Results 2,541-2,560 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Cloud Computing (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: EMC, the Irish Internet Association, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Dell and A&L Goodbody are all engaged in this process. It is a worthwhile process because if we can become global leaders by dint of being early adopters we will have a competitive advantage. I recognise that problems arise in broadband provision but the capacity is present in terms of cloud. If the Deputy engages...

Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: On job creation, this Department must deal with the reality of the capital funding available to it. On 10 November the Government published its infrastructural and capital investment medium-term Exchequer framework for the period 2012 to 2016. Overall, capital investment totalling €17 billion has been allocated across Departments. In one way or another, all of this €17 billion...

Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: I take the Deputy's point which is made in good faith. However, in respect of the Government's capital allocation, there has been a 4% increase in Enterprise Ireland's capital budget for 2012. I will rush through thee figures because I am conscious of the time constraints, but there has been a 10% increase in the number of high potential start-up companies, a 20% increase in the number of...

Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: The Government is trying to create long-term sustainable jobs, but the Deputy is talking about short-term projects based on capital expenditure. This does not stack up.

Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: In fairness to the pensioners who were outside the gates of Leinster House today, if I interpreted the vox pop correctly, the strong message also extended to the amount of money being taken in administration fees.

Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: I respectfully ask the Deputy to allow me to answer the question. The pensioners were as adamant in their opposition to that aspect. Let us take another look and look at the issue from the perspective of the communication passed between Departments. However, with all due respect, as the question tabled by the Deputy pertains to capital expenditure of €3.1 billion, he will forgive me if I...

Written Answers — EU Funding: EU Funding (22 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: The Seventh EU Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7), with a budget of over €50 billion for the period 2007 to 2013, is the EU's main instrument for funding research and development in Europe. In order to extract the maximum benefit from the opportunities available within FP7, a National Support Network has been put in place, headed by a National Director for FP7 based in...

Foreign Conflicts (23 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: Like many in the international community, the Government has been closely following events in Egypt in recent days in the run-up to historic parliamentary elections which are due to get under way on 28 November. We all recall the events last February in Tahrir Square which proved so inspiring, when the discredited government of former President Hosni Mubarak was swept away in an impressive...

Foreign Conflicts (23 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: The question for Ireland, the European Union and the wider international community is how best we can support the Egyptian people along the path towards full and a genuine democracy. The first step in that process is the holding of parliamentary elections which are scheduled to take place next Monday. The Government has committed €250,000 to the United Nations' development programme to...

Foreign Conflicts (23 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: We will assist the process in a pragmatic fashion to enable capacity building. We are putting our money where our mouth is to support the Egyptian people.

Commercial Rates: Motion (Resumed) (23 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: Methinks the Deputy is a bit of a cynic. He is neither a socialist nor a revolutionary.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (24 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: While the areas around which public R&D budgets have been oriented to date (ICT, biotechnology, aspects of energy policy) were appropriate for building a broad base of national expertise in fundamental, underpinning science and technology we now need to leverage the strengths that have emerged from the investment that has taken place. We need to target investment so that we have critical...

Written Answers — Legislative Programme: Legislative Programme (29 Nov 2011)

Seán Sherlock: The public consultation process referred to attracted more than 50 submissions from interested parties on this subject. Several of these submissions contained legal arguments in regard to the issue as well as comments in respect of the draft statutory instrument which was published as part of the consultation process. These comments were forwarded by my Department to the Office of the...

Industrial Development (1 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Deputy Troy for raising this matter. I have some sympathy for his position as I understand the frustration of any Deputy who represents areas outside of the large urban conurbations when it comes to attracting inward investment to their business parks. I too have had words with the agency when it comes to its policy of attracting inward investment to places other than the larger...

Industrial Development (1 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: I have sympathy for the Deputy regarding the issues raised. If one considers this from the vantage point of companies that may invest inward, they do not necessarily look at county boundaries or constituencies and, therefore, if they are considering the midlands gateway, they will look at the towns, in particular, not the county boundaries.

Industrial Development (1 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: I take what the Deputy said in good faith. Given that Mullingar has a strong stakeholder forum, I respectfully suggest it should take up the cudgel through its local public representatives to forge a closer link or dynamic with the IDA in respect of the issues he has outlined. With regard to a site visit, I can bring this to the attention of the Minister. I have visited AIT and NUIM. They...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (6 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: The total Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) expenditure over the period 2000-2011 is shown in Table 1 below. The 2011 figures are estimated. Table 1: SFI expenditure 2000-2011 inclusive. Year Capital/ research grants (€) Current expenditure/pay (€) Administrative costs of running grant programmes (€) Other (€) 2000 0 0 0.40m 0 2001 8.76m 0.43m 1.69m 0 2002 31.00m 0.90m 3.10m 0...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (6 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: Researchers funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) are employed by their respective higher education institutions. Therefore individual researcher salaries are a matter for the higher education institutions. SFI is currently supporting approximately 3,000 researchers. On average, approximately 60% of any SFI grant award is a contribution to the salary costs of the researcher teams. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (6 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: Currently Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is directly supporting approximately 3,000 researchers in Ireland's higher education institutions. The researchers in receipt of SFI grants are employed by the various higher education institutions. Consequently pension entitlements are a contractual matter between the individual researchers and their respective employers. Members of research teams...

Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Seán Sherlock: That is not true.