Results 12,321-12,340 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: There has been some resistance to the LEO approach, which incorporates an embedding of structures within local authorities and bringing them under the centre of excellence system within Enterprise Ireland. What is happening does represent a significant change, but I defend it very strongly as the right approach. It is vital to have access to the experience of Enterprise Ireland and its...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Our input into this is through Forfás which liaises with our agencies. They regularly examine infrastructural needs. I do not imagine it would go down to town level but we have conducted an analysis of broadband capability as part of our general strategy. While I am not aware of the details in terms of level to which it goes down, I can say that it will identify areas where agencies...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: I will deal with the Enterprise Ireland element and my colleague Deputy English will comment on SFI. We expect that there will be a full drawdown of EI funding. The truth as the Deputy will know, is that the drawdown in any one year is partly a reflection of the number of approvals in previous years. What was happening in the more difficult years was that plans were postponed or did not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Revenue Commissioners have done some work on it. They reviewed the tax credit and with their accountant's eye passed it as a valuable incentive, which bears out what the Minister of State, Deputy English, has just said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: I suggest that can be done by trying to make the regulations as user-friendly as possible. It is clear that many accidents and deaths are occurring on farms, which are largely one-person or two-person operations. The Health and Safety Authority cannot ignore the obligation to observe safety requirements just because the business is small. We have introduced the BeSMART tool to provide an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: We have made a commitment to beef up the Competition Authority. Additional resources, including ten additional posts, have been approved. As the Deputy will be aware, tougher enforcement was required, which meant ensuring the authority was able to take on more cases. Additional resources have been provided. The Competition Authority and National Consumer Agency have been merged. This is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Ten additional posts have been sanctioned.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: It has the potential to secure savings of €2 million while delivering improvements in service. Many of the processes in this area were based on paper inputs. We have consolidated 30 applications on a single form and most users now avail of a new electronic facility. We have been able to streamline case management and we are moving to earlier mediation and early resolution. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Yes; it is fairly substantial. The number of cases for hearing in the Employment Appeals Tribunal stood at 5,700 at the end of 2013. The figure has declined significantly, however, having stood at 8,700 at the end of 2011. While a backlog remains, waiting times are falling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: The increase in administrative costs reflects the integration of Forfás into the Department. This is the first year in which Forfás is showing in the administrative budget of the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: I do not have a briefing note with me. I would be quite happy to appear before the committee and speak about it. Obviously, in all free trade agreements there are very important protections in terms of workers' rights, political rights and so on which are built into the EU approach to all such agreements. I would be happy to appear before the committee which is probably the best place to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: These agreements require a step-up in political rights and they also have protection clauses within them that if certain conditions are not adhered to that certain parts will cease to apply. Generally, our approach would be that free trade agreements are an important way of integrating countries into better standards and rules. Rather than say, let us have no agreement, we would say that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: I will get back to the Deputy on that. One concludes trade agreements with countries whose political approaches will not always be the same as our own. One could pick any one of our trading partners and find criticism but the EU has taken care to build requirements into these agreements so that there is a genuine effort to incentivise proper behaviour. The EU is the negotiator and puts...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am happy to discuss it with the committee if Deputy Tóibín wishes, but I am simply not briefed at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Review of Vote 32: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (16 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the work. Much of what we do is informed by issues raised in the committee. We do not always get them quite as members would like, but if we look back over time, we can see progress in respect of issues that members have raised. We try to ensure we are listening to what is going on and we appreciate the platform to discuss the issues.

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Research and Development Funding (17 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: The following table outlinesthe percentage of GDP spent on research and development during each of the past four years. Year Percentage of GDP spent on R&D 2010 1.62% 2011 1.53% 2012 1.58% 2013 1.65%

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Casual Trading Regulations (17 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: The selling of goods in public places is governed by the Casual Trading Act, 1995. Under this legislation the regulation of selling goods in public places is devolved to the 88 local authorities entitled to make bye laws under the Act. Any person selling goods in a public place covered by local authority bye laws must be the holder of a casual trading licence issued by the local authority....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Agreements (17 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Political agreement on the key elements of a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada was announced in October last year, and it is expected that the conclusion of negotiations will be announced at the EU-Canada Summit on 26 September, 2014. The Agreement will cover virtually every aspect of economic activity, and is an extremely important one for Ireland....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Agreements (17 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States and the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Peru, is an Agreement within the meaning of Article 29.5.2° of the Constitution. Ratification by Ireland is therefore subject to prior approval of Dáil Éireann. It is my intention to seek the necessary approval of Dáil Éireann before the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Jobs Data (17 Sep 2014)

Richard Bruton: Details of the total number of IDA Ireland jobs by county along with the number of jobs created for 2013 and the number of site visits from 1 January to the end of June 2014 are outlined in the following tabular statement. Job figures for 2014 will not be available until early next year. There are many complex factors influencing investor location decision-making such as the increasing...