Results 4,861-4,880 of 6,307 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Action Plan for Jobs (19 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank Senator Reilly for the opportunity to discuss the recently launched Action Plan for Jobs on a regional basis. Last week we launched the framework of that strategy. After I leave the Seanad, I will meet the implementation group for the strategy. I can assure Senator Reilly that I will play a leading role in rolling out the Border plan. It very much affects my constituency of Louth...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I know Deputy Calleary is well aware of the issue of exiting banks and refinancing of loans. We are going to do two things in terms of adapting this scheme, which is permissible under the existing Act in any event. I will lay the new scheme before the House over the next few days. We are making significant progress on the matter. As we have stated previously, the scheme will allow for...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I will definitely do so.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: It will command broad support. I will be happy to do that.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am fine, thanks.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: As I understand it, farm safety walks are a relatively new innovation and something the Health and Safety Authority wishes to promote. The authority takes what might be described as a blended approach to safety issues. From the point of view of farm safety, the number of farm fatalities in recent months, including those of young children and experienced farm workers and owners, is very...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: This is a new innovation in the public policy landscape. Today I will be announcing the composition of the low pay commission. I hope that the chairman designate will have the opportunity to speak to the committee over the next while. The commission is a priority for Government in terms of our dignity at work agenda and making work pay. This year there is a budget of €500,000. We...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I welcome Deputy Conaghan's remarks. As a Minister of State with responsibility for SMEs, I have had the opportunity over the past few months to travel around the country and talk to SME owners and managers about their experiences. We are now in an entirely different space even compared to two years ago. There is now much more confidence out there. The local enterprise office approach is...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: The HSA is an area for which I am responsible. To the best of my knowledge, there is no direct financial contribution from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but our Department and that Department, as the Deputy will know, work closely together on initiatives. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, had some public engagements last year in regard to...

Other Questions: Research and Development Supports (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: All of our agencies have policies in place to encourage greater levels of research and innovation and to build the innovation capacity of our enterprises. Enterprise Ireland directly supports companies which engage in innovation, with instruments designed to support companies at different levels of engagement in innovation. IDA Ireland also has a suite of supports for client companies which...

Other Questions: Research and Development Supports (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: There are a range of different activities going on at present. One company that I am particularly knowledgeable about is called Combilift. It is an amazingly successful company that is dedicated to the area of research and innovation, and the benefits of that have really borne fruit with its major jobs announcement last week. Three quarters of research and development active companies are...

Other Questions: Research and Development Supports (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: Our agencies, such as IDA Ireland, are involved in pilot mid-tier programmes to bring small and medium-sized companies up to the level that we all want them to be at. There is a lot of activity in that space. There has been significant investment ring-fenced by Government around research and development, even during difficult times, because we could see the benefits of State investment....

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: Deputy Daly raised a couple of fundamental points on the industrial relations machinery of the State. Access to the industrial relations machinery of the State is governed by the definition of “worker” in section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990, which provides,inter alia, that a “worker” means any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Clare Daly for tabling this important question. I fully appreciate the concerns of retired and deferred members of pension schemes whose schemes are being restructured, particularly where such restructuring may have an impact on existing or potential pension benefits. In this regard, the question of pensioner groups having access to the State’s industrial relations...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Tánaiste and I are anxious to seek to address this issue, and she and I are familiar with the circumstances Deputy Clare Daly has outlined. It was felt that the appropriate way to address concerns in the future would be through the Pensions Authority, where people would be provided with the opportunity to make submissions to the authority in the type of circumstances outlined by...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: We always need to be very conscious of areas such as this. I am aware of developments in the particular firm in question and its engagement, or lack thereof, with the trade union representing its workers. It would be unwise of me to comment any further as the situation is evolving. From the Government’s perspective, we would always encourage Labour Court recommendations to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Government is taking a number of initiatives to ensure that the economic recovery that is under way is benefiting all citizens and that the jobs we are helping to create are decent jobs with decent pay. The setting up of a low pay commission is one of the key commitments in the statement of Government priorities agreed last July. The principal function of the low pay commission will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: We know from the Office for National Statistics in the UK and work carried out annually by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development that there are about 32,000 zero-hours contracts in Northern Ireland. Those figures are very worrying. We have a different system here where the protections of the Organisation of Working Time Act are applied to people in certain circumstances....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Services Provision (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: This is an area that concerns me and the Tánaiste. The establishment of Intreo offices has been very positive. The Department of Social Protection has moved from what might be termed a passive payment model to an activation model. Staff in Intreo offices are very linked in with local enterprise offices and other agencies to ensure that people who have business ideas get the support...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Enterprise Support Services Provision (12 Feb 2015)

Gerald Nash: A customer service review is being undertaken with LEOs. The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, and I are determined to ensure that those metrics are very strong. We have come from a position of massively high unemployment and our aim is to get unemployment under 10% by the end of the year with a view to moving towards full employment. As such, there is an understanding across the agencies...