Results 8,281-8,300 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Ministerial Travel: Ministerial Travel (29 Mar 2012)

Richard Bruton: The following is the information requested by the Deputy. (1) Minister Richard Bruton T.D., Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation represented Ireland at EI and IDA engagements in San Francisco, USA, 13 to 15 March 2012. Costs incurred by the Department in respect of economy class flights to San Francisco for Minister Bruton and Private Secretary are as follows: €1,108.26 x 2 =...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (29 Mar 2012)

Richard Bruton: The position is that Vodafone tendered for its Mobile Customer Service work in 2012. Rigney Dolphin was the incumbent provider with 290 full-time-equivalent positions at Vodafone's offices in Dundalk and Dublin. A French company, Teleperformance (also Vodafone's UK provider) won the new tender. Teleperformance has operations in Newry, Co Down. I understand that this change has arisen out...

Written Answers — Job Protection: Job Protection (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 434, 451 to 453, inclusive, 457, 470 and 473 together. Vodafone Ireland announced on 22 March last that it had completed a review of the company's current contracted mobile call centre operations. The company has stated that, following this review, it will be adopting a new model for its mobile customer care, resulting in a move to a new provider,...

Written Answers — Credit Availability: Credit Availability (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The Temporary Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme is to operate under the De Minimis State Aid rules as agreed by the Government in November. The De Minimis State Aid framework provides a basis for swift implementation of such a Scheme. Operating within the scope of the De Minimis State Aid regulations places limits on the range of options available in terms of the extent and pricing of the...

Written Answers — Job Protection: Job Protection (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The position is that Vodafone tendered for its Mobile Customer Service work in 2012. Rigney Dolphin was the incumbent provider with 290 full-time-equivalent positions at Vodafone's offices in Dundalk and Dublin. A French company, Teleperformance (also Vodafone's UK provider) won the new tender. Teleperformance has operations in Newry, Co Down. I understand that this change has arisen out...

Written Answers — Work Permits: Work Permits (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that this Work Permit application was refused on the 10 April 2012 on the grounds that it is current Government policy to issue new employment permits only in respect of: · highly skilled, highly paid positions or; · non-EEA nationals who are already legally resident in the State on valid employment permits or; · positions requiring specialist or scarce...

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 438 and 455 together. Industrial action by 110 workers at the Irish Cement production plants at Platin, Co Meath and Castlemungret, Co Limerick began on 3rd April last. I understand that the Labour Court's most recent Recommendation of January 2012 in relation to this dispute was the culmination of a protracted dialogue between the company and the group of...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: Since the publication of the proposed Directives in November 2011, discussions have been underway at working group level on the full proposal, including Chapter 9 of the proposed Accounting Directive. The proposals being discussed include the introduction of a system of reporting by multinational companies of payments to governments, including taxes, royalties and bonuses which will show a...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The Programme for Government contains a specific commitment to enact legislation to regulate certain practices in the grocery goods sector. I intend to give effect to this commitment by including an enabling provision in the legislation currently being prepared by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to merge the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority, which will allow...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: A Bill entitled the "Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill, 2011" designed to give effect to the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Work, completed passage in the Dáil in mid-February, 2012. The Bill is currently under consideration in the Seanad and is scheduled to complete all stages in that House by the end of April 2012. Thereafter, it will be returned to the Dáil for...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: My Department is in on-going contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, whose remit covers Irish Aid, in relation to the proposed Directives in question. Discussions are continuing at EU level and it is hoped that there will be a positive outcome to these proposals.

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The achievement of balanced regional growth continues to be a core objective of Government. Promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating the key infrastructural needs of Irish enterprise across all regions is vital to ensuring a vigorous pipeline of new business leaders, new business ideas and entrepreneurial activity. Enterprise Ireland activity in Co. Kerry is focussed on the creation of...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I understand from Enterprise Ireland that the agency received a communication from the promoter concerned on 4 February last. I am informed that an uncharacteristic delay of two weeks occurred in responding to this communication. As soon as this was brought to the attention of the agency, they acted immediately. The agency has offered to meet with the promoter to discuss his proposals in...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy's question concerns a dispute between the company and twenty employees in relation to a claim for enhanced redundancy terms in excess of the employees' statutory redundancy entitlement, following the acquisition of the company and the closure of its Dublin offices in 2011. I understand that the company has complied with its obligations in respect of statutory redundancy payments...

Written Answers — Job Protection: Job Protection (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: On the 22 March last, Vodafone Ireland announced that it had completed a review of the company's current contracted mobile call centre operations. The company has stated that it will be adopting a new model for its mobile customer care, resulting in a move to a new provider, Teleperformance. As part of the changes, 27 Vodafone roles and 290 contract roles currently provided by Rigney Dolphin...

Written Answers — Departmental Strategies: Departmental Strategies (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: The retail sector has been impacted by a shift in consumer spending patterns and an overall reduction in the level of consumer spending as a result of the recession. Statistics published by the Central Statistics Office at the end of March show that the volume of retail sales - including the motor trade - decreased by 1.9% over the period February 2011 to February 2012. Nonetheless, the...

Written Answers — Parliamentary Questions: Parliamentary Questions (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I provided 328 written answers to 372 Parliamentary Questions in the period 1 January, 2012 to 31 March, 2012 (in cases where similar PQs were asked, they were grouped and answered in a single reply). Concerning the other aspects of the Deputy's question, this information is not readily available and would entail the investment of scarce resources to compile the information requested. A...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: Officials from my Department have contacted representatives of the Administrator of the company on several occasions since the announcement of the closure of the stores. The representatives confirmed that the business and assets of the company were sold on 1 April 2012. Despite this sale, the company remains insolvent. The purchaser has indicated that, for economic reasons, it does not...

Written Answers — Company Closures: Company Closures (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: Rents are just one element of overhead costs that affect businesses. The National Competitiveness Council reported in its Competitiveness Scorecard 2011 that Ireland experienced a fall of 22% in rental costs for prime industrial sites in 2010, with a decline of 12.3% in prime office space rental costs. These were the largest annual declines experienced across the countries benchmarked, and...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (18 Apr 2012)

Richard Bruton: I have no plans to bring forward legislation to reform the law relating to collective redundancies. I believe that the existing provisions relating to collective redundancies, as expressed in the Protection of Employment Act 1977, give sufficient protection to employees. The statutory rights of employees, insofar as they relate to redundancy payments, are a matter for my colleague, the...