Results 1,161-1,180 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Written Answers — National Disability Strategy: National Disability Strategy (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Department has fully consulted with representative organisations for people with disabilities in the preparation of the Sectoral Plan for my Department. This Department participated in a comprehensive regional consultative process which was organised by the National Disability Authority in 2005. These conferences were attended by members of the general public, people with disabilities,...

Written Answers — County Enterprise Boards: County Enterprise Boards (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: County and City Development Boards have been established in each county to improve co-ordination and delivery of public services at local level and all 34 CDB Strategy Statements have been published. It is in such a forum that issues like long-term commuting or poorly paid local employment experienced by so called "ghost communities" or "ghost economies" would normally be addressed. In so far...

Written Answers — Flexible Work Practices: Flexible Work Practices (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The CSO Quarterly National Household Survey module dealing with Work Organisation and Working Time for the second Quarter of 2004 found that 68.6% of employees had a fixed start and finish time to their working day with 16.5% having the ability to vary their start or finish times. The CSO report does not deal with the reasons behind the percentage of workers not availing of flexible work...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: Since November 2005 the number of Labour Inspectors assigned and serving has been increased to thirty-one officers. The numbers of workplace inspections/visits undertaken by the Labour Inspectorate in respect of the years 2002 to 2005 and to date in 2006 are set out in the tabular statement below. The average time from a case file being opened to a satisfactory resolution during the period...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The number of workplace inspections/visits undertaken by the Labour Inspectorate (during and after normal business hours) and prosecutions initiated in respect of the years 2002 to 2005 and to date in 2006 are set out in the tabular statement below. The primary function of the Labour Inspectorate is to seek compliance and rectification of any breaches identified, including payment of any...

Written Answers — Industrial Relations: Industrial Relations (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: In response to the recommendations of the Employment Rights Review Group and following a process of extensive consultations with interested parties, a programme of action was agreed by Government to facilitate the simplification of procedures and provide greater ease of access for all users of the services of the employment rights bodies. Following the Government decision, an Employment...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Health and Safety Authority published its Annual Report for 2005 and its Summary of Fatality, Injury and Illness Statistics 2004-2005 on Tuesday May 9th. Much of the details that the Deputy seeks can be found in the latter report which contains detailed breakdowns on Injuries, Illness and Fatalities of workers across economic sectors. Overall, there were 68 workplace deaths in 2003, 50 in...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: Under Section 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2006 every employer is required to prepare a written safety statement, identifying hazards and assessing the specific risks at that place of work, outlining protective and preventive measures taken and emergency plans. Enforcement action was taken by the Health & Safety Authority in 42% of inspections carried out in 2005. This...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The announcement of the appointment of the new Board of the Labour Relations Commission was made by me on 9th April last in advance of the first meeting of the new Board which took place the following day. The new Board took up office on 1st April 2006 and has been appointed for a term of 3 years. The two Ministerial appointments to the new Board were made on the basis of both individuals'...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: As in all other cases involving the administration of statutory legislation, the application of penalties for conviction for breach of the Safety, Healthy and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and other occupational safety and health legislation is solely a matter for the Courts to determine in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in question. Section 78 of the 2005 Act sets out detailed...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: A claim for payment of a statutory redundancy lump sum in respect of the person concerned was received in the Redundancy Payments Section of the Department at the end of March 2006. A query arose in connection with the claim which had to be cleared with the employer. The matter has now been resolved and the payment is now being processed. The person concerned should receive his statutory...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: Data in relation to the numbers in employment, which is available from the Quarterly National Household Survey since 1997, is as in the table. Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Number (million) 1,467.7 1,547.1 1,647.4 1,712.6 1,759.9 1,782.3 1,828.9 1,894.1 1,980.6

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The total cost to the Social Insurance Fund of providing for statutory redundancy payments for the first three months of 2006 was €36.1m. Of this, expenditure on employer rebates of 60% where the employers paid eligible employees their correct statutory redundancy lump sum entitlements amounted to €34.2m. Expenditure arising from direct payments by the Department from the Fund to...

Written Answers — Employment Regulation Orders: Employment Regulation Orders (17 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Labour Court receives proposals from Joint Labour Committees, on foot of which it makes Employment Regulation Orders (EROs). EROs are statutory instruments which set out terms and conditions applying to specified workers in a particular sector. The registration of Employment Agreements and the maintenance of the Register of such agreements is also a matter for the Labour Court. I have no...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (18 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Organisation of Working Time Act makes provision for holiday entitlements in respect of most employees. Employees who have been denied their statutory holiday entitlement under the Act have a right of complaint to a Rights Commissioner. Holiday entitlements of employees in certain categories of employment are determined by the provisions contained in Employment Regulation Orders and...

Written Answers — Employment Appeals Tribunal: Employment Appeals Tribunal (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Employment Appeals Tribunal is an independent body under the aegis of the Department. The average waiting period from the time a case is notified to the Tribunal until it is heard in each of the past five years is: Year Waiting Period (weeks) 2001 19 2002 19 2003 28 2004 39 2005 41 The average waiting period to date this year is 37 weeks.

Written Answers — National Minimum Wage: National Minimum Wage (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The National Minimum Wage was introduced on 1 April 2000. The ESRI has undertaken minimum wage surveys on behalf of the Department on three occasions since then and its findings have been as follows. Percentage of employees on *the minimum wage (in private sector, non-agricultural firms) 2001 4.3% on minimum wage 2002 4.5% on minimum wage 2005/06 5.2% on minimum wage *This...

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: In 2001 the Labour Court made a recommendation to the effect that a mechanism should be put in place to address situations of dispute between retired employees and their former employers. At that time the issue arose in the context of a dispute which related to a workers retirement pension. Subsequently, the 2002 Pensions Act provided for the appointment of the Pensions Ombudsman with the...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 325 together. The Labour Inspectorate carried out an inspection of records in regard to this issue. In relation to the category of workers concerned the material examined did not indicate that the rates of pay were not in conformity with the Statutory Minimum provided for in legislation. Inspectors, with the assistance of an independent interpreter,...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: There is no legal requirement under the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 2003 for employers to notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of redundancies where the employees have less than the minimum required service of two years for entitlement to a statutory redundancy lump sum payment. Consequently, there are no official figures for redundancies in this category of under...