Results 1,521-1,540 of 4,073 for speaker:Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Priority Questions: Economic Competitiveness (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I assure Deputy Collins that my Department is working hard on this. We have the Action Plan for Jobs and the regional action plans to ensure that jobs come into the country. Competitiveness is on the top of our agenda as well as bringing in jobs. We are looking at wages. Wages are mainly set in the private sector. I mindful of the issues Deputy Collins has raised, including, the cost...

Priority Questions: Economic Competitiveness (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: We have identified the issues relating to broadband in the programme for Government. I will be working with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Humphreys, on this issue. I am aware of it. I am from County Galway and I know there is little broadband in Milltown, County Galway. This is on my priority list. Deputy Collins referred to road infrastructure. I was in...

Priority Questions: Export Controls (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: My Department is responsible for licensing the export of dual-use items. All applications for the export of dual-use items are reviewed by my officials on a case-by-case basis. The licensing process centres on ensuring, as far as possible, that the item to be exported will be used by the stated end user for the stated end use and will not be used for illicit purposes. My officials seek...

Priority Questions: Export Controls (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I have read the report on transfers and transparency. We do not feature in these reports as we do not have an arms industry and do not export small arms and light weapons. However, I take the Deputy's point that we manufacture components in the data industry that may be used. However, we are very careful and any application that comes to my Department undergoes strong and rigorous checks....

Priority Questions: Export Controls (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Deputy has mentioned the export of sophisticated technology. I remind her that the Department may refuse an export licence and has done so on many occasions. We denied four licences in 2011, one licence in 2012, four licences in 2013, eight licences in 2014, five licences in 2015 and one licence to date in 2016. We have very rigorous checks. I will make sure they are maintained. If...

Other Questions: IDA Site Visits (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: While I am satisfied that the position is improving, I want to see more being done. I expect IDA Ireland to promote every location actively. There is no doubt that site visits outside main population centres have increased. Since 2015, IDA Ireland has been working towards the targets set out in its strategy, Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019. Under this strategy, ambitious...

Other Questions: IDA Site Visits (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I note the Deputy's comments. I assure him that I will take an interest in this matter. I can tell him that the eight regional development plans are on my desk. We are working our way through them. We will be meeting the implementation group soon. We will sit down to review the progress that has been made on the regional plans so far in 2016, with a view to developing the 2017 regional...

Other Questions: IDA Site Visits (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I am never happy and am always striving for more. I will make sure land is available for advance factories. We are building three such factories at the moment. There are plans for others. We want to make it easier to do business in Ireland. I will make sure advance factories are available. We are talking about IDA Ireland today, but I am also working with local people on the ground,...

Other Questions: IDA Site Visits (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I will come back to the other one.

Other Questions: IDA Site Visits (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: On Deputy Alan Kelly's question as to whether the visits will be to Dublin, the greater Dublin area or the regions, I will make sure to have those figures. On County Kildare specifically, the message from my office, loud and clear, to IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland is to get out to the regions and rural Ireland. I probably am a good Minister in this regard because I am from rural...

Other Questions: Trade Relations (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: My Department has not been involved in any discussions since 1 August 2013 in regard to trade missions to Egypt. I am concerned about and personally sympathetic to, as well as moved by, what has happened to Ibrahim Halawa. While I am not happy he is incarcerated, the judicial process works differently in Egypt than it does in Ireland or in many other countries.

Other Questions: Trade Relations (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Everything is being done diplomatically for Ibrahim Halawa. For example, various submissions have been made to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by different lawyers and non-governmental organisations. At all times, the key question guiding our approach is what stands the best chance of securing positive progress for Ibrahim Halawa at the earliest possible opportunity. The...

Other Questions: Trade Relations (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Our priority is to see that Ibrahim Halawa is returned to his family and that he can continue his studies. We want to provide every possible consular support for his welfare where he remains in detention. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has been in regular contact with his Egyptian ministerial counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, and the Taoiseach has twice met...

Other Questions: Trade Relations (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Government will continue to be measured in its approach. That is the best consular advice we have received. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has regular contact with his Egyptian counterparts while our Taoiseach has met with the Egyptian President on two occasions. We will continue to do our best to ensure the earliest possible release for Ibrahim Halawa.

Other Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The 13th formal round of the EU-US free trade negotiations took place from 25 April to 29 April 2016 in New York. Progress was made on the two texts on regulatory co-operation and good regulatory practices. Substantial progress was achieved on the small and medium-sized enterprise chapter and on the provisions of customs and trade facilitation. This would simplify customs procedures and...

Other Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I thank the Deputy. I fully recognise that TTIP, and the process it involves, is full of many complex and difficult issues. Nobody wants a bad deal and along within every country, we in Ireland have our priorities. The Copenhagen economic study has shown that the right agreement could create anything up to 10,000 jobs here. Irish companies in the US employ approximately 80,000 people....

Other Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I thank the Deputy. We will not change our rules on GMO and we will not accept hormone treated beef, as the EU has made clear from the outset. The text of any deal will run to thousands of pages and it is still under negotiation. Nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed and I expect negotiations to continue for some time. Any final agreement is subject to agreement by all member...

Other Questions: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The current legal position is that civil fines are not provided for in Irish law for anti-competitive practices. The Attorney General has previously advised my Department that providing for them would pose legal difficulties, having regard to Article 38.1 of the Constitution, even at the level of a class A fine. In that context, any legislation to introduce civil fines that would lower the...

Other Questions: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The main argument is that the level of proof required to achieve a successful prosecution is too high for hard-core competition offences, for example, cartels and price-fixing, which are criminal in nature. In criminal cases, the level of proof is "beyond all reasonable doubt". By contrast, the level of proof in civil proceedings is on balance of probability grounds. Thus, proving a case...

Other Questions: Job Creation Targets (15 Jun 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: A Programme for a Partnership Government sets a target of creating an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020, of which 135,000 jobs are to be created outside Dublin. I am convinced that we can achieve these targets. Since 2012, the unemployment rate reduced from 15.1% to 7.8% in May this year. We have 155,000 extra people at work since 2012 and employment is growing in every region. My focus...