Results 12,461-12,480 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Agencies (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Office of Public Works (OPW) is the owner/leaseholder of all State property assets. In that regard, OPW is responsible for the provision of a centralised service in the allocation of appropriate accommodation in the most economic way possible while protecting the State property portfolio. OPW has advised my Department that the accommodation lease in Parnell House will be surrendered in...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Site Visits (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 219 together. I am informed by IDA Ireland that from the 1st of January 2014 to 30thSeptember 2014, there were a total of 308 IDA Ireland sponsored site visits by potential investors to various locations across the country. 104 of these visits were during the period 1 June to 30 September 2014. Details of the number of site visits on a county basis...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Liquor Licensing Laws (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: Pubs and off-licences are regulated by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD, under the liquor licencing laws and I have no direct function in relation to this sector. However, Officials from my Department recently met with a representative of the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) to discuss their concerns in relation to the forthcoming Budget and other issues...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: The process of developing Action Plan for Jobs 2015 began in July with a series of roundtable discussions with representative groups. My officials and I met with representatives from IBEC, American Chamber of Commerce, SFA, Chambers Ireland, ISME, ICTU, SIPTU, IMPACT, UNITE and the INOU. A written request for submissions was also issued to other stakeholders and a further roundtable with...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IBEC Membership (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: No Office under the remit of my Department is a member of IBEC. The payment of membership fees to IBEC by Agencies under the remit of my Departmentis a day-to-day matter for the individual Agencies concerned, for which I have no direct function. I have asked all Agencies under the aegis of my Department to advise me of any such membership fees for the years concerned, and I will communicate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: Most committee members will be familiar with this scheme which was introduced in 2012 after lengthy consideration. It was a novel approach at that point; we had not tried a credit guarantee scheme before in Ireland. In retrospect, one could certainly say it was designed conservatively. There was a 75% guarantee on individual loans, with a portfolio cap of 10%. The loans were up to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: Undoubtedly, we have had to restructure the scheme to try to make it more attractive to the banks. As the Deputy notes, a longer period is provided for now. It remains - this was the important thing that came out of the study - an effective tool. We need to make it more effective and more usable. I think the Deputy is right to say banking inertia exists. There is no doubt about that; one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: Not if they have pre-ticked the consent box.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: One of the things that has frustrated me is that 97% of people take a refusals lying down and go away with their tails between their legs. Only 3% of people challenge and generally they have a good outcome. I hope that by pre-ticking the consent box we will at least have sight of information on the issue. There is no guarantee, however, that all of the loan applications will succeed....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am dealing with the south east.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: The situation in the south east has been problematic for a number of years. There has been high unemployment in the region, its manufacturing base has suffered a very high level of attrition and it has suffered in particular from the collapse in construction. Talk Talk collapsed a few months into my term as Minister with the loss of 650 jobs. That led us to put together the south east...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: The numbers in the south east are good. Having been in relentless decline, employment numbers stabilised in the year to quarter 2 of 2012, with an increase of just 1,500. That trend was repeated the following year, with 1,700, and in the year to the second quarter of 2014, with 10,800. That is a good, solid improvement which was also reflected in a steady decline in the number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme and SEEDS Report: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (7 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: We intend to look first at the existing enterprise base and then at the region's enterprise assets, which are across a range in that there are incubators, technology centres, industrial parks, enterprise networks and community enterprise centres. We are looking at the whole gamut of the region's assets in seeking to identify a consensus on what are the competitive opportunities and what...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Order for Second Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill is the culmination of a huge amount of work that has occurred in my Department and across the number of agencies that are involved in this new structure. It is a great example of public service reform, one of the developments that many people have sought to deliver, to examine systems that perhaps are not performing to the...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I apologise for that. Section 76 provides for the making of regulations by the Minister, after consultation with the chairman, whereby certain functions of the Labour Court may be performed by the chairman or a deputy chairman sitting alone. In particular, such regulations may provide that certain specified preliminary applications or procedural matters can be dealt with by the chairman or...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I thank all the Deputies who contributed. I welcome the broad support for the Bill, including from Deputy Troy representing Fianna Fáil and Deputy Mac Lochlainn representing Sinn Féin. We have put a lot of thought into how we structure this and we believe we have done it in the best way. There has been a lot of work done, to answer Deputy Troy's point, in integrating the bodies...

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I dealt with that already. Notices do not come into effect if they are not paid and such matters go to a hearing.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Referral to Select Committee (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move:That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation pursuant to Standing Order 82A(3)(a).

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Prompt Payments (8 Oct 2014)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 77 together. My Department is responsible for the implementation of the Late Payment Directive that established EU law in the area of prompt payments which was recast through an EU Directive (2011/7/EU) and came into effect across the EU on 16 March 2013. The issue of prompt payment is now covered in Irish law by the European Communities (Late...