I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 1:
Section 2: In subsection (1), page 5, between lines 11 and 12, "‘sickness' or ‘illness' includes being incapable of work within the meaning of the Act of 1952" inserted.
Redundancy Bill, 1967: From the Seanad.
The Dáil went into Committee to consider amendments from the Seanad.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 2:
Section 4: Subsection (2) deleted and the following substituted: "(2) This Act shall not apply to a person who is normally expected to work for the same employer for less than 21 hours in a week.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 3:
In subsection (3) (a), line 45, "as a domestic servant" deleted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 4:
Section 5: A new subsection added to the section as follows:
"(2) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done there-under.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 5:
Section 14: In subsection (1), line 31, "it" deleted and "the contract because of the employee's conduct" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 6:
Section 25: Subsections 2 to 4 inclusive deleted and the following substituted:
"(2) An employee who under his contract of employment ordinarily works outside the State shall not be entitled to redundancy payment unless, immediately before he commenced to work outside the State, he was domiciled in the State and was in the employment of the employer concerned and unless—
(a) he was in the State in accordance with the instructions of his employer on the date of dismissal, or
(b) he had not been afforded a reasonable opportunity by his employer of being in the State on that date.
(3) In computing, for the purposes of this Act, for what period of service a person was in continuous employment, any period of service in the employment of the employer concerned while the employee was outside the State shall be deemed to have been service in the employment of the employer within the State.
(4) Where an employee who has worked for his employer outside the State becomes entitled to redundancy payment under this Act, the employer in making any lump sum payment due to the employee under section 19 shall be entitled to deduct from that payment any redundancy payment to which that employee may have been entitled under a statutory scheme relating to redundancy in the State in which he was working.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 7:
Section 39: In subsection (2) (c), line 15, "8" deleted and "12" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 8.
Before subsection (18), page 25, the following new subsection inserted:
"(18) The Tribunal shall submit an annual report to the Minister which shall be published".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 9:
Section 49: In lines 25 to 35, all words from and including "either" in line 25 down to the end of the section deleted, and "by agreement between the parties concerned in the scheme or arrangement." substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 10:
Section 56: In subsection (1), line 51, "or any other Minister" inserted before "in".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 11:
Schedule 1: In paragraph 2, lines 37 and 41, and in paragraph 3, line 46, "maternity benefit" deleted and "maternity allowance" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 12:
Paragraph 5, page 31, deleted and the following substituted:
"5. A weekly payment shall not be paid to a person in respect of any period unless during that period that person was not gainfully employed and the fact that he was not so employed could not reasonably be attributed to that person's own failure or refusal to seek or accept suitable gainful employment."
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 13:
Paragraph 8, page 31, deleted and the following substituted:
"8. Whenever a person who has received a weekly payment obtains employment he shall not receive any further weekly payments; provided that if he subsequently becomes unemployed, is laid-off, or is absent from work through sickness and is by reason of such absence entitled to disability benefit under the Act of 1952, he shall, subject to paragraph 5, thereupon become eligible for the weekly payments which stood unpaid when he obtained that employment.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 14:
Paragraph 9, page 31, deleted and the following substituted:
"9. Whenever a person entitled to a weekly payment obtains employment before the expiration of the two-week period mentioned in paragraph 4 he shall not receive a weekly payment; provided that if he subsequently becomes unemployed, is laid-off, or is absent from work through sickness and is by reason of such absence entitled to disability benefit under the Act of 1952, he shall, subject to paragraph 5, thereupon become entitled to the weekly payments to which he would have become entitled had he not obtained employment in that two-week period."
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 15:
In page 31, between lines 45 and 46, the following inserted:
"14. A person shall not be entitled to a weekly payment unless he is normally resident within the State.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 16:
Schedule 2: In paragraph 13, page 34, line 16, "as a domestic servant" deleted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 17:
Schedule 3: In paragraph 5 (a), page 37, line 3, "52" deleted and "78" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 18:
In paragraph 5, page 37, a new subparagraph added as follows:
"(c) any period during which an employee was absent from work because of a lock-out by his employer or because the employee was participating in a strike, whether such absence occurred before or after the commencement of this Act,".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 19:
In paragraph 5, page 37, line 15, "even though" deleted and "whether or not" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 20:
In paragraph 5, page 37, the following added to the paragraph:
"(2) During the year 1968, subparagraph (1) (b) shall have effect as if ‘52 consecutive weeks' were substituted for ‘26 consecutive weeks'.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 21:
In page 37, paragraphs 7 and 8 deleted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 22:
In paragraph 15, page 38, lines 22 and 23, "but excluding overtime premium" deleted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 23:
In paragraph 15, page 38, line 24, the following added at the end:
"together with, in the case of an employee who is expected to work overtime regularly, his average weekly overtime earnings as determined in accordance with paragraph 16".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 24:
Before paragraph 16, the following new paragraph inserted:
"16. For the purpose of paragraph 15 the average weekly overtime earnings shall be determined by ascertaining the total amount of overtime earnings of the employee concerned in the period of 26 weeks which ended 13 weeks before the date on which the employee was declared redundant and dividing that amount by 26.
17. For the purpose of paragraph 16 any week during which the employee concerned did not work shall be disregarded and the most recent week before the 26-week period mentioned in paragraph 16 shall be taken into account instead of the week during which the employee did not work.".
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 25:
In paragraph 16 (iii), page 38, line 43, ", but excluding overtime premium," deleted.
This is the 25th amendment made to a very important Bill by the Seanad and these amendments have now come back to this House. They have received the approbation of all sides of the House. I think it is appropriate to make two comments. One is that the Seanad does discharge, when the necessity arises, a very useful function as is demonstrated by the amendments adopted by this House in a Bill which this House took weeks to consider in its various Stages.
The second comment which this amendment calls for is that a great many people misunderstand the fact that 80 per cent of the legislative work of this House is work which is, in principle, agreed on all sides of the House and the process of legislation is the relatively unknown one of the Committee and Report Stages as typified by the amendments we are now considering. Only about 20 per cent of our business here is of a controversial character and if this House and the Seanad gets through necessary business which is agreed in principle I suggest that should not be the subject of public criticism of this Oireachtas. It is rather a tribute to the businesslike way in which this Oireachtas transacts its business. When the necessity for dissension and recrimination arises, I hope and pray this House will always show its capacity to demonstrate both qualities vigorously and trenchantly. When this House discusses and passes provisions, and they are reviewed in the Seanad thereafter, and when we use our procedure for the purpose of incorporating improvements in the Bill, it would be appropriate that that procedure would also be noted. We should not be ashamed of transacting this kind of business independently, industriously and scrupulously, or when the necessity arises for recrimination, dissension and vigorous debate, to meet that occasion with an equal sense of duty and dedication.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendments reported and agreed to.