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Sustainable fishing will also be debated. Shutterstock
Oireachtas agenda
What can be done to improve access to finance for SMEs?
That’s one of the questions being asked in the Dáil today.
10.31am, 6 May 2014
4.0k
WHAT’S GOING ON in Leinster House?
Every day the Dáil and Seanad are sitting, TheJournal.ie brings you the most comprehensive guide to what our lawmakers are getting up to in the Houses of the Oireachtas.
So, here is what we can expect to be happening in the Dáil, Seanad and Committee rooms today…
3 things we’ll be keeping an eye on
Today’s the day the public should finally know details of how much water charges will be. Taosieach Enda Kenny is likely to be asked about the subject during Leaders’ Questions at 3.15 pm.
Members of the Credit Review Office and Chambers Ireland will address the Jobs Committee in Room 2, at 1.45 pm and 2.45 pm respectively, on access to finance for SMEs.
Fianna Fáil will propose a motion during Private Members Business at 7.30 pm to discuss the “cynical, politically motivated delay of information on what level of water charges households will have to pay”.
Everything else that’s happening in the Dáil
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte is the first TD up for questioning after the bank holiday weekend. He’ll be in the firing line at 2 pm.
Enda Kenny will be answering questions related to his department at 3.36 pm.
The Order of Business will be read at 4.36 pm. Following this, messages of sympathy for former Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat TD Peadar Clohessy will be read.
Statements onEurope Day, an event where a number of European institutions open their doors to the public, will be made at 5.06 pm.
Afterwards, Topical Issues- where pretty much anything could come up – will be discussed.
The Dáil will adjourn at 9 pm.
Everything happening in the Seanad
There’s just one item on the agenda for the Seanad today: the priorities and challenges facing Ireland in complying with the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Debate on the issue will take place at 11 am.
Everything else that’s happening in the Committees
The European Affairs Committee will meet in Room 1 at 2 pm to discuss this month’s elections to the Parliament.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter will come before theJustice Committee to discuss the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill 2014 - the proposed legislation looks at dissolving the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority and creating an amalgamated body to carry out their functions.
Health Minister James Reilly will address the Health Committee in Room 2 at 5.15 pm on a Bill that looks to put in place a new framework for HSE expenditure.
Here’s how to watch what’s going on in Leinster House today:
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My income tax would be lower if Apple actually paid their full 12 1/2℅ tax. Well, unless our gangsters in the Dail give it to our Rothschild/private bond holders.
Unless he gets one, then there could be the perfect storm. The Journal ‘towers’ would explode in orgy of ctrl-c ctrl-v, it would be like something from an Hieronymus Bosch painting
Silly story! If you compared the profits of most successful companies towards their total staff and apply the figures through a per capita rating, you’d get similar results. All the same, maybe the might loan us a few bob…
Hush, John. It’s the start of Apple season on the Journal, expect blanket coverage, and incendiary articles, until the launch of the iPhone 6 in September.
Apples profits are based on semi slave labour – and not something to boast about .
Many are made in Chian at Foxconn factories
”On June 14th, a Foxconn worker jumped to his death from his apartment building in Chengdu, marking the 18th reported worker suicide at Foxconn factories in China in just over two years[1]. Many additional suicides may have gone unreported[2][3]. But these deaths and the focus on conditions at Foxconn reflect only a portion of the troubling conditions at Apple suppliers.
This investigation of other Apple suppliers in China reveals that serious work-related injuries and worker suicides are by no means isolated to just Foxconn but exist throughout Apple’s supply chain. For example, we found that at least two workers committed suicide at Flextronics[4]’ factories last year[5][6] (Ganzhou and Zhuhai) and that upwards of 59 workers were injured in explosions at Riteng’s Shanghai factory last December[7] (both are Apple’s suppliers). More broadly, this investigation of ten different Apple factories in China finds that harmful, damaging work environments characterized by illegally long hours for low levels of pay are widespread in Apple’s supply, with working conditions frequently worse at suppliers other than Foxconn. We also document for the first time the tremendous problems caused by the use of ‘labour dispatching’ by Apple suppliers in China…
This is Bangladesh all over again – low wages – long hours – and the author of this report has nerve to compare the profits with Bangladesh where their have been tragedies and many deaths as well – and again western suppliers take no responsibility – despite their claims – for the hours and wages that workers have to put up with
- Oh and this is the direction in which we are headed – the race to the bottom – Yes – great news .
We should be boycotting these products .
Lot of talk about boycotting Israeli products – seems an easy target – but the things we use ourselves ??
Number of suicides in Foxconn factories (according to your story above, not attributed anywhere): 18 in two years out of a total workforce of over 1 million. That gives a rate of 0.9 suicides per 100,000 per year.
This is old news and has been discussed in great depth many times over. Apple has been the focus of such stories, as its iPhone is the top selling smartphone brand. As a result, it has been at the forefront in trying to improve conditions for workers. It has been working with the Fair Labor Association (www.fairlabor.org) to audit its facilities in the China supply chain. There are still challenges to be met, and it isn’t just Apple who can solve them. It’s a problem that affects the entire consumer electronics industry. So if you buy an iPhone or a Samsung phone or whatever brand of smartphone, chances are it will have come through the Chinese supply chain.
apple, like many large american corporations, would, under American tax laws, be liable to taxation when they repatriate profits back into the USA. This is unfair as thru have already paid tax at source in the country where the profit was made. Why should they pay tax twice. They have a duty to their shareholders to maximise profit legitimately.
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