Results 47,961-47,980 of 51,015 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Community Employment (CE) is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary basis. CE helps unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine and to...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 473, 479, 481, 483, 485, 487, 489, 491, 493, 495 and 497 together. IDA Ireland is the agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ireland and its regions. The Forfás Annual Employment Survey records jobs gained and lost in companies supported by the Industrial Development Agencies. Data is compiled on an...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 474, 480, 482, 484, 486, 488, 490, 492, 494, 496 and 498 together. The issue of job creation at county level is a day to day operational matter for Enterprise Ireland (EI). Employment figures are published for the previous year on a cumulative basis at the beginning of the following year, therefore the latest figures available are for 2005. According to the...

Written Answers — Industrial Development Property: Industrial Development Property (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The support of a client company by an enterprise development agency is an operational matter for the agency concerned and not one in which I have a direct function. While agencies may, from time to time, comment on a client's past performance they cannot comment on the future plans, if any, of a client.

Written Answers — Unemployment Levels: Unemployment Levels (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Unemployment is measured through the Quarterly National Household Survey as published by the Central Statistics Office. The Survey does not provide data on specific towns and is available on a regional basis only. The most recent data, published in September 2006, shows that the unemployment rate for the South-East region, which includes Wexford, stands at 5%, a decrease of 0.6% over the...

Written Answers — Industrial Development Property: Industrial Development Property (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: IDA Ireland is the State Agency with responsibility for marketing Ireland, including individual areas, as a location for foreign direct investment and Enterprise Ireland is the State Agency with responsibility for developing indigenous industries. As part of their operational responsibilities under the Development Acts IDA Ireland has in place a property portfolio to foster and encourage...

Written Answers — Petrol Station Closures: Petrol Station Closures (24 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Consumers benefit from competition in the market and the Government is committed to fostering competition in all sectors of the economy. The national markets in which oil companies and petrol stations operate are no exception. I am aware of instances where petrol filling stations have been sold for alternative use indeed this practice is not just confined to petrol filling stations and one...

Written Answers — Freedom of Information: Freedom of Information (19 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The average search and retrieval fee charged in respect of Freedom of Information requests made to my Department between 2002 and 2005 was €63.77, €57.99, €40.25 and €45.83 respectively, averaged over all cases where a search and retrieval fee was charged. The equivalent figure for the first nine months of 2006 was €64.67. The median search and retrieval fee in respect of each of...

Written Answers — EU Enlargement: EU Enlargement (19 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: As the Deputy is aware the Employment Permits Act 2006 provides for the following three options as regards access to the Irish labour market for nationals of Bulgaria and Romania on their accession to the EU on 1st January 2007. These are: (i) continue to require work permits with the current requirement for a labour market test to establish that the positions cannot be filled from within...

Written Answers — Equal Opportunities Employment: Equal Opportunities Employment (19 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The number of persons employed by my Department recorded as having a disability is currently 44, which represents 4.27% of the current total staff number. My Department therefore exceeds the 3% target for the employment of people with disabilities required of all Government Departments. My Department is committed to developing the careers of its staff with disabilities, a commitment which is...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (18 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Under the Industrial Development Acts, IDA Ireland is the agency charged with the attraction of foreign direct investment to this country, its regions and its areas, with the exception of the Shannon Free Zone, which is the responsibility of Shannon Development. Responsibility for the provision of industrial property solutions within the Mid West region also lies with Shannon Development and...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (18 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I understand from IDA Ireland that the company in question has not made any closure announcement. Unfortunately, six people were let go on 6 October 2006, due to difficult market conditions and related problems which the company is experiencing. The agency is maintaining close contact with the company which has agreed to notify IDA Ireland of any future developments. The agency has also...

Written Answers — Work Permits: Work Permits (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 405 and 413 together. The Employment Permits Act 2006 explicitly grants the Minister the power to refuse an application for an employment permit if a permit has been granted to that worker within the previous twelve months. This allows me as Minister to exercise my discretion to balance the rights of the employer who will have gone through an amount of effort...

Written Answers — Research Funding: Research Funding (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 406 to 408, inclusive, together. The information requested falls within the statutory remit of Enterprise Ireland, an agency under the aegis of my Department. I have asked the agency to collate the information and when it is completed forward it on to you.

Written Answers — Employment Statistics: Employment Statistics (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I am informed by the Central Statistics Office that the exact information as requested by the Deputy is not available. Statistics on employment and unemployment are compiled, at a regional level, from the Quarterly National Household Survey. There are eight regions in the State; Border, Midland, West, Dublin, Mid-East, Mid-West, South-East and South-West. Sub-regional statistics, of the...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: International indicators of competitiveness are produced by a number of international organisations. Many of these are based on a combination of survey and statistical data and they give us broad pointers to competitiveness and where we stand vis a vis other countries. In 2004 the World Economic Forum placed Ireland 26th. in its international competitiveness league a rise of four places on...

Written Answers — County Enterprise Boards: County Enterprise Boards (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: People in Ireland who wish to establish their own business are facilitated in doing so through the promotion by the Government of an economic environment that is supportive of entrepreneurial activity combined with a wide range of targeted interventions by various State enterprise development agencies. There are, in the first instance, thirty-five City and County Enterprise Boards (CEBs)...

Written Answers — Industrial Relations: Industrial Relations (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Given the number of records to be examined for the period concerned, my Department is unable to supply the material sought by the Deputy within the timescale required. Officials in my Department are undertaking an examination of relevant Departmental records at present and I will forward the information to the Deputy shortly.

Written Answers — Industrial Development: Industrial Development (17 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 414 and 415 together. It is evident from international research that the availability of suitable property solutions is key to the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI). IDA Ireland's property portfolio has been a fundamental pillar in helping sell Ireland as a location for mobile inward investment since the 1960's and remains so to the present day....

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (12 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 117 and 121 together. I should point out that responsibility for the poultry sector rests with the Minister for Agriculture and Food. However, I have been in contact with the Minister in regard to the future of the company in question. My Ministerial colleague met with a group representing the producers that supply live chickens to the company on 3 October...