Results 48,181-48,200 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy would have been aware of that campaign from the outset. Many solicitors for obvious and understandable reasons from their point of view were against its establishment. However, a number of solicitors I have met have admitted that it is working, although they acknowledge it has resulted in a significant loss of earnings for themselves and their companies.

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: Even The Sunday Business Post article to which the Deputy referred acknowledges that insurance costs have decreased. Motor insurance and home insurance costs have fallen to 1999 levels. I refer the Deputy to a recent IBEC press release dated 2 November, which carried the heading "Rate of personal injuries claims falling". It was reported on "Drivetime" on Friday, 10 November that the...

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I welcome and am a great admirer of the work of the committee from time to time, although not on all issues. It is important to have a sense of perspective in this debate. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe's comments on his assessment of the PIAB lack perspective and balance. As I stated, PIAB deals with cases. As Deputy O'Keeffe knows, cases are settled within two to seven months compared to three or...

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: Above all, through this programme, the Government helped to reduce motor and home insurance costs.

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I must respond — this is not rhetoric. Data from the Central Statistics Office show motor insurance costs for September 2005 dropped to levels last seen in September 1999. It also shows the cost of home insurance in September 2006 dropped below November 2001 levels. This is not me or any fancy rhetoric. It is Central Statistics Office data. I agree the insurance industry has higher...

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: ——and put his issues to them?

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: They would be more than willing to deal with Deputy O'Keeffe's questions and explain to him the progress being made.

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I have. I met with them, put these questions to them, received responses and articulated them to the House. I ask the Deputy——

Personal Injuries Assessment Board. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: ——to go to the board himself and not to add to the sustained campaign by vested interests to undermine it.

Skill Shortages. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I understand the particular concern expressed by the American Chamber of Commerce survey relates to fourth level or PhD graduates. A concerted effort is made across Departments to promote fourth level education in Ireland. This is reflected in a number of ways, including in the work of bodies such as Science Foundation Ireland. The recently launched strategy for science, technology and...

Skill Shortages. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: We have regular meetings with the American Chamber of Commerce. We will discuss this issue at future meetings. I meet individual companies overseas and here. In the overall context, through the extraordinary inward migration to Ireland and the expanded third level system, we make every possible effort to facilitate low and high skill availability. The decision in May 2004 regarding the...

Skill Shortages. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: The green card we will introduce as part of the work permits system will facilitate high-skilled labour and will better streamline it. I accept the procedures must be streamlined to facilitate inter-company transfer, which will be statutorily facilitated in the Act. We will introduce regulations to commence it in the new year. The green card and work permit systems will focus on higher...

EU Directives. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: Directive 98/6/EC on the requirement to indicate product prices was transposed into Irish law in Statutory Instrument No. 639 of 2002 and came into force on 1 March 2003. The directive obliges retailers to display the selling price and the unit price per kilo or litre for products. As the Deputy is aware, I will introduce major consumer legislation later this year to establish the new...

EU Directives. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

EU Directives. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I will certainly take up that issue with the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs which is operating as it always has, despite the change of personnel. There may have been a blip on that particular day but the office is up and running, as it always has been and there has been no particular change there. In fact, I recently launched the National Consumer Agency's new website, which is...

EU Directives. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: It is available for the public to access in terms of rights data and so on. I hope to have the legislation ready for publication before the end of the year. It is the number one priority and is well advanced in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. The passage of that legislation will enable us to put the agency on a statutory footing.

Company Liquidations. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 82, 112 and 137 together. As indicated in replies to previous questions, matters relating to the liquidation of the company concerned are currently the subject of attention by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Each of these bodies is independent in the performance of its functions and it would not be...

Company Liquidations. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I share the sentiments expressed by the Deputy. I wish to put on the record the main company law provisions in Ireland dealing with such companies. Companies that fail and re-engage in trading under a new name are addressed under the Companies Acts 1963-2005 and, in particular, under the provisions of Part 5 of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001. Under section 56 of the latter Act, a new...

Industrial Development. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: The National Competitiveness Council, NCC, recently published its Statement on the Costs of Doing Business in Ireland. The publication outlines the key findings of research looking at the cost of doing business at four locations in Ireland — Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick — and comparing these to international centres such as Bangalore, Boston and Copenhagen. The data is for one...

Industrial Development. (15 Nov 2006)

Micheál Martin: I answered the question by giving a balanced perspective on the issue. Deputy Hogan is overly concentrating on the negative.