Results 4,881-4,900 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Employment Rights. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: In any event, I assure the House that there will be significant penalties in the new national employment rights legislation. There are now 76 inspectors employed in the National Employment Rights Authority. A further five are due to commence on 3 March and the appointment of inspectors to fill the four remaining posts is progressing. Five more vacancies arose with people retiring and so...

Employment Rights. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: One joint campaign has already been initiated by the three agencies, which I detailed earlier, concerning the construction sector. In terms of NERA, it is a non-statutory body. The legislation underpinning NERA is currently being drafted and a memorandum will go the Government shortly on it. I have already outlined that to the Deputy. Under the existing body of legislation to which I...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: The key policy intervention concerning people on the live register at present is the national employment action plan preventive strategy which was first introduced in 1998 and rolled out nationwide in subsequent years. This process involves a more systematic engagement with the unemployed. On reaching a three month threshold on the live register, individuals aged between 18 and 64 years are...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: That was a very lengthy question but I welcome some of the suggestions made by the Deputy. I accept the broader point that we must do more in terms of labour activation measures. I am not so sure there are huge numbers of people out there deciding not to work.

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: I do not accept that totally. We have reduced the threshold in the preventative plan from six months to three. I met people in my clinic recently who had been working for 20 or 30 years, who said they thought they were entitled to their PRSI. They were only two weeks unemployed and felt they were being put through the wringer in terms of lining up another job. I cannot say what the Deputy...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: I beg the tolerance of the Chair, particularly as I mentioned him in glowing terms in the Tallaght Institute of Technology approximately two hours ago——

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: When the interviews take place in FÁS and with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, a very significant percentage of interviewees do not come back for a second interview and go back to employment. That has been a feature of our plan and a very effective part of it. On the other hand, in the broad area of disability and unemployment, we must do better than we have done in the last...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, has developed the role of the social employment through the community services programme, which facilitates exactly what the Deputy has articulated. The fundamental mandate of the community employment programme originally was as a labour activation measure. It was meant to be short term, to get people back into...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: I accept that we must re-examine the matter. When we did so three years ago, we extended the age limit to 55 years and sent social economy affairs to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with €30 million of taxpayers' money, such is my generous nature. We recognised that social economy matters belonged there, not under a labour market measure. In terms of labour...

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: Not at all. The Acting Chairman's absence was noted. It is an extraordinary event when he is not present.

Employment Action Plan. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: We should mention him also.

Planning Issues. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: The provision of information in respect of the planning process is a matter for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and local authorities. I understand that the Department provides documentation in respect of this issue, including the leaflet, "Planning for the Business Person". Enterprise development agencies operating under the aegis of my Department provide...

Planning Issues. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: This is the job of directors of enterprise, which are positions of employment in many local authorities. I am glad the Deputy raised this question, as it gives me an opportunity to make a few points. I am concerned that in some local authority areas, the issue of enterprise has fallen down the ladder. Family enterprises and so on that have been in rural locations for 30 years or so are...

Planning Issues. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: Yes, to set up one's business again. Enterprise Ireland is giving grants to companies in terms of human resources, research and development and so on but, thanks to development levies, those grants are increasingly going from one State agency to the county manager. Through the Small Business Forum, we made strong representations to the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local...

Planning Issues. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: I accept the broad thrust of Deputy Penrose's proposition, and that my Government colleagues and I have a collective responsibility in this regard that I must discharge. I take on board the Deputy's opinion that my Department should meet local authority managers. Traditionally, it was a matter for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. On an individual basis, I...

Planning Issues. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: It would put into context the Oireachtas' opinion in this regard, not just the Executive's.

Groceries Order. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: The Competition Authority made a submission to the Government alcohol advisory group last month and, subsequently, made it available on its own website. As the independent statutory agency responsible for the enforcement of competition law in the State, the authority is entitled to respond to public consultations. While I have not discussed the submission with the authority, I am aware of...

Groceries Order. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: The issue of alcohol is multifaceted and the advisory group established by the Minster for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is examining a range of issues. I took this opportunity to put the groceries order debate in context. Much alcohol is now imported and there are issues such as unit cost and selling price, which are provisions defined in legislation. There is significant difficulty in...

Job Creation. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: IDA Ireland is the agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment, FDI, to Ireland and its regions. The marketing of individual areas for new or expansion FDI investments and jobs is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency. During 2007, the latest period for which data are available, 9,216 new jobs were created in IDA supported companies, of which...

Job Creation. (28 Feb 2008)

Micheál Martin: What target is the Deputy referring to?