Results 47,121-47,140 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Does Deputy Hogan accept that?

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan needs to be clear on where he stands. He cannot ask if the Minister will advise the authority and give leadership to it, and almost in the same sentence suggest the Minister should not become involved and should remain independent.

Departmental Agencies. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan has criticised the fact the authority has taken on the Irish League of Credit Unions. I stated we are studying the Supreme Court judgment. It is only by its careful consideration that one could make observations in terms of future actions. The authority is independent. We should equally point out that many settlements are made before the proceedings ever get to court, when...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: To reduce energy consumption in the Department and to ensure maximum energy efficiency and the minimum carbon footprint in its daily operations, my Department, through its green team which was established some years ago, continues to implement the following actions——

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: ——ensure all lighting in the Department's eight buildings is switched off overnight; ensure the Office of Public Works, which looks after the replacement of electric light bulbs in my Department's buildings, uses energy-efficient bulbs and long-life bulbs wherever possible when electric light bulbs are being replaced; ensure the central heating arrangements for the Department's buildings...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: It is easy to make points like that but before I arrived in the Department a green team of officials had been set up to support a green officer. We may look flippantly at issues such as turning off lights but it is recognised in research that enormous savings can be made. I take Deputy Quinn's point about quantifying it but I do not know the baseline from a few years ago. The Power of One...

Departmental Offices. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Yes. As part of the fit-out of the new offices, Enterprise Ireland engaged sustainability consultants, including a specialist from Sustainable Energy Ireland. A feasibility study is being carried out by Sustainable Energy Solutions under the headings of environmental strategies, energy utilisation and development of advanced building management system. This seeks to achieve the broad...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: National and international surveys indicate that the administrative burden or red tape factor of regulation on business is not particularly onerous in Ireland. In a recent ESRI survey, over half of businesses stated that the level of regulation in their sector was about right. However, it is important we ensure that regulation remains balanced between cost and benefit and that we constantly...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Hogan is wrong. I was never against it.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: The election is over.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I worked quickly on this. The audit exemption thresholds that the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, and I worked on was raised from €1.5 million to €7.3 million and from €1.9 million to €3.65 million in terms of turnover and balance sheet respectively.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Many companies have benefited from it and have articulated gratitude. The small business forum, which I established, came up with practical recommendations for small businesses. As a result of that and in consort with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, as the Deputy has graciously acknowledged, significant measures were introduced in budget 2007 which reduced the administrative burden...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I will act. What we have done with the new high level group is to bring together the regulatory body in the Taoiseach's Department with the business regulation forum. We have endeavoured to do something like a clearing house similar to the financial services clearing house to buy in from the different sectors. We will take a sectoral approach and get early results to reduce the burden....

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Once we get over September.

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: A substantial part of my agenda is contained in the business regulation forum's report, which I launched on 25 April. We will also draw from the work of the ESRI survey of business attitudes to regulation. They are important inputs into the work of the high level group. It is also worth putting on record that the World Bank's report, Doing Business in 2006, ranked Ireland tenth out of 175...

Economic Competitiveness. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I am clear that it is a significant core priority of mine in the future, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, because I want to keep Ireland competitive. I want to keep us where we are currently vis-À-vis the European Union 25 in terms of entrepreneurial activity and the number of start-ups in this country. I stand to be corrected, but I believe we came second to Poland last...

Energy Conservation. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: To minimise the carbon footprint of my Department in its daily operations, the Department through its green team, which was established some years ago, has over the past few years initiated a range of actions which I outlined in a previous reply so I will not repeat them. The Department also operates a travel pass scheme for interested members of staff in order to encourage staff to use...

Energy Conservation. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the question, which is a good one. In going through the preparation for this reply——

Energy Conservation. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: It is a great question. What is a carbon footprint audit? Does Deputy Quinn know?

Energy Conservation. (4 Jul 2007)

Micheál Martin: Does Deputy Quinn know?