Results 2,361-2,380 of 4,073 for speaker:Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Enterprise Ireland (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I propose to take Questions Nos. 873 and 874 together. The risk assessment report which formed part of Enterprise Ireland risk management process was based on analysis pertaining to the situation in 2014. Since then, and over the past year, targeted open recruitment and promotions recommenced for the first time since the embargo of 2009, and is ongoing, which will enable Enterprise Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Missions (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The joint Trade Mission was one of three similar events held in Athlone, Sligo and Limerick over 18th and 19th May 2016 as part of Enterprise Ireland’s and IDA Ireland’s joint Trade and Investment Mission to Ireland. The nature of the event was operational with the objective of introducing high quality indigenous companies to multinational companies around the country. It was...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Agreements (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) is a new generation agreement that will remove over 99% of tariffs between the EU and Canada and will create sizeable new market access opportunities in services and investment. It will end limitations in access to public contracts, open-up services market, and offer predictable conditions for investors. The agreement covers...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Data (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I propose to take Questions Nos. 879 and 880 together. The requested information is set out in the following table. It should be noted that 2015 was a record year for IDA Ireland client companies. The total number of people employed in IDA Ireland-supported companies reached 187,056. Not only is this an increase of over 27,000 jobs from 2012, it is also the highest in the Agency’s...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Consumer Protection (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Costs of Doing Business Report published by the National Competitiveness Council on April 21st provides an assessment of Ireland's cost competitiveness performance vis-a-vis a range of competitor countries. The report, which has been noted by Government, concentrates on the costs that are largely domestically determined such as labour, property, transport, energy, water, waste,...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Regional Aid (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Regional Aid Guidelines enable the State to grant State Aid, at enhanced rates, to businesses in order to support new investment and new employment in productive projects in Ireland's most disadvantaged regions. The 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines entered into force on 1 July 2014. Areas accounting for 51.28% of Ireland’s population are now eligible for assistance under the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: State Bodies Data (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Currently there are vacancies on two of the State Boards under the remit of my Department. IDA There are currently two vacancies on the Board of the IDA. Following a PAS recruitment process, I have been provided with a list of prospective candidates, however, I have not yet taken a decision on these appointments. IDA is a Category 2 Board and the fee payable to the Chairperson is...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Funding (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that neither my Department nor any of the Agencies operating under its aegis provide funding to assist developers to buy land for the purposes of enabling them to build houses.

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Company Closures (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The former Suir Pharma facility is currently in liquidation, and Grant Thornton, as liquidators, are responsible for the site until that process is concluded. The position is that when a company goes into liquidation, the liquidator takes the place of the employer for the purposes of administering redundancy payments. Payments are made from the Social Insurance Fund, which is mostly funded...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: As the Deputy is aware, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory independent body responsible for the enforcement of domestic and EU competition law in the State. Section 9 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the Commission is independent in the performance of its functions, including carrying out investigations of alleged...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Regulations (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Geo-blocking refers to practises used by online sellers that result in the denial of access to websites from other States. It also includes situations where access to a website is granted, but the customer from abroad is prevented from accessing the product or service in question or being asked to pay with a debit or credit card from a certain country. Some forms of geo-blocking are...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Consumer Protection (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: By definition, it is difficult to estimate the prevalence of cartels as a lot of effort is expended by their participants in keeping them hidden. All efforts to estimate the harm of hidden cartels suffers from the problem that it is impossible to know the number of cartels in existence. Academic research tells us that the cost overcharge that results from hidden cartels is in the range of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: As the Deputy is aware, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory independent body responsible for the enforcement of domestic and EU competition law in the State. Section 9 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the Commission is independent in the performance of its functions, including carrying out investigations of alleged...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Directives (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: My Department is proactive in ensuring that good performance on the transposition of Directives is consistently maintained. Within my Department, transposition is monitored through a customised intranet database which is used as a central management and information tool to track the implementation of Directives on an ongoing basis. This complements the central tracking and monitoring of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Directives (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel has recently completed drafting of the Companies (Accounting) Bill 2016. I intend to seek Government approval to publish and initiate the Bill in the Houses of the Oireachtas shortly. The European Commission issued a Reasoned Opinion on 16 June 2016. This Opinion is on account of Ireland's failure to notify measures for the transposal of the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Corporation Tax (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: On 24 June we published a contingency plan outlining our whole of Government response which was immediately activated. Government is addressing the implications for Ireland of the UK leaving the EU by actively taking forward the contingency plan to ensure that we respond appropriately. The Government and my Department and its agencies are taking concrete actions to address potential...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Proposed Legislation (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: As the Deputy is aware, the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2016 is a Private Member’s Bill which was introduced into Seanad Eireann in January 2016. Second Stage in Seanad Eireann was taken on 20 January 2016 while Committee Stage was taken on 6 July 2016. I understand from the Order Paper of Seanad Eireann, dated 12 July 2016, that Report Stage is now scheduled to take place on the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ministerial Advisers Data (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The numbers and grades of politically or personally appointed staff in respect of Ministers’ Offices are governed by “Instructions” issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER). In that context, sanction has been received for the following: Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Name Role Salary Qualifications / Experience Mr Alan Cantwell...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Retention (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Programme for a Partnership Government sets an ambitious target to have an additional 200,000 at work by 2020, with an unemployment rate of 6 per cent. Achieving this ambitious target is premised on the creation of a range of employment and career opportunities across a broad spectrum of skills across all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing and services activities....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Grocery Industry Regulation (19 Jul 2016)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I presume the Deputy’s question refers to the implementation of the grocery goods regulations which came into force on 30 April of this year. There are no plans to establish a separate Ombudsman to implement the regulations. As the Deputy is aware, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) was charged by the Oireachtas, under the Competition and Consumer...