Results 2,841-2,860 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Information Technology (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I agree with everything the Deputy has said. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, is engaging on its usefulness for reducing costs in the public sector and there is much concentration on this in the wider public sector. Membership of the group varies from people involved in industry to those in the Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We...

Information Technology (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, has specific responsibility for this area. I do not know whether the Deputy has engaged with him on this matter, but I suggest he does so because he would get a definitive answer on what we are doing with regard to broadband. For the purposes of addressing the issue of the potential of cloud computing, I...

Information Technology (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: If the Deputy is concerned about a specific course I would welcome further information on it and I am happy to speak directly to him on this matter. Cork Institute of Technology, in tandem with industry, has developed a specific course on this. Mr. Bob Savage of EMC is on the governing body of CIT so one is confident this course has large industry buy-in. If the industry has problems with...

Employment Support Services (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The Government is tackling unemployment generally through the twin strategies of the action plan for jobs and the Pathways to Work scheme. The aim of the action plan for jobs is to support the creation of 100,000 net new jobs by 2016, while the objective of Pathways to Work is to provide those who are unemployed with the appropriate training and skills to avail of the job opportunities which...

Employment Support Services (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: We all acknowledge that over the past years this country has gone through major restructuring in terms of how the economy works. The Minister already stated that if all the eggs are in one sector and if it fails, it has a monstrous effect on the economy. We are trying to put in place a set of programmes which will allow people to upskill and retrain, so that we have a skillset. I mention...

Written Answers — Enterprise Support Services: Enterprise Support Services (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 16 together. In November 2011 the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, TD, announced a new Seed Capital Scheme (SCS) to encourage individuals currently or formerly in employment to establish new business ventures. The changes introduced by the Minister for Finance included a widening of the types of companies eligible under the Scheme. This widening of...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 37 together. The Development Capital Scheme as outlined in the Action Plan for Jobs has been developed to complement the existing suite of financial supports offered by Enterprise Ireland. A range of other initiatives are already in place for the provision of capital at the early stage and scaling phases, and a clear market failure was identified in...

Written Answers — Research and Development: Research and Development (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: There is a wide range of diverse supports for different types of research and development across a number of Government Departments and State Agencies. There are no plans, at present, to streamline application processes for this diverse range of R&D supports across all research funders. The application criteria for research in, say, medical devices would be very different from the application...

Written Answers — Research and Development: Research and Development (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: Under the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Council adopted a number of headline targets, including improving the conditions for research and development, in particular with the aim of raising combined public and private investment levels to 3% of GDP by 2020. In accordance with the Strategy, Member States have adopted national targets on the basis of these headline targets, as set out in...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (12 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The salary sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform for the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, Professor Mark Ferguson, is €189,115 gross per annum. This includes a personal pension contribution rate. Professor Ferguson commenced in the post on 16th January 2012.

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (19 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The mandate of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is to develop Ireland's human capital in strategic areas of scientific endeavour relevant to the future competitiveness of Irish industry and enterprise. It carries out this task by funding world-class research teams in our higher education institutions focussing on the areas of information and communications technologies, biotechnology and...

Written Answers — Research and Development: Research and Development (19 Jul 2012)

Seán Sherlock: This matter was formally reviewed by my Department through Forfas which commissioned an expert report by consultants Georgia Tech in 2001 to examine the case for Irish participation in a number of intergovernmental research organisations including CERN. That Report concluded that because of high costs and limited industrial development returns membership should not be pursued at that time....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: European Organization for Nuclear Research (18 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I propose to take Questions Nos. 543 to 545, inclusive, together. The issue of whether or not Ireland should join CERN was formally reviewed by my Department, through Forfas, which commissioned an expert report by consultants Georgia Tech in 2001 to examine the case for Irish participation in a number of intergovernmental research organisations. That Report concluded that, because of high...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Research Funding (18 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The European Research Council (ERC) is a European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier research. It was established to implement the "Ideas Programme" of the Seventh European Union Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Science Foundation Ireland Expenditure (18 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I propose to take Questions Nos. 560 and 563 together. Table 1 below sets out the Science Foundation Ireland expenditure for the period 2004 – 2011 inclusive. Table 2 below sets out the number of researchers supported by Science Foundation Ireland over the period 2004 – 2011 inclusive. Science Foundation Ireland’s capital grant budget for 2012 is €156m, which will...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: International Agreements (18 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: As the Deputy is aware the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an international trade agreement that aims to help countries work together to tackle more effectively large-scale Intellectual Property Rights violations by clamping down on counterfeiting and piracy. It aims to strike a fair balance between the interests of the parties concerned, including citizens, consumers, civil...

National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: The look on Deputy Humphrey's face suggests otherwise.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: It was worse during the Fianna Fáil years.

Topical Issue Debate: Health Professions Admission Test Administration (20 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Deputy Mitchell O'Connor for raising this matter. The determination of selection criteria and processes for admission to medical schools is a matter for the universities and the medical schools in line with their statutory autonomy in academic affairs. A new entry process for admission to medical schools was introduced in 2009 on foot of a recommendation of the Fottrell working...

Topical Issue Debate: Health Professions Admission Test Administration (20 Sep 2012)

Seán Sherlock: This began as a conversation about HPAT and has turned into a conversation about Project Maths.