Results 4,381-4,400 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan

Order of Business (19 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: I am not in a position to refer to-----

Order of Business (19 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: It is proposed to take No. 12, motion re Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission; No. 13, motion re Supplementary Statement of Expenditure for Houses of the Oireachtas, No. 13a, motion re referral to joint committee of proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a Council Decision concerning the signing of the agreement between the European Union and Japan on mutual...

Order of Business (19 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: I will take the question in the context of what is in order for discussion, namely Nos. 12, 13 and 13a. I am assuming that Deputy Ó Caoláin will have an opportunity to contribute when we refer this matter to the Joint Committee. We are looking in particular at terrorist finance trafficking programmes. I am sure he will be supportive of that and will make a fine contribution on it at the...

Written Answers — Statutory Instruments: Statutory Instruments (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Agencies under the remit of my Department that have the power to sign Statutory Instruments (SIs) are: · The Labour Court, · The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, · The National Standards Authority of Ireland · The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Injuriesboard.ie), and · FÁS. These powers are delegated to the respective Agencies to enable them to deal...

Written Answers — Statutory Instruments: Statutory Instruments (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: Details of the three unnumbered Statutory Instruments signed by my predecessors or myself in the last decade are set out in the table below. The Department applied for and was granted exemption under the Statutory Instrument Act 1947 for these schemes by the Office of the Attorney General. These exemptions were granted because of the limited application of the schemes and serve to avoid the...

Written Answers — Industrial Development: Industrial Development (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: Section 8(a) of the Industrial Development Act 1993 provides that one of the functions of IDA shall be to promote the establishment and development, in the State, of industrial undertakings from outside the State. The level of grant paid to individual projects is a matter for the Agency itself, subject to upper limits set in WTO subsidy rules, EU state aid law and the provisions of Irish...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The estimated additional cost of increasing the number of Community Employment places by 5,000 is €82.5m. This figure may vary depending on the status of the individuals recruited.

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Work Placement Programme, is cost neutral to the exchequer as participants on the programme will continue to receive their social welfare entitlements whilst on the programme.

Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Short Time Training Programme has been allocated a budget of €1 million. The training cost for each of the 277 participants on the programme is approximately €3,600. The programme is being managed by FÁS and will provide training to 277 people on systematic short time for 2 or 3 days per week that they are not working. The training will last for a full year and participants on the...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Employment Subsidy Scheme has been designed specifically as a preventative measure to retain jobs in vulnerable but viable firms that are in danger of being lost. Under the First Call of the Employment Subsidy Scheme 7,478 jobs will receive the subsidy of €9,100 over the 15 months duration of the scheme. This means that in 2009 the First Call of the Scheme is estimated to cost €19.5...

Written Answers — National Training Fund: National Training Fund (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: As published in the 2009 Revised Estimates for Public Services, the projected fund surplus in the National Training Fund at the end of 2009 is €204.678 million. The estimated fund surplus at the end of 2010 will be published next month in the Book of Estimates following the 2010 Budget.

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Government fully recognises the potential of the growing renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental sectors as a potential new source of foreign direct investment and job creation for Ireland. To this end IDA Ireland set up a new "Cleantech" Department in January 2009, specifically to target foreign investment from these sectors. I am aware of the announcement by General...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, in cooperation with the Office of Public Works (OPW), operates the "Per Cent for Art Scheme". Under the Scheme, all Government Departments and their Agencies are required to spend up to 1% of their budget for capital projects on art, subject to certain maximum limits. A set of national guidelines was published by the Department of Arts, Sport and...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (18 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: In February of this year, the Government decided that expenditure savings should be achieved through a general reduction of the order of 8% in professional fees paid by public service bodies in respect of services rendered to them from 1 March 2009. As a result of this decision, my officials issued instructions that all contracts held by the Department, its Offices and its agencies should be...

Pre-budget Outlook: Statements (Resumed) (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: On competitiveness, we have seen a reduction in energy costs although more remains to be done in that regard. There has been a reduction in labour costs. We are reducing the regulatory burden on business. We are looking at new innovative ways of supporting business. Competitiveness is a real issue and will continue to be a focus because our competitiveness is recovering. Prices, rents...

Written Answers — Departmental Procurement: Departmental Procurement (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: The Government Decision of 19 May 2009 regarding the reduction of payment periods by Government Departments to 15 days, included a requirement for Departments to report quarterly to my Department on their performance in meeting this target. These reports are to be submitted by the 15th day of the month following the end of the quarter. The first such reports covering the period 15 June 2009...

Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: This year the Government has doubled to over 130,000 the number of activation training and work experience places provided by FÁS in 2009. At the end of September 115,000 unemployed were currently participating (51,116) or had completed (64,171). The table attached shows the expenditure and the number of throughput recorded by FÁS 2007,2008 and the year to date 2009. Throughput is the...

Written Answers — Business Regulation: Business Regulation (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 133 together. My Department is charged with leading the cross-Government drive to reduce administrative burdens on business. We are doing this in a prioritised way, drawing on the experiences of other Member States who are also involved in this international effort. Departments are currently identifying the "Information Obligations", contained in...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: â'¬15,034.25 was paid to the company in question in respect of an investigation into an allegation of bullying.

Written Answers — Fiontraíocht Éireann: Fiontraíocht Éireann (17 Nov 2009)

Mary Coughlan: Foilsíodh Tuarascáil an Ghrúpa Speisialta ar Uimhreacha sna Seirbhísí Poiblí agus Cláir Caiteachas i mí Iúil seo chaite. I measc na moltaí atá sa Tuarascáil moltar comhtlháthrú fheidhm fiontraíochta Udaras na Gaeltachta laistigh de Fhiontraíocht Éireann. Maraon le moltaí go léir an Ghrúpa, tá súil agam go ndéanfaidh an Rialtas scrúdú ar an moladh seo i gcomhthéacs...