Results 3,941-3,960 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (3 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: The balance is this. Let us get real and practical here. Should the system have to fork out €1,800 for something that can be done for €80? That is the beginning and end of this issue. My view is that——

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (3 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: That is what we are doing. I take Senator Coghlan's point. We do not want to infringe anyone's fundamental right to pursue cases with solicitors and go to court. Under no circumstances are we doing that. In every walk of life, people take these decisions to go to the courts while being aware of the issues and costs.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: That is not correct.

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, guím gach rath ort i do chuid oibre as seo amach agus tá súil agam go mbeimid go léir in ann comhoibriú leat sa todhchaí.

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: It is great to be here, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, to congratulate you on your position and wish you every success. Not so long ago you were asking me the questions and on this occasion you are refereeing. I am aware of this Supreme Court decision which arises from the first ever court decision in an abuse of dominance case brought by the Competition Authority. Following a full hearing of the...

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Let us get matters straight. The 2002 Act set up the Competition Authority as a statutory independent body. The Oireachtas, including Deputy Hogan, took that decision on the basis that it probably came to the conclusion that political interference in the operational work of the authority would carry significant hazards and could compromise the authority to an unacceptable degree in the...

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Does Deputy Hogan accept that?

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan needs to be clear on where he stands. He cannot ask if the Minister will advise the authority and give leadership to it, and almost in the same sentence suggest the Minister should not become involved and should remain independent.

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan has criticised the fact the authority has taken on the Irish League of Credit Unions. I stated we are studying the Supreme Court judgment. It is only by its careful consideration that one could make observations in terms of future actions. The authority is independent. We should equally point out that many settlements are made before the proceedings ever get to court, when...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: To reduce energy consumption in the Department and to ensure maximum energy efficiency and the minimum carbon footprint in its daily operations, my Department, through its green team which was established some years ago, continues to implement the following actions——

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: ——ensure all lighting in the Department's eight buildings is switched off overnight; ensure the Office of Public Works, which looks after the replacement of electric light bulbs in my Department's buildings, uses energy-efficient bulbs and long-life bulbs wherever possible when electric light bulbs are being replaced; ensure the central heating arrangements for the Department's buildings...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: It is easy to make points like that but before I arrived in the Department a green team of officials had been set up to support a green officer. We may look flippantly at issues such as turning off lights but it is recognised in research that enormous savings can be made. I take Deputy Quinn's point about quantifying it but I do not know the baseline from a few years ago. The Power of One...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Yes. As part of the fit-out of the new offices, Enterprise Ireland engaged sustainability consultants, including a specialist from Sustainable Energy Ireland. A feasibility study is being carried out by Sustainable Energy Solutions under the headings of environmental strategies, energy utilisation and development of advanced building management system. This seeks to achieve the broad...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: National and international surveys indicate that the administrative burden or red tape factor of regulation on business is not particularly onerous in Ireland. In a recent ESRI survey, over half of businesses stated that the level of regulation in their sector was about right. However, it is important we ensure that regulation remains balanced between cost and benefit and that we constantly...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan is wrong. I was never against it.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: The election is over.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I worked quickly on this. The audit exemption thresholds that the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, and I worked on was raised from €1.5 million to €7.3 million and from €1.9 million to €3.65 million in terms of turnover and balance sheet respectively.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Many companies have benefited from it and have articulated gratitude. The small business forum, which I established, came up with practical recommendations for small businesses. As a result of that and in consort with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, as the Deputy has graciously acknowledged, significant measures were introduced in budget 2007 which reduced the administrative burden...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I will act. What we have done with the new high level group is to bring together the regulatory body in the Taoiseach's Department with the business regulation forum. We have endeavoured to do something like a clearing house similar to the financial services clearing house to buy in from the different sectors. We will take a sectoral approach and get early results to reduce the burden....

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Once we get over September.