On behalf of the Labour Party group I thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh, for your tribute to the late Niamh Breathnach. Niamh left a tremendous legacy in this country as Minister for Education, not only due to the abolition of fees but especially for her introduction of the Breaking the Cycle programme for schools in disadvantaged communities. As a personal friend to me and many others in the Labour Party, she was an enormous source of encouragement to many of us trying to make our start in politics in recent ye…

Yes. Go raibh maith agat agus Lá Fhéile Bríde chomh maith. I reiterate the call I made last week for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, to come to the House for statements on the job losses we are seeing. Tech firms continue to make the headlines, with PayPal and HubSpot doing so this morning, but hospitality and retail are also suffering in the form of having to reduce jobs. The news yesterday from Tesco in the UK has also sent a chill down the spines of many people. A number of Mem…

We have all seen the anti-refugee sentiment present now in many of our communities. It has risen to a terrifying point. The attack in Ashtown, Dublin 15, last Saturday was the latest and most insidious incident. Deep down, for many of us, there is a belief that it is only a matter of time, sooner rather than later, before somebody is very seriously injured or worse. There are, of course, many things the Government and the State can do to try to head off the rise in this very ugly sentiment. I will touch on just one…

I very much welcome the introduction of domestic violence leave in this legislation. It is very important. I ask the Minister to consider amendments Nos. 10 and 11, because they are absolutely worthy of consideration and inclusion in the Bill. As for the criteria when the Minister is determining what the rate of pay should be by regulation, this is a copy-and-paste job from the workers' rights legislation we have. The sectoral employment orders, the national minimum wage and sick pay are the criteria. I know the pe…

I want to speak to amendment No. 15.

Indeed. I agree with everything Senator Currie said. In some ways our amendment strikes to the very heart of the Bill and what I see as an artificial distinction between remote work and flexible work. In the world of work people want flexibility on both hours and location. We have already heard the debate here about who should be included - whether within a family a niece or nephew or even a neighbour is included. As we all know, life is messy. I am very uncomfortable that we would prescribe the types of caring res…

I move amendment No. 15: In page 13, to delete lines 4 to 37, and in page 14, to delete lines 1 to 11 and substitute the following: “13B. (1) Any employee may request a flexible working arrangement.”.

I welcome this important motion. The scenes that we saw in south-west Dublin in recent weeks were only the latest incidents that have taken place for quite a number of years. These incidents are not new, but I very much hope they provide the impetus to put proper structures in place to keep drivers and passengers safe. If we are serious about trying to improve public transport use, particularly in certain communities in Dublin where there is a reputation of it not being safe to get on a bus, we must have a transpor…

It is really important that a Department, whether it be the Department of Transport or the Department of Justice, takes responsibility for this and that there is an end to passing the buck. We cannot have loads of tea and sympathy for this issue. We need action. Britain has had a public transport police for several years now, with 75% of its funding provided by the transport contractors and 25% by the state. I do not believe that is the exact model we should follow because the unit must be within An Garda Síochána.

The reality is that there is a standard transport police across all modes of transport in Britain and we do not have that in Ireland. We have a patchwork. The Luas contract requires an in-house security service. While these security officers were supposed to have the power to arrest and detain, in reality, they do not have the facility to detain people who engage in antisocial behaviour and, therefore, arrests do not happen. Luas security workers typically monitor fare evasion. Irish Rail has security but even its …

Let us see real action sooner rather than later.

I meant to credit the Senator for his amendment.

I join in congratulating the Minister of State on his appointment. My question is on the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. This is one of the most ground-breaking laws on workers’ rights to come out of the EU in the past 40 years. It contains a clear recognition that we cannot allow a large number of workers to be trapped in low-paid employment and poor working conditions and, crucially, to be left with no means to fight for better conditions and a more sustainable livelihood. There must be a recognition that…

I thank the Acting Chair. I think he has taken about 18 seconds off me but we will pardon him that. I was talking about the importance of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. It is crucial to say that this is not about hiking wages but ensuring there is a framework for workers to negotiate sustainable terms and conditions within their sector and employment. The question is about the timeline and process. What is the Department's plan to transpose this legislation? When are we likely to get the heads of Bill?…

Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an gCeannaire. Beir bua leis an obair. I express solidarity with all those colleagues who have been subjected to appalling acts of hate and harassment over recent weeks and, indeed, a longer period. People in both Houses, and our local authority colleagues, have been the subject of shocking acts over recent weeks. This is not new, but we have seen new lows. I am thinking of my former colleague in Dublin City Council, Councillor Vincent Jackson…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I too want to be associated with her words of congratulations to the Oscar nominees. It is truly remarkable that we have 14 Irish nominees spanning five films. Go háirithe, tá an-chreidiúint ag dul go Cleona Ní Chrualaoi agus go Colm Bairéad agus luaim a hiarrachtaí chun dul chun cinn a dhéanamh lenár dteanga dúchais trí mheán na scannán. Huge congratulations, déanaim comhghairdeas ó chroí with them in particular. I warmly welcome the Bill, particularly the enhancement …

I too warmly welcome this legislation. It is really important that this substitute system be available now to women who have a baby. It is important, however, as others have said, to say that this is only a first step. It is in some ways ironic that we have the publication of the recommendations of the Committee on Gender Equality today. Some of the issues are pay, access, the hours of meetings and technology. As Senator Seery Kearney and I am sure others have mentioned, the inability to vote remotely in these Hous…

Gabhaim buíochas leat, a Chathaoirligh, agus le d'fhoireann in Oifig an tSeanaid as ucht an comóradh an-speisialta a bhí againn ar an Luan. Ba chóir dom buíochas a ghabháil freisin maidir leis na heachtraí eile a bhain le comóradh 100 bliain de Sheanad Éireann a bhí ar siúl i rith na bliana, go háirithe na hiarrachtaí ar son mhná an tSeanaid. I pay special tribute to the Cathaoirleach, particularly as he will be moving into a different position on Friday. I wish to acknowledge the work that has been done to remembe…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am delighted that we are finally debating Second Stage of this Bill. I warmly welcome the transposition of the EU work-life balance directive. I acknowledge that there have been a number of very important additions made to the Bill, specifically the extension of breastfeeding leave from six months to two years. The argument that it was madness to extend this leave to six months has been articulated. It would have meant that women returning to the workforce would have been unab…

This is very important.