Results 14,361-14,380 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Economic Competitiveness (3 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: Since its introduction, the Action Plan for Jobs has recognised the fundamental link between competitiveness and job creation, and has been the key mechanism to drive competitiveness in all areas of economic activity. All of the Action Plans to date have provided a sharp focus on specific aspects of the competitiveness agenda, particularly in the area of costs, improving Ireland’s...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Staff Career Breaks (3 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: Staff in my Department may apply for unpaid special leave in the form of a career break in accordance with provisions set centrally by the Department of Public expenditure and Reform.The numbers of staff of my Department who have returned from career break in recent years are as set out in tabular format below. It should be noted that not all staff returned to my Department as some availed of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Schemes (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: My Department and agencies use a range of opportunities to showcase Ireland by hosting or partnering in national and international events that support our overarching policy objectives across our core programmes of enterprise, innovation and regulation. Last week we welcomed over 800 attendees from 43 countries to the Med in Ireland event and the Innovation Showcase 2015 will be taking place...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Schemes (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am acutely aware of the role the enterprise agencies have played. They take every chance to successfully exploit opportunities presented by summits, conferences and other events.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Schemes (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: In the past four years they have successfully created 40,000 net additional jobs, many of them in start-up companies. Dublin is now recognised as an excellent start-up environment, which has been part of the reason for the successful attraction of the Web Summit. There is such a vibrant environment here for start-ups which has been created by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Both...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Schemes (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Government will support any initiative to develop conferences that support the growth of our enterprise sector. The Deputy's original question asked what we were doing in that area and I illustrated the many examples-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Schemes (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: -----such as the start-up gathering we have. I am sure there will be successors to the Web Summit in Dublin because Dublin has such a vibrant environment. Just as we supported it in the past, we will support such an initiative again. I completely reject the suggestion that Enterprise Ireland and the IDA have not used the Web Summit effectively. Only last week I was in the USA on a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: Ireland has recovered strongly from the economic crash by developing our opportunities for strong export growth. The USA is an important trading partner for Ireland and Ireland stands to gain if barriers restricting trade are reduced. This is the purpose of the current negotiations with the USA. The mandate given to the EU Commission, which is the negotiator for the EU side, is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: These claims are simply untrue. The right to profit will not take precedence over the right to regulate, something both negotiators have recognised plainly. They have set that out not only in a joint statement, but in the mandate under which the EU is negotiating. It has been stitched into many of the documents to ensure it is respected through the procedure. Government retains the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: Unfortunately, Deputy Murphy does not let the facts interfere with his ideology. The truth is that these negotiations and this arbitration will not be in private with arbitrators chosen by companies. The Commission has developed an approach to dispute settlement whereby it can only be invoked where there is targeted discrimination on manifestly unfair grounds. Adjudicators must be approved...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: From 2000 onwards, on the three main competitiveness indices - those produced by the World Economic Forum, IMD and the World Bank - our rankings fell from peaks of fifth, seventh and seventh in the world, respectively, to 29th, 24th and 16th in the world, respectively. By the time the previous Government left office after the economic crash hit, Ireland’s competitiveness had been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: I will not go into the reasons for the interest rate differential between Ireland and the rest of the euro area other than to point out that the issue dates back to the economic and banking collapse over which the previous Government presided.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: It is becoming easier to establish a company in Ireland. The Government has streamlined company legislation and made it quicker to establish a business and easier to raise finances.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: The amount of venture capital released in the past 12 months was double the amount released in the previous year. This indicates strong growth in venture capital availability. The number of new start-up companies increased by 25% in the past 12 months, as recorded by the Companies Registration Office, and we are experiencing a strong surge of interest in starting businesses, particularly...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: It is not becoming harder to obtain credit. The participation in micro-finance has increased by 100% in the past 12 months.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: New lending by banks to small and medium enterprises has increased by 26%, while venture capital released to start-up companies has doubled in the past 12 months. There is, therefore, a strong flow of capital to start-up businesses.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy can see the figures for himself and I have no doubt that our ranking will improve when they impact.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that the Action Plan for Jobs is nothing of the sort. It has been an annual process whereby changes have been developed across government and subsequently implemented with a strict timetable overseen from the Office of the Taoiseach. The focus of the actions is to achieve key targets, principally getting 100,000 people back at work and improving the business environment...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: Again, Deputy Murphy seeks to distort the reality. The truth is the jobs being created are quality jobs. In the past two years all of the jobs have been full time. There has been a reduction in part-time work, in particular involuntary part-time work has dropped by 23%. Unemployed people have been major beneficiaries of this progress and the number of people on the live register has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy seeks to denigrate work experience programmes, but the truth is every country which seeks to achieve a transition for people who have been out of work for a period after an economic crash like we have experienced use such programmes. The good news, which the Deputy refuses to acknowledge, is that of the 126,000 extra people at work 92% of them are in initiatives not supported by...