Results 48,381-48,400 of 51,015 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: My Department is required to move 250 posts to Carlow under the Government's Decentralisation Programme. In addition, four of the Agencies under the aegis of my Department are due to decentralise as follows: FÁS is to move 383 posts to Birr, Co. Offaly; Enterprise Ireland is to move 292 posts to Shannon; The Health and Safety Authority is to move 110 posts to Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, and...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The A07 Consultancy subhead is available for use by any Section of my Department which needs to commission skills, knowledge or expertise not available within the Department in order to help them meet their business goals. Forecasting the amount required for general consultancy for any year is an inexact science, given how difficult it is to forecast the level of demand, as requirements are...

Written Answers — Workplace Fatalities: Workplace Fatalities (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 93, 104 and 136 together. The Law Reform Commission, in its report published in October 2005, recommended that as the current law of corporate liability for manslaughter does not provide a clear basis for constructing liability, a new basis, in legislative form, is necessary. To this end the Commission included the draft of a short Bill in its report. The...

Written Answers — Fairtrade Products: Fairtrade Products (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: In my Department, which is spread over 8 separate buildings, there is only a medium sized canteen in Davitt House and a very small canteen in Kildare Street. My Department has no restaurants or cafes. The tea/coffee served in these two canteens is not confined to Fair Trade tea and coffee which, I understand, is also the position in relation to the agencies under the aegis of my Department....

Written Answers — Company Mergers: Company Mergers (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Under the Competition Act 2002 responsibility for regulating mergers and takeovers, with the exception of media mergers, was transferred from the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment to the Competition Authority with effect from 1st January 2003. Details of all notified mergers since 1st January 2003 are available from the Competition Authority and are published on its website,...

Written Answers — Insurance Industry: Insurance Industry (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Competition Authority's Report on Competition Issues in the Non Life Insurance Market, which focussed on motor, employers' liability and public liability insurances, published in March 2005, contained 47 recommendations directed at a number of bodies including the Financial Regulator, the Department of Transport and the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland. Two of the recommendations have...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The company in question has experienced a reduced demand for several of the products it manufactures at its facility in Newbridge and it is anticipated that up to 250 positions will be phased out between 2006 and 2007. The training agency FAS will assist the workforce, which is highly skilled, to plan new careers and identify training needs. The agency will also provide training in the range...

Written Answers — EU Enlargement: EU Enlargement (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I announced at Report Stage of the Employment Permits Bill 2005, on 3rd May, that I propose to bring forward an amendment to the Bill at Committee Stage in the Seanad on this issue. This will be an enabling provision to permit me as Minister to, by Regulation, either permit access or to continue to restrict access to our labour market by nationals of Romania and Bulgaria.

Written Answers — Postal Services: Postal Services (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The 2006 estimate for postal and telecommunications services in my Department is €974,000. This represents an increase of €24,000 or 2.5% on the 2005 estimate of €950,000. Actual expenditure however in 2005 on postal and telecommunications services exceeded the initial estimate provision for the year by €37,000. This was due to a number of once off payments in 2005 including the...

Written Answers — Equal Opportunities Employment: Equal Opportunities Employment (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Supported Employment is an open labour market programme which is operated on behalf of my Department by FAS. It seeks to facilitate the integration of persons with disabilities into the open labour market by providing supports on the job. A job coach, who assists both the job seeker and the employer, provides the support. Supported Employment identifies existing jobs, matches suitable...

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

Micheál Martin: The thirty-five County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) were established in 1993 to provide support to small businesses with 10 employees or fewer. Their function is to develop indigenous enterprise potential and to stimulate economic activity at local level. The CEBs support individuals, firms, community groups, provided that the projects have the capacity to achieve commercial viability....

Written Answers — Corporate Enforcement: Corporate Enforcement (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The ODCE currently has about 29 staff who are engaged in corporate enforcement work. The breakdown in the table that follows excludes staff involved on a full-time or part-time basis in company law compliance and ODCE corporate services work. The Director provides information and statistics in his Annual Reports and End-of-Year Statements on the results and work of his Office. These documents...

Written Answers — Company Law: Company Law (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The section which works on drafting the General Scheme of the Company Law Reform and Consolidation Bill has four full-time persons but the Company Law Division of my Department works in a collegiate way with a pooling of its expertise and experience. In the context of this Bill it is also relevant to mention the huge contribution made by members of the Company Law Review Group to ensuring...

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

Micheál Martin: The Competition Authority published its Strategy Statement for the period 2006 to 2008 at the beginning of the year. The Strategy Statement sets out the Competition Authority's objectives for the next three years and its plans on how it proposes to implement those objectives. The Authority states that the focus of its strategy over the next three years is about discharging its functions in...

Written Answers — Departmental Investigations: Departmental Investigations (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: Sixteen investigations into company law matters were initiated by my predecessor in the period since 1997. In three cases, the High Court appointed, on an application by the Minister, inspectors under section 8 of the Companies Act 1990. The Inspectors appointed to Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited presented their Report to the High Court on 10 June 2002. The Report was subsequently published and...

Written Answers — Energy Resources: Energy Resources (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I welcome this report which has provided some significant food for thought as to the future availability of oil and the subsequent implications for the enterprise sector and for the economy as a whole. The report highlights the need for very careful consideration as to the way in which our future competitiveness and prosperity may be affected if we do not make careful use of a finite resource...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: In the past five years the numbers in employment increased by 268,000 or by 15.6%. Employment increased by 87,000 or by 4.7% last year alone. This is the highest annual rate of growth since 2000. Over 7,000 new jobs are created every month on average. This is way in excess of the average rate of redundancies. This means that those who lose their jobs through redundancy are finding new...

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

Micheál Martin: As I have previously explained in this House, one of the aims of the Competition Act 2002 is to prohibit anti-competitive practices by "undertakings". An "undertaking" is defined in the Act as "a person being an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons engaged for gain in the production, supply, or distribution of goods or the provision of a service". This definition...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is referring to a report entitled Data Analysis of In-Employment Education and Training in Ireland that was published by Forfás in 2005. At the time this report was in preparation, the latest full year for which the full range of data was available was 2003. At that time this Department was contributing less than €14m in direct training grants to activities classified in this...

Written Answers — Science and Technology: Science and Technology (17 May 2006)

Micheál Martin: I will shortly be concluding my consideration of this matter in consultation with my Cabinet colleagues, and I envisage that a public competition for the position of Chief Scientific Adviser will be initiated in the next number of weeks.