Results 7,681-7,700 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Rights Commissioner Service is part of the Labour Relations Commission, a statutory body independent of my Department in the performance of its functions. All operational matters relating to the Rights Commissioner Service, including the scheduling of hearings, is a matter for the Labour Relations Commission. Equally, it is a matter for the Commission to decide on the extent to which...

Written Answers — Enterprise Support Services: Enterprise Support Services (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Enterprise Development Agencies have served the economy well in recent years in terms of the many thousands of high-value and sustained jobs created across the regions, the significant contribution their clients make to tax receipts and spend in the Irish economy, as well as their contribution to our export success and continuing healthy balance of payments. However, we are now presented...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The EU Directive on Temporary Agency Workers (2008/14/EC) is due to be transposed into Irish law by 5 December 2011. A central aim of the Directive is to ensure protection of temporary agency workers by applying the principle of equal treatment in their basic working and employment conditions. My Department initiated a public consultation on the national transposition of the Directive in...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: A list of the agencies under the auspices of my Department and their financial allocations for 2010 and 2011 sought by the deputy are published under Vote 34 in the Revised Estimates Volumes for the Public Service 2010 and 2011 which are available in the Dáil Library. The outturn figures for 2011 will not be available until years end.

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 75 and 231 together. The main factors impacting on job creation, enterprise and innovation at present have been well flagged in reports from the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) and include a lack of consumer demand, difficulties accessing certain business finance, cost competitiveness issues and the impact of the global economic downturn on the Irish...

Written Answers — Units of Measurement: Units of Measurement (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Directive 80/181/EEC on Units of Measurement, transposed by European Communities (Units of Measurement) Regulations 1992 (S.I. No. 255 of 1992) as amended by Directive 2009/3/EC transposed by European Communities (Units of Measurement) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 89 of 2010) outline when metric measurements must be used and the extent to which imperial measures can continue to be...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Medium Term Fiscal Statement was published by the Minister for Finance on 4 November and outlines macroeconomic projections for the period 2011 to 2015. The Government subsequently published its Medium Term Framework for Infrastructural and Capital Investment on 10 November, to cover the period 2012 to 2016. The Capital Investment Framework places a focus on economic growth and jobs, as...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: No jobs in my Department or any of the bodies under its aegis have been outsourced since I took office.

Written Answers — Sick Pay Scheme: Sick Pay Scheme (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The introduction of a Statutory Sick Pay scheme, along the lines of those which operate in many other European countries, has been suggested for consideration by the Minister for Social Protection as part of the Government's pre-Budget preparations. No decision has been taken by Government on the proposal at this stage. I have, however, heard the views of business representatives first hand...

Written Answers — Enterprise Support Services: Enterprise Support Services (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Job creation is at the core of Government policy and the creation and retention of sustainable jobs is central to the work of the enterprise development agencies - Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the County and City Enterprise Boards. Enterprise Ireland's primary objective is to drive the growth of Irish-owned companies in overseas markets. In so doing, jobs will be created and...

Written Answers — Job Protection: Job Protection (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Employment Subsidy Scheme (Temporary) was introduced in December 2008 to help vulnerable but viable businesses retain jobs during the most difficult period of the economic downturn. The scheme was approved by the European Commission under a Temporary Framework for State Aid measures. This Temporary Framework was limited to a two-year period and it expired at the end of 2010. There are...

Written Answers — North-South Co-operation: North-South Co-operation (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: My colleague Ruairí Quinn T.D., Minister for Education and Skills, has overall responsibility for the development of further education and skills training in the context of the current difficult and changing labour market and is assisted by the Minister of State with responsibility for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon T.D. The Northern Ireland Department of Employment and Learning (DEL)...

Written Answers — Third Level Institutions: Third Level Institutions (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Cycle 5 of the Programme for Research in Third level Institutions (PRTLI) was launched July 2010 with awards totalling €359m comprising €296m in exchequer funding and €63m from private non-Exchequer sources. The PRTLI investment is in strategic areas of science and technology, including environment, marine and sustainable energy; material sciences and platform technology; biosciences...

Written Answers — Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products: Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Casual Trading Act, 1995 is the legislation which establishes the regime for the regulation of selling goods in public places. Section 2 (1) of the Act defines casual trading as "selling goods at a place (including a public road) to which the public have access as of right or any other place that is a casual trading area". Casual trading is regulated by the 88 local authorities who have...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 221 and 222 together. My Department does not lease computer servers. The current number of servers owned by and in operation in my Department and its Offices is 210 with an average of 4GB memory per server. The disk capacity of each server varies depending on the application involved and the data stored by users of each application and this can change...

Written Answers — Infrastructure Investment Plan: Infrastructure Investment Plan (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The role of my Department is to ensure that we have the right policies to support enterprise and innovation so that quality employment opportunities can be grown and maintained. Strong, balanced regional development and thriving entrepreneurship in all parts of Ireland are fundamental to the country's economic growth and to job creation. To support this my Department has secured an increase...

Written Answers — Competition Law: Competition Law (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: The Competition Act 2002 provides that the Competition Authority, the statutory body responsible for enforcing competition law in the State, is independent in the performance of its functions. Under section 30(1)(b) of that Act, the Competition Authority is responsible for investigating breaches of the Act. Investigations and enforcement matters generally are part of the day-to-day...

Written Answers — Job Protection: Job Protection (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Covidien, which has been operating in Athlone for 30 years, is undertaking a transformation of its operations to improve efficiency and future proof its facility. As part of this, one of its basic products, a low value respiratory line will transfer, over the next two years to Thailand, and the company will be offering a voluntary redundancy programme. It is too early for the company to...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Innovation Fund Ireland is an important element of enterprise policy as investments through the Fund facilitate job creation in innovative export focused sectors as well as proving a return to the exchequer over time. The Fund has up to €250 million available to make commitments. This funding runs along two parallel tracks. The first comprises a €125 million pool of funds provided by...

Written Answers — Trade Relations: Trade Relations (22 Nov 2011)

Richard Bruton: Details of Ireland's trade with Japan, for the years 2007 to 2010 are set out in the table. Merchandise Imports (€million) Merchandise Exports (€million) Services Imports (€million) Services Exports(€million) Total Imports (€million) Total Exports (€million) Balance of Trade (€million) 2007 1,630.63 1,738.06 561 897 2,191.63 2,635.06 +443.43 2008 1,144.41 1,708.24 500...