Results 47,981-48,000 of 51,015 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (12 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 119 together. The number of job losses in 2005 in Donegal, for IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland supported companies, totals 578, the majority of which were in the textile sector. It should also be noted that 648 jobs were created in IDA and EI supported companies in 2005. 2006 figures are not yet available. A breakdown of sectoral employment for...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (12 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 open labour market by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine and to...

Company Closures. (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I thank Deputy Collins and Deputy Neville for raising this important matter. Like the Deputies, I was disappointed to hear about the situation at the company in question. I am conscious of the effect the job losses will have on the workers involved and their families as well as the community in the surrounding area. This is distressing news for those who will lose their jobs. I assure the...

Company Closures. (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: Unfortunately, the situation is a voluntary engagement between employer and employee, but we will pursue that issue in so far as we can with the employer, as we undertook today in our meetings with the workers' representatives. As the Deputies know, Microtherm was established in Ireland in 1975 and employs 46 people in Bruff, County Limerick, where it manufactures thermostats for the white...

Company Closures. (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: A central goal for the industrial development agencies is the achievement of balanced regional development. The attractiveness of Limerick lies in its position as a regional gateway, with the critical mass and infrastructure necessary to attract mobile investment to the region. Both the Government and the agencies recognise the need to provide high-volume employment opportunities in...

Company Closures. (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I thank Deputy Boyle for raising this issue and I accept his absolute commitment, and that of all public representatives in the city of Cork, in respect of it. As the Deputy is aware, the issue of the retail workers in question and their jobs concerns the transfer of a lease. The parties involved have been unable to reach agreement on the matter. On Thursday and Friday last, we met the...

Company Closures. (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: There are areas that could be considered in terms of the transfer of undertakings etc., but this matter would not really be suitable in that regard. I would argue that Roches Stores made a good effort to transfer staff but that effort came unstuck in respect of the workers at Wilton. The matter was not closed off and not everything was tidied up prior to the cessation of trading at Roches...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The reasons for companies to relocate activities from Ireland are many and varied, and include relocation to be closer to customers or other competitive considerations. I believe that firms must be free to allocate resources and production to where the returns are highest. It is not in our interest to obstruct what is in the best interest of competitive enterprises. Our best response to the...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 17, 57 and 66 together. I should point out at the outset that return and recovery of grant aid are day-to-day operational matters for Enterprise Ireland and that neither I, as Minister, nor my Department have any function in relation to these matters. I understand that discussions between Enterprise Ireland and the company concerning grant aid to the plant...

Written Answers — Consumer Protection: Consumer Protection (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The main bodies operating under the auspices of my Department which are concerned with consumer protection are the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs and the Interim National Consumer Agency. In so far as the ODCA is concerned, its remit includes a specific statutory role in relation to enforcing price display orders. These orders essentially relate to the manner that prices are...

Written Answers — Research Funding: Research Funding (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Commercialisation Fund, established in 2003, is operated by Enterprise Ireland. In the first instance, the Board of the agency is responsible for decisions on grants awarded and for monitoring the success of the Fund. The number of project approvals under the Fund were 73 in 2003, 92 in 2004 and 141 in 2005. The corresponding funding approved was €14.6m, €14.8m and €22.5m,...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: From enquiries made with the Office of the Attorney General, it is not possible at this stage to give a precise date as to when the legal advice in this case will be forthcoming. Claims for statutory redundancy rebate amounting to over €4 million have been received in my department from the company. If it is found that this rebate is due to the company, then it will be paid out of the...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I have to inform the Deputy that there is no data relating to the productivity of indigenous firms in the Quarterly National Household Survey produced by the Central Statistics Office.

Written Answers — County Enterprise Boards: County Enterprise Boards (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The basic criteria under which the County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) have been operating since their inception in 1993, and under which funding is available, is based primarily on factors such as the sector of the economy in which an enterprise is operating or intends to operate and the size or proposed size of the enterprise. CEBs can assist, through either financial or non-financial...

Written Answers — Equality Issues: Equality Issues (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Companies Registration Office is the repository for all companies registered in Ireland. There are currently 168,817 companies on the Register with a total directorship of 434,617. The Register does not indicate the percentage of registered companies having a female chief executive or chairperson. The 2005 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor indicated that there is a healthy interest among...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The promotion of Tralee and the North Kerry area for new investment and jobs is an operational matter for IDA Ireland and Shannon Development as part of their statutory responsibilities and not a matter in which I have a direct function. While I may give general policy directives to the Agencies I am precluded from giving directives relating to individual undertakings or to give preference to...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: The July 2006 report which I commissioned from Forfás on the changing nature of the Irish manufacturing sector illustrates the complex performance of this sector in recent years. While CSO data indicates that both manufacturing output and merchandise export levels increased significantly between 2000 and 2005 (by 28.2% and 31.8% in volume terms respectively), the total number of persons...

Written Answers — Grocery Industry: Grocery Industry (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 160 and 178 together. I am aware that food prices have been fluctuating during the course of 2006. For example, recent CSO figures show that the prices of products previously covered by the Groceries Order fell by 0.5% in the five-month period from April to August. This is in contrast with a 0.3% increase in prices, for the same products, in the...

Written Answers — Energy Policy: Energy Policy (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: My Department has a particular interest in the impact of energy policy on the competitiveness of the enterprise sector, consumers and security of supply. In the longer term I am also interested in the role which energy research in science, technology and innovation can play in helping to grow the economy in a sustainable manner. Together with the Development Agencies, my Department will...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (11 Oct 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to takes Questions Nos. 29 and 69 together. 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...