Results 46,861-46,880 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: I understand that WorldSkills Council Ireland manages the selection, training and participation of Ireland's team for the WorldSkills competition. The council is chaired by the Department of Education and Science and is representative of the various partners in vocational education and training, including the Department of Education and Science, FÁS, the institutes of technology, the Dublin...

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: FÁS is a contributing partner to this event and I take a different approach to this matter than the Deputy. I have been familiar with the Skill Olympics since my time in the Department of Education and Science and I know that the staff of the colleges do not have to partake in it. It is a labour of love for many of the personnel of our institutes of technology and we should celebrate and...

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: Activity levels increased on this occasion.

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: I do not know who are the hangers-on to whom the Deputy refers.

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy put the question and is labelling these people hangers-on; I am not describing anyone as a hanger-on.

Skills Olympics. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: We are in the business of trying to inform and question and I suggest the Deputy should talk to the people who organised our participation in this event. He can come back to me if his perspective on this matter has not changed.

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: Under the Industrial Development Act 1986, as amended by the Acts of 1993 and 1995, IDA Ireland has the power to acquire, hold and dispose of land and any other property or any interest therein for the purpose of facilitating an industrial undertaking. Accordingly, the management of IDA Ireland's industrial property portfolio is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency, as part of the...

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: Where it makes sense in local environments, we work with IDA Ireland to make a site available for an enterprise centre, for example, or for indigenous enterprise as opposed to foreign direct investment. Some 41% of properties are vacant but this percentage relates to a much smaller total than was the case previously. In 1998, there were 613 buildings in the IDA Ireland portfolio, but this...

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: That is a fair point. Through Enterprise Ireland's enterprise centre programme, we have allocated significant funding for enterprise. In recent weeks, for instance, we announced a significant raft of decisions in regard to enterprise centres throughout the State, particularly in rural areas and in those counties that may not have had the same success as others in securing foreign direct...

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: I am not in a position to instruct local authority officials.

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: I take the Deputy's point. We work closely with local authorities and there are many pro-enterprise county managers and town clerks throughout the State with innovative development plans. In Mallow, for example, a proactive leadership approach is being taken in terms of involving the local community in decisions regarding the zoning of land for enterprise purposes. In Dungarvan, there have...

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: That is the model we want. We invariably find that the types of practices to which the Deputy referred occur most often in those areas that are loudest in seeking investment but have the least proactive policies. The Deputy's second question relates to a function of local authorities. Park and ride facilities are the type of infrastructure that can best facilitate access to parking for...

Industrial Development. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: That is a matter for local authorities. It can only be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: Under the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006, it is illegal to employ a non-EEA national without an employment permit where one is required. These Acts provide for a large number of obligations and offences, including those relating to the employment of foreign nationals except in accordance with an employment permit, refusal to co-operate with Garda inquiries, forgery, fraudulent...

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy and the Employment Permits Act 2006 gives me those teeth. It states "the Minister may appoint in writing such and so many of his or her officers to be authorised officers for the purposes of all or any of the provisions of this Act or the Act of 2003". It was a gap in the 2003 legislation that the issue of prosecution was left to An Garda.

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: The GAMA episode, which may still be in the Supreme Court, made this matter crystal clear for me. We were quite vulnerable to legal challenge, even in the compilation of a report. I have instructed my officials that the national employment rights agency, NERA, will be the agency to prosecute for breaches of the Employment Permits Act2006.

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: The Bill to give NERA statutory provision is being drafted currently by the Parliamentary Counsel, and it should be placed on a statutory footing in early 2008. The overall approach is to build compliance. NERA is in discussions currently with the GNIB——

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: They are authorised officers of my Department so I can activate it. I have had discussions with NERA on this specific issue last week. The GNIB still has a significant role to play because there is a migration aspect to this. A benefit of this Act, which will give us more teeth, is the capacity for the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and my Department to...

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: Under the new employment permit arrangements I launched earlier this year, registered nurses and specialist nurses are both occupations for which green cards may be issued for posts with an annual salary over €30,000. Nurses must be fully qualified and registered with An Bord Altranais. In 2007 to the end of October, a total of 1,331 employment permits have issued in respect of nurses, of...

Work Permits. (28 Nov 2007)

Micheál Martin: My officials discussed the matter this morning and we understand the association may have articulated the difficulties outlined by the Deputy; we will facilitate a meeting to work through a proper system. There has always been a specific allowance for health care because it was an area identified repeatedly, along with IT and construction professionals, as having skills shortages. This must...