Results 2,621-2,640 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Company Law: Company Law (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The section which works on drafting the General Scheme of the Company Law Reform and Consolidation Bill has four full-time persons but the Company Law Division of my Department works in a collegiate way with a pooling of its expertise and experience. In the context of this Bill it is also relevant to mention the huge contribution made by members of the Company Law Review Group to ensuring...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Competition Authority published its Strategy Statement for the period 2006 to 2008 at the beginning of the year. The Strategy Statement sets out the Competition Authority's objectives for the next three years and its plans on how it proposes to implement those objectives. The Authority states that the focus of its strategy over the next three years is about discharging its functions in...

Written Answers — Departmental Investigations: Departmental Investigations (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Sixteen investigations into company law matters were initiated by my predecessor in the period since 1997. In three cases, the High Court appointed, on an application by the Minister, inspectors under section 8 of the Companies Act 1990. The Inspectors appointed to Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited presented their Report to the High Court on 10 June 2002. The Report was subsequently published and...

Written Answers — Energy Resources: Energy Resources (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I welcome this report which has provided some significant food for thought as to the future availability of oil and the subsequent implications for the enterprise sector and for the economy as a whole. The report highlights the need for very careful consideration as to the way in which our future competitiveness and prosperity may be affected if we do not make careful use of a finite resource...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: In the past five years the numbers in employment increased by 268,000 or by 15.6%. Employment increased by 87,000 or by 4.7% last year alone. This is the highest annual rate of growth since 2000. Over 7,000 new jobs are created every month on average. This is way in excess of the average rate of redundancies. This means that those who lose their jobs through redundancy are finding new...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: As I have previously explained in this House, one of the aims of the Competition Act 2002 is to prohibit anti-competitive practices by "undertakings". An "undertaking" is defined in the Act as "a person being an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons engaged for gain in the production, supply, or distribution of goods or the provision of a service". This definition...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is referring to a report entitled Data Analysis of In-Employment Education and Training in Ireland that was published by Forfás in 2005. At the time this report was in preparation, the latest full year for which the full range of data was available was 2003. At that time this Department was contributing less than €14m in direct training grants to activities classified in this...

Written Answers — Science and Technology: Science and Technology (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I will shortly be concluding my consideration of this matter in consultation with my Cabinet colleagues, and I envisage that a public competition for the position of Chief Scientific Adviser will be initiated in the next number of weeks.

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The NDP's Employment and Human Resources Development Operational Programme (EHRDOP) is a €15 billion plan that addresses Ireland's labour market and human capital development needs for the period 2000-2006. The budget comprises €892 million of assistance from the European Social Fund (ESF). The EHRDOP comprises 52 measures which are implemented by a variety of Government departments and...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 132 together. There are currently a total of twenty-nine Directives due to be transposed by this Department. Of these, as at end April 2006, 13 are overdue for transposition and are detailed in the table below. From May 2006 to December 2006 another six Directives require to be transposed. A further ten Directives require to be transposed in 2007 and...

Written Answers — Industrial Development: Industrial Development (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The provision of grant assistance for individual companies, and the related matter of companies refunding grants where appropriate, is a matter for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland themselves, and not one in which I have a direct function. I have made enquiries with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland regarding their latest available figures in respect of grant refunds. IDA Ireland report...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Under the Government's decentralisation programme, FÁS is due to move its head office to Birr, County Offaly. FÁS is one of the seven State agencies identified as early movers by the decentralisation implementation group from among the 30 agencies covered by the programme. A "relocation clause" included in recruitment and promotion contracts has given rise to industrial action by SIPTU. The...

Written Answers — Grocery Industry: Grocery Industry (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: In view of concerns expressed by some contributors to the public consultation process on the Groceries Order last year, I asked the Competition Authority to monitor the sector following the repeal of the Order. The Authority is currently putting in place a monitoring mechanism to track data and trends over the coming months and years and it will keep my Department informed of developments.

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The European Commission's amended proposal was published on 4th April following the European Parliament's first vote on the proposal on the 16th February 2006. The amended proposal is currently being examined in the Council Working Group and COREPER. The Austrian Presidency hopes to have political agreement on the proposal for the Competitiveness Council on 29th and 30th May 2006, although it...

Written Answers — Personal Injuries Assessment Board: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: In all, 19,625 cases have been received by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to date as follows. There are currently 4,886 cases with the PIAB in the 90-day "consent to process" period i.e. PIAB has received a claim and has issued formal notice to the responding party, and is awaiting consent to process from that party. There are a further 4,293 cases in the 9-month statutory assessment...

Written Answers — Company Law: Company Law (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The main company law provisions in Ireland dealing with companies which fail and whose owners re-engage in trading under a new name are addressed under the Companies Acts 1963 to 2005 and in particular under the provisions of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001. Under the provisions of section 56 of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001, liquidators of insolvent companies are required to...

Written Answers — Unemployment Levels: Unemployment Levels (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 200 together. The Deputies will be aware that there have been significant employment developments for Donegal recently. In March 2006, I announced the establishment of a new Enterprise Managed Service Centre by AssetCo in Buncrana. The project involves an investment of €5.2 million and will lead to the to the creation of 130 new jobs. Also, in March...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The establishment of a National Consumer Agency, which was the principal recommendation of the Consumer Strategy Group, was fully accepted by the Government. In this regard, I hope to publish the legislation establishing the new Agency later this year and to have the NCA up and running early in 2007. The Deputy will be aware that I appointed a Board to the NCA in June 2005 to act in an...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The following tabular statement provides a county-by-county breakdown of the numbers of participants employed on Community Employment (CE) Schemes by approximately 1,270 CE Sponsor organisations on 1st January 2006. County 1/1/2006 Carlow 328 Cavan 250 Clare 561 Cork 2,165 Donegal 1,115 Dublin 5,798 Galway 1,418 Kerry 932 Kildare 622 Kilkenny 404 Laois 331...

Written Answers — Departmental Investigations: Departmental Investigations (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Allegations of non-compliance with labour legislation in respect of a major Construction Firm were raised in this House on 8 February, 2005 by Deputy Joe Higgins. Those allegations were that certain non-national construction workers were required to work excessive hours and that such workers were in receipt of pay of between €2.00 and €3.00 per-hour in contravention of the statutory...