Results 20,781-20,800 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Other Questions: Industrial Relations (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: What is happening here is that we are respecting the voluntary system which has been important and successful in Ireland. However, where a company chooses not to engage in collective bargaining, we are providing a mechanism whereby workers can ensure they will not be victimised as a result of that practice and that they can take their case under these Acts. This will provide clarity and...

Other Questions: Regional Development (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: Our agencies support companies in accessing public procurement tenders. Both EI and InterTradeIreland have good programmes to support companies in preparing themselves to bid for public procurement contracts either at home or abroad. It is on supporting the enterprise side that we operate. The idea behind developing a regional enterprise strategy is to make sure that there is knowledge...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Guarantee Scheme Implementation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am quite happy to update the House on the situation in Bausch and Lomb, but I am not sure it is in order.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Guarantee Scheme Implementation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I replied on an Adjournment matter in the Seanad last night. There is no reluctance on my part to respond. I have met with Deputies and have been trying to accommodate the House. The SME credit guarantee scheme, or CGS, was established under the Credit Guarantee Act 2012 to address specific market failures in lending to SMEs and in response to calls from business interests. It is a novel...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Guarantee Scheme Implementation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am happy to discuss this further with the joint committee. To be fair, this was something that was considered in the Department during the term of the previous Government and not implemented. We decided to take it on. It is novel. The changes people have spoken of involve looking at the range of lending products the scheme covers, the range of lenders who can participate, the duration...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Guarantee Scheme Implementation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The budget in this regard is in respect of losses that might be incurred. We have not budgeted for the lending by the banks. We have budgeted for losses which might have to be met. Crowd-funded financing is certainly worth looking at. I understand the scale at the moment would be tiny, however, and much tinier in any event than the credit guarantee scheme. While there is merit and the...

Other Questions: Regional Development (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: Economic success at regional level depends on all relevant Departments, agencies, and regional and local authorities collectively making strategic choices and working together with community and private sector interests to activate the key strengths of each region. In 2013, there was employment growth shown in all regions. The Action Plan for Jobs includes a commitment to develop a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Data (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: We have made significant gains over the past two years and employment has now grown on an annual basis for six quarters in succession. By comparison, when this Government came into office the economy was losing an average of 1,600 jobs per week. Furthermore, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen from 15.1% at the start of 2012 to 12% in 2014. The quarterly national...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Data (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I assure Deputy Calleary that neither I nor my Department needs any wake-up call in terms of the scale of the employment challenge we face. One of the features of our work has been to systematically engage an all-of-Government focus on this singular national challenge. Let us consider the performance to date. We have in the past 18 months seen 70,000 extra people at work. The vast...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Data (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The chief executive of any State agency must respond to the challenges that he experiences. I do not seek to control or influence that. We need to have people speaking honestly to power, as has been said often. Clearly, we need to improve our competitiveness all the time. This is not an optional add-on. We are competing in a tough global environment but this year we have put new people...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The objective of the Action Plan for Jobs is to support sustainable job creation by creating the operating conditions where more businesses can start-up and grow. The increase in total employment of 42,700 in the year to Q1 2014 was made up of an increase in full-time employment of 46,400 (+3.3%) while part-time employment declined by 3,700 (-0.8%). This is in sharp contrast to the rest of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am glad to say that the numbers employed in companies supported by the enterprise development agencies operating under the aegis of my Department, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, has steadily increased in the three year period 2011 to 2013 inclusive. Total employment in IDA Ireland companies (including companies that were formerly clients of Shannon Development) has risen from 146,419...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Company Closures (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: Firstly, I should point out that the company concerned is not a client of Enterprise Ireland. I understand from Enterprise Ireland that the agency is working with client companies in the printing sector committed to diversifying their operations into new technologies such as digital print (to offer short runs, economical and quicker turnaround, personalisation) and fulfilment/packaging...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Local Enterprise Offices Remit (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) throughout the country are charged with promoting entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise development and are the first-stop-shop for those beginning a new business as well as those wishing to expand their existing one. They are the single point of access to all local and national enterprise supports and services. The LEO structure provides a service...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I share the Deputy’s concern in relation to employees’ rights to receive their wages and the apparent failure of their employer to pay their wages for a number of weeks before the closure of the premises in question. Officials from the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) have met with representatives of the employees to inform them about their entitlements and means of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Enterprise Support Schemes (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Microfinance Loan Fund Scheme facility was introduced in October 2012 following demands from business interests for the introduction of supports for microenterprises in a difficult economic environment. It has now developed a presence in the Irish financial market. As of 31 March 2014, Microfinance Ireland (MFI) has approved 192 applications to the value of €3m supporting 437...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Services Issues (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Government is committed to reform of the State’s existing Workplace Relations Services. The system that developed over the last eighty years had become unwieldy and complex and was no longer fit for purpose. Indeed, there was universal acceptance of the need for a root-and-branch reform of the existing structures. My objective is to deliver a world-class workplace relations...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Manufacturing Sector (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Forfás Strategy on Manufacturing, which was launched in April 2013, identified that a total of 205,700 people were directly employed in Manufacturing and that a similar number of jobs were indirectly supported. At the end of 2013, Central Statistics Office Data (Quarterly National Household Survey, Q 4 2013) shows that a total of 215,900 were directly employed in the sector, a rise...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Science Foundation Ireland Remit (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: Science Foundation Ireland’s investments build links between academia and industry in areas of national importance in order to promote and assist the development and competitiveness of industry, enterprise and employment in the State. The remit of Science Foundation Ireland was amended last year with the enactment of the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) Act 2013 (No....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (5 Jun 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am informed by my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection that any consideration of a restructure of pension scheme benefits under section 50 of the Pensions Act must comply with the provisions in the Pensions Act and with guidance issued by the Pensions Board. This guidance makes provision for the notification of all pensioners in advance of any application to the Pensions Board to...