Results 101-120 of 2,023 for in 'Written Answers' speaker:Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The M1 Payments Corridor (M1PC) is an industry group of payments and online transacting companies aimed at promoting regional Fintech development in the North-East. To progress this initiative, a specific action was included in the IFS2020 2017 Action Plan. The FinTech & Payments Association of Ireland is cooperating closely with the M1PC group to develop the project...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Brexit Issues (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: An additional €3million was secured in respect of Pay in Budget 2017 and is being targeted specifically to assist in our response to the evolving Brexit scenario. It is enabling the Department and, primarily, our Agencies recruit some 40 to 50 additional staff to supplement existing staffing numbers.  These numbers may grow as Agencies allocate additional Own Resource Income, by...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: European Fund for Strategic Investments (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) is a joint initiative of the European Investment Bank, European Investment Fund and the European Commission, established to help overcome the current investment gap in the EU by mobilising private financing for strategic investments. While the Minister for Finance is responsible for the Irish political and policy input on the shape of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Funding (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The 2017 budget allocation from my Department for InterTrade Ireland is €7.96m.  I fully understand how important it is that InterTrade Ireland has a sound and strong financial footing. This is especially the case given the important work the Body will play in helping SMEs address the challenges that Brexit will present. That is why I made additional funding available to...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Rapid technological advances have given rise to new ways of working which may challenge our traditional view of the world of work including the employer-employee relationship. On 12 May last I hosted a major conference organised by my Department in Dublin Castle on the Future of Work involving government, employee representatives, employers and academia to address the challenges posed by the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Research and Development Funding (25 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I presume the Deputy is referring to business expenditure in research and development. It is recognised that Ireland's business expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP is less than the EU average.  However improving the innovative capacity of enterprise (in particular Irish SMEs), and encouraging private investment in R&D are given a high a priority in...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Arms Trade (24 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Electronic control devices and components are included under category ML5 of the list referred to by the Deputy. The EU Common Military List, as published on 21 April 2015, specifies the following as being included under category ML5 - "Fire control, and related alerting and warning equipment, and related systems, test and alignment and countermeasure equipment, as follows, specially...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Brexit Issues (24 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Since the Brexit Referendum, I have attended three meetings of the Competitiveness Council. While State Aid did not feature on the agenda, in my engagements with both EU Commissioners and Ministers from other Member States since the UK decision, Brexit has been a central part of the discussions at these meetings.  As the Deputy is aware, there is a lot that can be done within the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Site Visits (24 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: IDA Ireland collates its data on site visits on an entire County basis only. In the period referenced, there were 158 IDA-sponsored site visits to County Cork. As the table below shows, there has been a steady growth in the number of visits to Cork over the past four years with an additional nine site visits having taken place in the first three months of 2017. IDA Ireland Site...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Legislative Measures (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Companies (Accounting) Bill 2016 was signed into law by the President on 17 May 2017. Section 78(1) of the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 replaces and amends section 1274 of the Companies Act 2014. It provides that an unlimited company (an ULC) is not obliged to file financial statements with its annual return, while a designated unlimited company (a ‘designated...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Proposed Legislation (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: In July 2016, Government approved a General Scheme of a Bill entitled the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) (Miscellaneous Intellectual Property) Bill. The Bill is currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.  When drafting of the Bill is finalised, my intention is to seek Government approval to publish the Bill. The Bill proposes a modest amendment to...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Joint Labour Committees (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) are provided for under the Industrial Relations Act 1946 and were reformed by the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act, 2012. A JLC is comprised of equal numbers of representatives of employers and workers in a sector appointed by the Labour Court.  The Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson are Industrial Relations Officers from the Workplace Relations...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Exports Growth (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Enterprise Ireland's Annual Business Results (ABR) were launched by the Taoiseach, myself and Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland on the 15th May this year. Enterprise Ireland client exports grew by 6% in 2016 reaching a record high of €21.6bn. Export growth to the UK, however, which accounts for €7.5bn of exports, slowed from 12% in 2015 to 2% in 2016....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: On the 30th October 2016, the EU – Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed by representatives from Canada, the EU and its Member States.  On the 15th February 2017, the European Parliament voted in support of the provisional application of CETA. The process of ratification can now commence in some 43 national parliaments and regional assemblies...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Data (23 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: IDA Ireland is making good progress towards reaching its target of increasing investment in each region of Ireland by 30%-40% by 2019. Last year, for example, over half of all new Agency-supported jobs were based outside of Dublin. As regards the Midlands region, which includes Westmeath, there are now 30 multinational companies based in the area.  13 of these...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Company Registration (18 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Companies Registration Office (CRO) is the statutory authority for registering new companies in Ireland and is the central repository of public statutory information on Irish companies. Statistics on the incorporation and dissolution of companies are published in the Annual Reports produced by the Companies Registration Office, which may be accessed for free on the website www.cro.ie....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Enterprise Support Services Provision (18 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports to those wishing to start or grow their own business. In the first instance, the LEOs provide a ‘signposting’ service in relation to all relevant State supports available through agencies such as Revenue, the Department of Social...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Health and Safety (18 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 and 301 together. This Government is fully committed to promoting and delivering on safe and healthy workplaces. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the national statutory body under the aegis of my Department with responsibility for enforcing occupational safety and health law, promoting and encouraging accident prevention, and providing...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Economic Competitiveness (18 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: At the time of developing Enterprise 2025, Ireland ranked 13th overall in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings and 7th when compared with small economies. Enterprise 2025 lists the comparator small countries with higher rankings. In its latest publication, Doing Business 2017 which was released in October 2016, the World Bank ranked Ireland 18th overall and 9th...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Economic and Social Research Institute (18 May 2017)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The evidence provided by the report, Expanding and diversifying the manufactured exports of Irish-owned enterprises April 4, 2017, undertaken by the ESRI on behalf of my Department and Enterprise Ireland, highlights the balance of exports between multinational corporations and indigenous enterprises. This research on manufacturing exports examines how firms launch, adapt, diversify and...