Results 49,121-49,140 of 51,299 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Industrial Development: Industrial Development (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: IDA Ireland is the agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment to Ireland and its regions. The marketing of individual areas, including available property solutions, for new or expanded FDI investments and jobs is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency. IDA Ireland is actively marketing the new industrial park in Tuam to potential investors on...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The company concerned announced to its staff on 31 January last that it would cease operations in Carrick-on-Suir with the loss of 53 jobs. Some 11 permanent staff will be transferred to new offices in Waterford city and will be retained in distribution support activities and finance. The IDA strategy for South Tipperary is to concentrate future economic development in Clonmel by developing...

Written Answers — Insurance Industry: Insurance Industry (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The National Competitiveness Council in its annual competitiveness report 2005 found that of the 16 countries benchmarked, Irish expenditure on non-life insurance was the fourth-highest. However, the NCC also found that the rate of growth in the cost of insurance has slowed down substantially in recent years. That can be attributed to the series of initiatives that the Government has pushed...

Written Answers — Retail Sector Developments: Retail Sector Developments (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Part 3 of the Competition Act 2002 is designed to regulate mergers and acquisitions in the economy, including the retail sector of the economy, to ensure that there is no significant lessening of competition in the market. Under the merger provisions in the Act, parties to mergers and acquisitions that exceed the specified financial thresholds must notify their proposals to the Competition...

Written Answers — Retail Sector Developments: Retail Sector Developments (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Competition is the life-blood of a vibrant economy, and the Government is committed to removing unwarranted constraints on competition in all sectors of the economy, including the retail sector. The retail grocery sector has seen significant changes in recent years, particularly since the entry of discounters Aldi and Lidl. There have been other developments too, such as the opening of...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 331 to 333, inclusive together. Ireland's economy continued to perform exceptionally well in 2005. GNP grew by approximately 5%, compared with an OECD average of 2.7% for last year. The recently published NCB purchasing managers' index showed that the Irish manufacturing sector maintained solid growth in output and new business in January. Last year,...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The company in question has undertaken a major restructuring and upgrading of its plant in Naas, County Kildare. Although the restructuring involved 245 redundancies, the company has chosen Ireland as the international manufacturing site for its next generation of products, involving substantial capital investment at its plant. Those workers who lost their jobs are highly skilled workers, and...

Job Losses. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I too was very concerned to hear that Irish Pride Bakeries Limited in Kanturk had announced that it was closing with the loss of 76 full-time and 20 part-time jobs. I am conscious of the effect these job losses will have on the workers involved and their families, as well as the community in the surrounding area. This is very disappointing news for...

Order of Business. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: That is fantastic progress.

Proposed Legislation. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The legislative and regulatory regime that applied to the DCC-Fyffes case was Part V of the Companies Act 1990. Part V has been largely repealed with the introduction of a new more robust and more wide-ranging regime which came into effect on 6 July 2005. This new regime consists of the Market Abuse (Directive 2003/6/EC) Regulations 2005 and Part 4 of the Investment Funds, Companies and...

Proposed Legislation. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Fundamentally, a new regulatory regime is operational to cover all these areas and it will be overseen by a new competent authority, the Financial Regulator. I am aware of the commentary on the DCC-Fyffes case, including that of Ms Justice Laffoy in her judgment, and we are examining the issues raised. I have referred a number of them to the company law review group with a view to...

Proposed Legislation. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: No, I do not agree with the Deputy. I have referred the case to the company law review group to seek advice on specific points raised in the judgment. Over recent years, EU legislation has been adopted in all the areas mentioned, a number of which were originally covered by my Department. One of the features of the radically new and robust legislation is that member states are no longer...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 115 together. The labour inspectorate of my Department is responsible for monitoring certain employment conditions for all categories of workers, including immigrant workers. The inspectorate operates without differentiation with regard to worker nationality as statutory employment rights and protections apply to immigrant workers in exactly the same...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Any abuse of domestic workers is unacceptable and deserves to be condemned on all sides of the House. My Department no longer generally issues work permits for domestic workers, including carers or minders and nannies, except in exceptional and limited circumstances where the Department may have an assurance that workers have supports in place. As I outlined in my initial reply, the bottom...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: These are relevant in the context of inspectors entering private dwellings in pursuance of employment rights compliance checking and enforcement. Article 40.5 of the Constitution provides that the dwelling of every citizen is inviolable and shall not be forcibly entered save in accordance with law. Article 43 of the Constitution provides as follows: The State acknowledges that man, in virtue...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: If the Deputy knows it, he will understand why there is a time lag between September and now.

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy made a big song and dance about being told something by the Minister of State in September. I am pointing out the very real difficulties that occur. We would like to provide a constitutional amendment. We are in discussions with the social partners.

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: As the Deputy will be aware, there are other issues in that some of the social partners put forward the idea that recruiting agencies or employment agencies should be designated as representing employers. I would have difficulty with this proposal because it is not logical. I do not think they could represent individuals who would employ people in this context. We have consulted the Labour...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We will meet the migrant action group at some stage to discuss the matters they raised in the context of the Work Permits Bill which is currently going through the House. Part of the legislation relates to the positioning of key information on work permits in terms of wages, conditions of employment and so on which seeks to give added protection to workers, including issuing work permits to...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Through multilingual leaflets and a lo-call phone service whereby people from different countries can ring up and get a response in their own language on their rights and entitlements, what is available in terms of employment opportunities and so on. The Know Before You Go campaign aims to talk to people before they arrive in Ireland about their entitlements and so on. I recently launched...