Results 48,461-48,480 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

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.

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

Micheál Martin: The NDP's Employment and Human Resources Development Operational Programme (EHRDOP) is a €15 billion plan that addresses Ireland's labour market and human capital development needs for the period 2000-2006. The budget comprises €892 million of assistance from the European Social Fund (ESF). The EHRDOP comprises 52 measures which are implemented by a variety of Government departments and...

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

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 132 together. There are currently a total of twenty-nine Directives due to be transposed by this Department. Of these, as at end April 2006, 13 are overdue for transposition and are detailed in the table below. From May 2006 to December 2006 another six Directives require to be transposed. A further ten Directives require to be transposed in 2007 and...

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

Micheál Martin: The provision of grant assistance for individual companies, and the related matter of companies refunding grants where appropriate, is a matter for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland themselves, and not one in which I have a direct function. I have made enquiries with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland regarding their latest available figures in respect of grant refunds. IDA Ireland report...

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

Micheál Martin: Under the Government's decentralisation programme, FÁS is due to move its head office to Birr, County Offaly. FÁS is one of the seven State agencies identified as early movers by the decentralisation implementation group from among the 30 agencies covered by the programme. A "relocation clause" included in recruitment and promotion contracts has given rise to industrial action by SIPTU. The...

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

Micheál Martin: In view of concerns expressed by some contributors to the public consultation process on the Groceries Order last year, I asked the Competition Authority to monitor the sector following the repeal of the Order. The Authority is currently putting in place a monitoring mechanism to track data and trends over the coming months and years and it will keep my Department informed of developments.

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

Micheál Martin: The European Commission's amended proposal was published on 4th April following the European Parliament's first vote on the proposal on the 16th February 2006. The amended proposal is currently being examined in the Council Working Group and COREPER. The Austrian Presidency hopes to have political agreement on the proposal for the Competitiveness Council on 29th and 30th May 2006, although it...