Results 21,041-21,060 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Second Stage (16 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill, which is major reforming legislation, has three main objectives. First, as part of the programme of reform we are implementing across my Department, it will merge the National Consumer Agency, NCA, and the Competition Authority to create a powerful body with real teeth acting to protect and vindicate consumers' rights. New...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pension Provisions (16 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Competition Authority is the statutory independent body responsible for the enforcement of domestic and EU competition law in the State. Section 29(3) of the Competition Act 2002 provides that the Authority is independent in the performance of its functions, including carrying out investigations of anti-competitive practices. As investigations and enforcement matters generally are part...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unfinished Housing Developments (16 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Companies Acts set out the provisions applicable to the winding up and liquidation of companies established under those Acts. The Acts do not prescribe any special rules for the liquidation of property development companies. It is the duty of a liquidator to take possession of corporate assets and to protect those assets, and also to realise or liquidate the assets so as to enable the...

Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I agree with the Deputy. We have done a number of things to try to protect workers. We increased the minimum wage, which was one of the first steps taken when we returned to office. The courts struck down the Joint Labour Committees and Registered Employment Agreements, but we have already passed legislation on JLCs and we will be reinstating the REAs. We also introduced agency worker...

Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The truth is that there is a spread of employment opportunities.

Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: Employment has expanded across all occupations at skilled, unskilled and highly skilled levels. There is a balanced recovery underway.

Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: As I have already indicated, we did restore the minimum wage. People employed on a full-time basis on the minimum wage have substantially more than they get on the live register. As I said to Deputy Broughan, 90% of those obtaining employment now are in full-time positions. We are seeking to ensure that vulnerable workers will be protected by the restoration of REAs and JLCs, which were...

Other Questions: Employment Data (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: On the issue of data, NERA carried out an inspection in respect of one of the companies to which the Deputy and others have referred. In that inspection none of the staff was on a zero hour contract when the inspection was carried out. It is not that nothing is happening to identify the situation; things are happening. Regarding the other issue of people in the caring community, the...

Other Questions: Employment Data (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I will have to find out for the Deputy whether that ruling of the Labour Court applies to the people who are contracted by the HSE. I do not have that information to hand. Collecting data is a matter for the Central Statistics Office, CSO. It surveys full-time and part-time employment. Of the 61,000 additional people at work, 90% are in full-time employment. There is a pattern. Early...

Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: It has been the consistent policy of successive Irish Governments to promote collective bargaining through the laws of this country and through the development of an institutional framework supportive of a voluntary system of industrial relations that is premised upon freedom of contract and freedom of association. An extensive range of statutory provisions have been put in place designed to...

Other Questions: Employment Data (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: Zero-hour contracts are matters of contract law. They must be entered into freely by the employer and employee and cannot be forced on an employee. While the CSO does not collect data on zero-hour contracts, this does not mean that there is no information available regarding them. The National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, which is within the remit of my Department, has a team of...

Other Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I do not accept the Deputy's contention that small and medium enterprises are becoming increasingly unhappy. While I recognise that this sector has suffered difficult times, the data indicate that it accounts for the bulk of employment growth. There has been strong growth in the past 12 months in a number of sectors typified by small business, including the tourism and food sectors. There...

Other Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I agree that there are issues to be resolved. However, the Deputy needs to reflect on the changes that have been made by Government, including the reduction in the VAT level, travel tax and PRSI, all of which are geared towards meeting the needs of small business. Other new initiatives such as the microfinance and loan guarantee schemes-----

Other Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: -----are aimed at meeting the needs of small business. Also, under JobsPlus a €72 per week subsidy is available to a business that recruits from the live register. These initiatives are very much targeted at the needs of businesses that are small in scale. We regularly review those needs. Another new initiative is the introduction of a first-time exporters scheme to support small...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The IDA and Enterprise Ireland look at the impact of job creation proposals, which is where the €12,000 per job statistic comes from. It refers to jobs sustained. One cannot pull out the research and development element from the Lean management development programme and other elements of the package that is put together. One cannot relate research and development spend to job impact...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: As part of the Forfás annual employment survey, the overall cost per job sustained is calculated each year by reference to the cost of jobs created in companies supported by the enterprise development agencies during, and sustained to the end of, a seven year period. This is calculated by taking into account all direct agency expenditure on all agency client companies in a seven year...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: This is a challenge that bedevils virtually every country in trying to measure the impact of research and development. I can give the Deputy a few measures, although I will not give them all together. We compare countries that do research and development with those that do not. Those that do research and development fare much better on exports and employment growth. Where SFI invests in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy is missing the point. As I stated in my reply, we created 60,000 jobs. The live register came down by 60,000 in two years and 40,000 or two thirds of those people were long-term unemployed so the long-term unemployed are not people who do not respond to market opportunities. We are seeing a very significant reduction in the number of long-term unemployed people who are getting...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: I agree with that. However, the OECD produced a report on activation in the Irish labour market that came out very strongly against the kind of programme the Deputy is advocating and instead advocated in favour of the kind of programmes Ministers have introduced such as MOMENTUM and Gateway which have a very clear focus on activation and getting people back into the labour market. That is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Companies Law (15 Apr 2014)

Richard Bruton: The situation is that if a company ceases trading, it has certain obligations to meet as result, in that it has to meet its Revenue obligations, its obligations to pay redundancy payments to workers and so on. If the company is unable to pay, it can apply to the Department of Social Protection to have its responsibilities to workers met from the redundancy insolvency fund. However, there is...