Results 23,241-23,260 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: It allows aid for research and development and for training but does not like capital grants and so on. The DG puts de minimis and other requirements on items like that. The directorate proposes to increase the de minimis provision from €200,000 to €500,000. This would allow for more generous SME-type initiatives. The microfinance fund and loan guarantee comes under the de...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: We have no information that the €2.5 billion is being reduced in the MFF envelope but the indications are that, to date, Horizon 2020 has lost €5 billion, so it would come down from €80 billion to €75 billion. InterTradeIreland has an exciting new board, with a former head of the IDA as chairman. It asserts benefit-to-cost ratios of 16:1 in its work, so that is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: That is correct. Agriculture is included in Horizon 2020 so there are opportunities there. With regard to the entrepreneurship plan, the Commission has to publish that by year end.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I understand it is on schedule. To come back to the question on procurement, I do not have details of the European Parliament's amendments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I would say they are similar to the views of the committee, namely, opening up opportunities for small business.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: The European Union is facilitating it. It is also encouraging innovative procurement, something for which we are pressing very hard within our own system. The United Kingdom and the United States are more likely than we are to tender to solve a problem before the procurement stage is reached. That approach involves trying to find a company to solve a problem. That company submits a bid to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: There is a balance to be struck.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: That is what the Commission's directives are seeking to provide for and that is what we are seeking to provide for in our discussions with the National Procurement Service. The role of Enterprise Ireland is to make sure we strike that balance. We are trying to encourage the breaking down of these prerequisites before tendering takes place. We have been trying to work with various...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: This has been thrashed out at European level and there have been big cuts. Horizon 2020 is in the category or heading of 1A, which includes a certain bundle. President Van Rompuy has been proposing certain changes in order to secure compromise deals. That is the level at which potential trade-offs between the Common Agricultural Policy and Horizon 2020 are occurring. I do not think there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: There is, through Horizon 2020 and the various existing instruments. No new instrument is being proposed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I share the Deputy's view that mentoring could play a role in procurement. To be fair, InterTradeIreland has run an innovative programme in this regard. One of its most popular programmes helps companies to prepare for procurement, understand how to gain access and go after that business. I do not have data to indicate the success of the programme, but I know there has been a high rate of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: This is an issue that is of concern to many member states. The Commission will produce a document in March on the issue of better regulation and exemptions for small businesses. I am aware of the French system. The issue for each member state will be to try and see whether it can adapt its regulations to this. We will publish a companies Bill shortly through which we will reduce the audit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: To be fair, these public procurement packages are to do with what Deputy Lawlor has spoken about. They are there to give contracting authorities more choice over procurement procedures, provided they are open to applications from anyone. Obviously, an effort is being made to encourage the use of electronic procurement, which makes it easier to procure within a member state and across member...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: What generally happens in this situation is that if people are handling a dossier for the European Council and attending the working groups that are dealing with it, they make themselves available to the committee to answer any technical questions that may arise. I have no problem if the committee wants a smaller team to attend. It will just mean that we may be corresponding with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: On the issue of public procurement, these directives do not specifically deal with questions such as whether one can build into one's procurement criteria things like the level of unemployment. However, under existing public procurement rules it is possible to include things like unemployment in a region. I know that the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Hayes, is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I welcome the support expressed by Deputy Tóibín for the patents law, which is long-awaited and which will be beneficial, with an estimated potential saving of €30,000 per patent. However, I do not think that patent law can get into the much wider issue of transfer pricing. Patent law is essentially about protecting intellectual property rights while transfer pricing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming Competitiveness Council: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I thank the committee for the invitation to provide a summary of the agenda items for the forthcoming Competitiveness Council meetings in Brussels on 10 and 11 December 2012. I am accompanied by Mr. Philip Kelly, assistant secretary, and Mr. Aidan Hodson, who deals primarily with the Irish Research Council. The first day of the Council will deal with industry and Internal Market items...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Union Movement (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: Trade unions are by their nature essentially self- governing bodies and it is a matter for the membership to determine whether, and in what manner, the rules and policies of a trade union should provide for how it deals with complaints about the service provided by the Union to its members. The Registrar of Friendly Societies has a number of specific powers in the area of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cross-Border Co-operation (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 254, 268, 269, 270, 271 and 272 together. North South economic cooperation is and will remain a priority of mine and of the Government. To this effect, there is on-going dialogue between relevant Departments and Agencies, North and South, to promote economic development, job creation and innovation, in the border region. A key area of engagement at...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: County Enterprise Boards Funding (4 Dec 2012)

Richard Bruton: County Enterprise Board (CEB) Capital Expenditure is solely for the purpose of providing financial assistance in the form of grant aid and non-financial assistance (soft supports) in the form of mentoring, training and advice to clients. CEB Current Expenditure is allocated to Pay (CEB staff) and Non-Pay (administrative costs of operation- such as utilities, insurances, IT and...