Results 47,661-47,680 of 51,015 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Work Permits: Work Permits (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: The Employment Permits Section of my Department only records the number of valid Work Permit applications made. Some applications are rejected in a pre-screening process, for example, if they are evidently outside the criteria for granting a Work Permit or lack the required documentation and are not captured in the statistics. The number of valid Work Permit applications received was 26,000,...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1138 and 1140 together. According to figures supplied by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland there were a total of 331 job gains and 240 losses in companies supported by the industrial development agencies in Mayo in 2006. A breakdown of these figures is supplied in the following table. In addition there were 110 net job gains in the micro enterprise...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: The issues of job losses and gains in Enterprise Ireland supported companies is a day-to-day matter for the agency itself, and not one in which I am directly involved. The Forfás Annual Employment Survey is the indicator used to record jobs gained and lost in Enterprise Ireland in any one year. Provisional Forfás figures for 2006 show that Enterprise Ireland currently works with 120...

Written Answers — : (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: During the period in question, there were five closures / major job loss announcements in agency-assisted companies in Youghal involving over 700 jobs. Earlier this month, a further agency-assisted firm in Fermoy announced its intention to close its operation with the loss of 253 jobs. However, the most recent Live Register figures for Fermoy and Youghal show increases of less than 100...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: Since 2002, twenty-five officers in my Department have attended training courses in project management which were funded from the Department's training budget. These courses were organised to enhance the competencies of the officers concerned and stem from discussions with their managers through the annual Performance Management and Development System (PMDS). The training provided enhanced...

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: The Central Statistics Office does not publish separate data covering Government and regulator-controlled charges. We checked widely and the only source we can get for the 55.5% net increase is a Fine Gael press release of 14 December which is on the Fine Gael website.

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: I respectfully suggest that website is not the most robust source or reference I check for figures of that kind. The National Competitiveness Council in its report produced the data and the assessment on the cost competitiveness of Irish cities; I did not do it. I clearly excluded Dublin in my reply. I referred to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and these are important.

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: Given our regionalisation policy, when an analysis is done independently of Government and of everybody else in this House, it is important to put on record——

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: ——that, compared to other developed cities across Europe, some of our cities are significantly better in this respect. That is all I was doing and it is important to record that. I agree and have articulated for a long time that we need to become more competitive in our domestic economy. When we took a decision in the retail sector to do that in terms of the removal of the groceries...

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: The track record of the Deputy's party is that people talk a good talk but when it comes to taking on some sheltered sectors of the economy, which is the key to making our domestic sector more competitive, its members pull back and revert to the old electoral political game.

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: Fine Gael does not have much credibility in terms of resolving some of the pressures in the domestic economy that have given rise to some of the cost issues, which we need to move to address. There is no question that costs are a fundamental issue in any developed economy. We are conscious of that and it is the reason the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, took a clear premeditated...

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: In terms of the anti-inflation position, as part of the social partnership process, we are establishing an anti-inflation group to deal with inflationary pressures on the economy, but the broad macro statistics for Ireland are strong. We had a very high economic growth rate in 2006 and that is also predicted for 2007. In terms of a quality of life index and the UN human development index,...

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: It flies in the face of reality. We will continue to focus on making sure we can take steps to maintain our cost competitiveness. It is a challenge——

Economic Competitiveness. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: ——in an economy that is no longer at the stage it was ten years ago. It is much more advanced and developed. We will never have an economy like China or India, therefore, we must play to our strengths and work on certain sectors.

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: Four of the agencies under the aegis of my Department are due to decentralise as follows: FÁS is to move 383 posts to Birr, County Offaly; Enterprise Ireland is to move 292 posts to Shannon; the Health and Safety Authority is to move 110 posts to Thomastown, County Kilkenny, and the National Standards Authority of Ireland is to move 132 posts to Arklow, County Wicklow. My Department...

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: I have laid out in detail for the House the number of staff that each agency plans to decentralise.

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: It is an open secret that the agency side of the equation has not been as rapid as the normal decentralisation programmes with civil servants. For example, my Department has been well subscribed in terms of its move to Carlow and it is going well.

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: We are making progress on the agencies in terms of the issues identified. Under the timelines of 2008 and 2009, FÁS will have a significant presence in Offaly, Enterprise Ireland will have a significant presence in Shannon and likewise with the Health and Safety Authority in Thomastown. There have been some difficulties with specialist posts in the NSAI that require further resolution....

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: We have experienced this with earlier decentralisation programmes.

Decentralisation Programme. (31 Jan 2007)

Micheál Martin: I can recall when the Central Statistics Office was transferred to Cork and the big issue was the one the Deputy has just raised.