Results 14,341-14,360 of 14,799 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Seanad: Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (17 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: First, I will describe the context for this Bill. FÁS is the national training and employment authority and has the remit to provide a range of proactive job-related services, supports and programmes to assist individuals to remain in and return to the labour market. The agency also promotes workforce development by upgrading the competencies and qualifications of individuals and by...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: NERA's activities can be divided into three major areas: Information services including to members of the public, employers and employees; Inspection services and, Legal services including enforcement and prosecution services. Overall, NERA's staffing complement is down from the level of 132 which obtained at the end of December 2008 to 122 at the current time. The number of inspectors...

Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The importance of upskilling the Irish workforce to meet present and future economic and social goals is well established. Upskilling improves competitiveness and hence business success and economic growth. It also significantly contributes to ensuring the future employability of the workforce. The remit of FÁS in this respect is to contribute to such upskilling through encouraging and...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: Under the terms of the Directive Temporary Agency Work, there is a three-year period in which Member States are required to transpose the Directive into national legislation i.e. by 5 December 2011. While the Directive provides for equal treatment for agency workers from the first day of employment, there is provision for a derogation within limits by way of collective agreement or by...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 24, 73 and 75 together. Joint investigation arrangements between the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners have been operational since 2007. The Social Partnership Agreement, 'Towards 2016', provided for greater co-ordination between organisations concerned with...

Written Answers — Labour Inspectorate: Labour Inspectorate (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) has carried out a total of 22,136 calls, visits and inspections up to the 6th of November 2009. This compares with 25,530 for the corresponding period in 2008. The number of actual inspections decreased by 1,419 while the number of calls and interviews decreased by 1,040 and 935, respectively. The decreased level of inspection activity in...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 33 together. The latest figures available to end October 2009 indicate that the number of redundancy claims awaiting processing stands at 43,826. The Redundancy Payments Section of my Department is currently processing applications filed online from March 2009 and those submitted by post from February 2009 but expects shortly to be processing online...

Written Answers — Work Permits: Work Permits (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The introduction of the Employment Permits Act 2006 entailed a radical overhaul of the administrative arrangements and work practices of the Employment Permits Section. Employment permits are now issued on the basis of different permit types with dedicated staff trained in decision making on specific types. This system has streamlined the work of the section allowing faster times for issuing...

Written Answers — Live Register: Live Register (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The redundancy payment scheme is administered by my Department on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs and makes payments in respect of eligible employees who qualify for statutory redundancy entitlement. Redundancy payments are paid out of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF). Under the scheme, all eligible employees are entitled to a statutory redundancy lump sum payment on...

Written Answers — Industrial Relations: Industrial Relations (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The system of industrial relations in Ireland is essentially voluntarist in nature with the terms and conditions of employment of workers being determined in the main by a process of voluntary bargaining without the direct intervention of the State. The law on trade disputes does not generally seek to impose a solution on the parties to a dispute but rather seeks to assist them in arriving at...

Written Answers — Workplace Accidents: Workplace Accidents (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The Health and Safety Authority is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and associated statutory provisions. There have been 35 workplace deaths reported to the Authority to date in 2009 (as at 09.11.09). The numbers of workplace deaths reported to the Authority for the years 2002-2008 are as follows: 57 in 2008; 67 in 2007; 51...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The recommendations contained in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes are one of the inputs to the Government's formulation of a response to the challenges which face the economy. I am examining the potential impact of all the recommendations which refer to my Department in the context of Estimates for 2010. In the light of this it would be...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: Table 1 below sets out the number of statutory redundancies for years 2002 to 2008 and provisional figures for January to October 2009. These figures reflect the number of employees who actually qualified for statutory redundancy lump sum payments. They do not reflect those who lost their jobs with less than two years service in employment. It is not possible to project the number of...

Written Answers — National Minimum Wage: National Minimum Wage (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: I understand that in November 2008, ICTU requested the Labour Court to review the national minimum wage and to make a recommendation to me concerning its adjustment. The Court subsequently invited submissions on the issue. Various submissions were received, including from IBEC, ICTU and the Department of Finance. The Labour Court also held discussions with these parties. Under the...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: Arising from concerns expressed to both the Tánaiste and myself by businesses experiencing particular difficulties in meeting tax payment obligations because of a delay in receiving rebate repayments from the Redundancy Payments Section of the Department, we have agreed an arrangement with the Revenue Commissioners to facilitate such situations. This allows employers to have the redundancy...

Written Answers — Industrial Relations: Industrial Relations (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 95 together. The Towards 2016 Review and Transitional Agreement 2008-2009 (paras 9.1 — 9.3) provides for the establishment of a review process which would consider the legal and other steps necessary to enable the employee representation mechanisms that had been established under previous agreements — and in legislation — to operate as they had...

Written Answers — Technical Employment Support Grant: Technical Employment Support Grant (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: The Technical Employment Service Grant (TESG) provides FÁS Employment Service Officers (ESOs) with a flexible fund to provide a tailored response to meet the needs of specific client groups. This support is provided as part of the jobseeker's Action Plan, which is agreed between FÁS and the client as a means of entering/re-entering the labour market. This funding is available to those who...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to redundancy matters on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are two types of payment made from the SIF — rebates to those employers who have paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent. Payment of statutory redundancy is, in...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to the Redundancy Payments Scheme on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are two types of payment made from the SIF — rebates to those employers who have already paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent and/or in...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 Nov 2009)

Dara Calleary: My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to Redundancy payments on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. In respect of Redundancy, there are two types of payment made from the SIF — rebates to those employers who have paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent and/or in...