thoughtful contribution. I also thank Senators Kyne, Boyhan, Maria Byrne, McDowell and Warfield, and also my Labour Party colleagues Senators Hoey and Wall. I believe I heard the Minister of State say he was very open to considering a system of competition for the market. That is a crucial point in our motion. We have always been very clear that in order to get to a place where we see the full remunicipalisation of waste services, the starting point has to involve local authori…

I wish to express the condolences of the Labour Party Group to our colleague Senator Moynihan who lost her mother at the weekend. At the start of this week, Max Shields, a 15-year-old boy from Clondalkin, lost his life when swimming in the Grand Canal. I express my condolences to his family. This is the time of year when the weather becomes wonderful, thank God, and people take to the big beaches, the rivers and the canals. Indeed, there were people swimming in the canal at Phibsborough at the weekend. We want peop…

Over the past eight days, we have seen a number of attacks and attempted attacks on candidates and councillors since the posters went up. I think the most shocking incident was in the early hours of last Wednesday morning when Councillor Tania Doyle and her husband were violently attacked. It is a sheer miracle that they did not sustain life-changing injuries or worse. This is a councillor who has worked so hard to foster integration, tolerance and community participation in her community yet this happened. There i…

I wish to raise the issue of apprenticeship pay. On 3 May 2023 – almost a year to the day – Labour Party Senators introduced a Bill seeking to ensure that all apprentices would receive the national minimum wage for the duration of their training. The following week, the then Minister and current Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, stated at a Government press conference that he would be looking into how to stimulate apprentice numbers and that it was important that pay rates “are not seen as a barrier to participation …