Results 9,121-9,140 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Senator Bradford for raising this issue. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually. I accept the point made by the Senator in regard to budget 2012, whereby as part of that budget there is a phased increase in the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools with four teachers or less. The...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: School Accommodation (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. As a Minister of State in the relevant Department, I am acutely aware of the predicament in which that school community finds itself. I take this opportunity to inform the House that I am not going to read directly from the prepared script. As I understand it, the Firhouse Educate Together school was established to service a specific demographic...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: School Accommodation (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I accept those points and I recognise that Firhouse Educate Together is currently occupying temporary accommodation, which is certainly not ideal. I have come across situations such as this previously whereby schoolchildren are being obliged to learn in what can only be described as Dickensian conditions while they await the provision of permanent accommodation. I wish to give Senator Keane...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Garda Investigations (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality who is unable to be present as she is attending a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg. I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and acknowledge the consistency with which he has advocated on it. As the Minister recently announced, an independent review group has been established to...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Garda Investigations (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I acknowledge the points made by the Senator. I will convey these concerns to the Minister on his behalf.

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I wish to take a few brief moments to thank the Members for their contribution to the debate. In particular, I thank those Senators who put down amendments. I assure them that the area of financial prudential supervision is something that is been taken seriously. This is best carried out through the Central Bank Acts. While I am not accepting the amendment I hope we have addressed...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Section 6, which the Senators are proposing to amend, places restrictions on existing societies establishing a loan fund, as provided for in section 46 of the principal Friendly Societies Act 1896 where they do not already have such a fund in place. The change will not have an impact on existing societies that have a fund in place. This amounts to three societies at present. The rationale...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Section 8, which the Senators are proposing to amend, removes the restriction in the current Act providing that the registrar must be absent for the powers, functions and duties to be exercised and performed by such other person as the Minister may authorise, and allows another person to act alongside the registrar. The change is necessary as, for the past number of years, the role of...

Seanad: Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Senators for putting forward the amendment. Section 5, which the Senators are proposing to amend, provides for a significant change to the Friendly Societies Act 1896. That is the cessation of registration of any new societies under section 8 of the legislation. The rationale for the change, as I set out on Second and Committee Stages, is twofold. First, the lack of demand for...

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Many of the recommendations made actually cut across measures that are being implemented anyway. It is unfair to suggest that the Government is not engaging proactively with the recommendations. It acknowledges wholeheartedly the role played by the chairman and individual members in bringing forward these recommendations. I can tell the Deputy that, internally, there is no sense of...

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I did not answer the question on the number of people who have been assigned. A number of people have been appointed through Enterprise Ireland in Asia, comprising ten new people across Asia. I can get a specific figure for the Deputy in respect of China. To my mind, the interdepartmental approach works quite rapidly at present. If one examines again the recommendations made in the...

Other Questions: Trade Agreements (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Use Private Members' time to do so.

Other Questions: Trade Agreements (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I doubt Sinn Féin will use Private Members' time.

Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Deputy for tabling the question. In the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, developing a better environment for entrepreneurship is a key disruptive reform. The work of the Entrepreneurship Forum has been a valuable input to identify areas for fruitful initiative. The Department is developing a national policy statement on entrepreneurship. As part of this process, the forum’s...

Other Questions: Job Initiatives (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I acknowledge the points made by the Deputy in regard to the effect of the loss of a company like this to a town like Fethard. In south Tipperary, where Enterprise Ireland is the lead agency in efforts to ensure we replace and create jobs, there are 76 client companies employing more than 2,000 people in full-time jobs. These are the figures for 2013. In excess of €9 million worth...

Other Questions: Job Initiatives (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: As far as I am aware, there is no formal task force working on this, such as the task force for the south east where all the agencies are working together. I assure the Deputy, however, that the local agencies are working together. Enterprise Ireland is the pre-eminent State agency and it is working proactively on this. It is promoting the site to a number of interested parties. I ask the...

Other Questions: Jobs Data (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: In the three years before the Government came into office, more than 300,000 jobs had been lost across the economy. The construction, retail and tourism sectors were particularly badly hit and collectively accounted for over two thirds of the jobs losses. Almost 150,000 jobs were lost in the construction sector alone between the beginning of 2008 and the beginning of 2011. In 2012, the...

Other Questions: Jobs Data (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: There is a specific policy instrument for the construction sector. Construction 2020 sets out a series of policy interventions in consultation with sectoral representatives regarding how the housing shortage can be addressed and how the sector, which took a major hit, particularly in the three years prior to 2011, can be stimulated.

Other Questions: Jobs Data (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: Yes. A specific initiative is under way, particularly aimed at the Dublin region, under the Minster of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. I can engage further with the Deputy on this.

Other Questions: Job Initiatives (5 Jun 2014)

Seán Sherlock: I understand from EI that it has been actively promoting the site concerned to a number of interested parties. I am not in a position to disclose the details of those interactions for commercially sensitive reasons. However, task forces have been used in the past as part of a response to a sudden loss of a large number of industrial jobs. More recently, other initiatives are increasingly...