Results 4,121-4,140 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Deputy for tabling the question. In the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, developing a better environment for entrepreneurship is a key disruptive reform. The work of the Entrepreneurship Forum has been a valuable input to identify areas for fruitful initiative. The Department is developing a national policy statement on entrepreneurship. As part of this process, the forum’s...

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Many of the recommendations made actually cut across measures that are being implemented anyway. It is unfair to suggest that the Government is not engaging proactively with the recommendations. It acknowledges wholeheartedly the role played by the chairman and individual members in bringing forward these recommendations. I can tell the Deputy that, internally, there is no sense of...

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I did not answer the question on the number of people who have been assigned. A number of people have been appointed through Enterprise Ireland in Asia, comprising ten new people across Asia. I can get a specific figure for the Deputy in respect of China. To my mind, the interdepartmental approach works quite rapidly at present. If one examines again the recommendations made in the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Social Enterprise Sector (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a vibrant and effective social enterprise sector. A report on the potential of social enterprises to create jobs and to identify the actions required by Government and other relevant bodies and agencies, was commissioned and produced by Forfás in July 2013. The Forfás report recommended the establishment of an...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Enterprise Support Services Provision (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: The importance of investment in science, technology and innovation to Ireland’s ongoing and future economic and social development has been well recognised by the Government. Our focus has and continues to be very much on prioritising public investment in research while better exploiting results in order to lead to an acceleration of growth and job creation. This investment in...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Senators for putting forward the amendment. Section 5, which the Senators are proposing to amend, provides for a significant change to the Friendly Societies Act 1896. That is the cessation of registration of any new societies under section 8 of the legislation. The rationale for the change, as I set out on Second and Committee Stages, is twofold. First, the lack of demand for...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Section 6, which the Senators are proposing to amend, places restrictions on existing societies establishing a loan fund, as provided for in section 46 of the principal Friendly Societies Act 1896 where they do not already have such a fund in place. The change will not have an impact on existing societies that have a fund in place. This amounts to three societies at present. The rationale...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Section 8, which the Senators are proposing to amend, removes the restriction in the current Act providing that the registrar must be absent for the powers, functions and duties to be exercised and performed by such other person as the Minister may authorise, and allows another person to act alongside the registrar. The change is necessary as, for the past number of years, the role of...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I wish to take a few brief moments to thank the Members for their contribution to the debate. In particular, I thank those Senators who put down amendments. I assure them that the area of financial prudential supervision is something that is been taken seriously. This is best carried out through the Central Bank Acts. While I am not accepting the amendment I hope we have addressed...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Garda Investigations (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality who is unable to be present as she is attending a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg. I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and acknowledge the consistency with which he has advocated on it. As the Minister recently announced, an independent review group has been established to...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Garda Investigations (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I acknowledge the points made by the Senator. I will convey these concerns to the Minister on his behalf.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: School Accommodation (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. As a Minister of State in the relevant Department, I am acutely aware of the predicament in which that school community finds itself. I take this opportunity to inform the House that I am not going to read directly from the prepared script. As I understand it, the Firhouse Educate Together school was established to service a specific demographic...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: School Accommodation (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I accept those points and I recognise that Firhouse Educate Together is currently occupying temporary accommodation, which is certainly not ideal. I have come across situations such as this previously whereby schoolchildren are being obliged to learn in what can only be described as Dickensian conditions while they await the provision of permanent accommodation. I wish to give Senator Keane...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Senator Bradford for raising this issue. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually. I accept the point made by the Senator in regard to budget 2012, whereby as part of that budget there is a phased increase in the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools with four teachers or less. The...

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: My speech, along with the information pack containing supplementary documentation, has been circulated. I am pleased to bring the Companies Bill 2012 before the Seanad today. The Bill as presented represents a landmark legislative project, which is the result of many years of detailed and comprehensive work by officials in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Company Law...

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Senators heard it here first. The primary defining feature of a DAC will be the continued existence of an objects clause in the constitution of the company. It is envisaged that entities which would welcome the DAC include special purpose companies, for example, those incorporated for joint ventures or for use in a financing transaction. However, the Bill does not restrict the availability...

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I have to catch a flight at 7 a.m. as well, so I thank the Senator for his indulgence.

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Members for the very precise nature of the points raised in their brief contributions. I will endeavour to answer all the points but if I do not do so tonight, I hope they will indulge me to respond to them on Committee Stage when I will have comprehensive answers. I thank the Senators for their valuable contributions to the debate on the Companies Bill 2012. I welcome the general...

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Senator Cullinane is concerned that the full rights, powers and privileges of a company under section 38 of the Bill will confer human rights on companies to the detriment of workers. That is wonderfully rhetorical, if I may be so bold as to say so. The full and unlimited capacity referred to in section 38 has been included because under existing law a company has no capacity to carry on...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Road Traffic Offences (10 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality. When a relevant offence is detected, the registered owner of the vehicle involved receives a fixed charge notice. I know that is stating the obvious but I wish to set out the process. The address to which the fixed charge notice is posted to is either the one...