Results 1,621-1,640 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (13 Jun 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Labour Relations Commission, the Labour Court and the Employment Appeals Tribunal are independent statutory bodies which act independently in carrying out their functions. The procedures to be followed including the hiring of interpreters in individual cases is a matter for these bodies.

Written Answers — Chemicals Regulation: Chemicals Regulation (8 Jun 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 139 together. The EU Council of Ministers reached unanimous political agreement on a common position on the REACH Regulation on 13 December 2005. The political agreement is a delicately balanced compromise of Member States' positions, which was informed by the Commission's original proposal and by the various amendments suggested by the European...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (31 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The number and complexity of cases which have been referred to the Employment Appeals Tribunal has been increasing steadily over recent years. This has put a strain on the Tribunal's ability to maintain acceptable standards of service. I am aware that there are delays in hearing cases and issuing determinations which I have asked the Department to examine in consultation with the Chairperson...

Written Answers — Industrial Relations: Industrial Relations (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The wages and employment conditions of workers employed in the Drapery and Footwear sector in Dublin are governed by the Registered Employment Agreement (Dublin and Dún Laoghaire, Drapery, Footwear and Allied Trades) Variation Order, 2005 which is enforced by the Labour Inspectorate of the Department. Labour Inspectors are empowered to seek compliance with payment of the statutory minimum...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The assignment of previously announced additional Labour Inspectors was completed in November 2005. That brought the complement of serving Inspectors to 31 Officers. That increase in staffing represents almost a doubling of the number of Labour Inspectors in the last 20 months. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment circulated a Discussion Document on the 'Mandate and Resourcing...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is currently carrying out a review of the Employment Agency Act 1971 in consultation with the Social Partners and other interested organisations and persons. The current social partnership talks are also addressing the issue of regulating employment agencies.

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The number of notices of collective redundancies notified to the Department under the Protection of Employment Act, 1977 (as amended) and the number of employees affected were as follows. Year No. of Notices No. of employees 1997 77 5,468 1998 83 4,707 1999 70 3,682 2000 94 5,890 2001 254 16,490 2002 224 9,685 2003 215 12,339 2004 181 7,977 2005 168...

Council Framework Decision: Motion. (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis na Teachtaí a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe indicated his general support for the provisions to address the issue of international crime. He queried the effectiveness of the proposals, particularly what would happen if there were not an expeditious response from a member state. My understanding is that several timescales are...

Council Framework Decision: Motion. (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: ——notwithstanding some of the difficulties that have emerged in the Morris tribunal. There are specific provisions in the framework decision to deal with some of these issues. Regarding data protection, Article 9 specifies the existing norms and standards which member states must observe. These include the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to...

Council Framework Decision: Motion. (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: He also asked about the level of work being done on the new legislation and I understand there may be other legislative requirements in the short term which would certainly postpone that for some time. Deputy Costello also indicated that there has been long-standing agreement on the need for co-operation. He mentioned the important "Prime Time Investigates" programme on the trafficking of...

Council Framework Decision: Motion. (30 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion provided by Article 1.11 of the Treaty of Amsterdam to take part in the adoption of the following proposed measure: a proposal for a Council Framework Decision on simplifying the exchange of information and intelligence between law enforcement authorities of the member states of the European Union, a...

Written Answers — Employment Appeals Tribunal: Employment Appeals Tribunal (25 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Employment Appeals Tribunal is an independent body under the aegis of the Department. I understand that there are 106 cases currently awaiting hearing in County Limerick, the earliest of which was notified to the Tribunal on 23rd June 2005, and that the average waiting period for a hearing is 55 weeks. The Tribunal has scheduled hearings in County Limerick on five separate occasions this...

County Enterprise Boards. (24 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The core function of the county enterprise boards is to develop indigenous enterprise potential and stimulate economic activity at local level. In carrying out that function, the CEBs have performed extremely well over the last 13 years, making a significant contribution to direct job creation and the development of an enterprise culture throughout Ireland. Over that period, the boards have...

Written Answers — Employment Appeals Tribunal: Employment Appeals Tribunal (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Employment Appeals Tribunal is an independent body under the aegis of the Department. The average waiting period from the time a case is notified to the Tribunal until it is heard in each of the past five years is: Year Waiting Period (weeks) 2001 19 2002 19 2003 28 2004 39 2005 41 The average waiting period to date this year is 37 weeks.

Written Answers — National Minimum Wage: National Minimum Wage (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The National Minimum Wage was introduced on 1 April 2000. The ESRI has undertaken minimum wage surveys on behalf of the Department on three occasions since then and its findings have been as follows. Percentage of employees on *the minimum wage (in private sector, non-agricultural firms) 2001 4.3% on minimum wage 2002 4.5% on minimum wage 2005/06 5.2% on minimum wage *This...

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: In 2001 the Labour Court made a recommendation to the effect that a mechanism should be put in place to address situations of dispute between retired employees and their former employers. At that time the issue arose in the context of a dispute which related to a workers retirement pension. Subsequently, the 2002 Pensions Act provided for the appointment of the Pensions Ombudsman with the...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 325 together. The Labour Inspectorate carried out an inspection of records in regard to this issue. In relation to the category of workers concerned the material examined did not indicate that the rates of pay were not in conformity with the Statutory Minimum provided for in legislation. Inspectors, with the assistance of an independent interpreter,...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: There is no legal requirement under the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 2003 for employers to notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of redundancies where the employees have less than the minimum required service of two years for entitlement to a statutory redundancy lump sum payment. Consequently, there are no official figures for redundancies in this category of under...

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: Statutory redundancy is based on two weeks pay per year of service plus one extra weeks pay, subject to a maximum gross wage of €600 per week. In 2005 the total spend by employers in respect of redundancies was €229,983,333. Rebates of 60% amounting to €137,990,000 were paid from the Social Insurance Fund to employers by my Department, resulting in the total net cost to employers of...

Written Answers — Employment Appeals Tribunal: Employment Appeals Tribunal (23 May 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Employment Appeals Tribunal is an independent body under the aegis of my Department. The average waiting period from the time a case is notified to the Tribunal until it is heard in each region is: County Weeks County Weeks Cavan 43 Longford 41 Carlow 32 Louth 38 Clare 40 Mayo 40 Cork 58 Meath 38 Donegal 34 Monaghan 22 Dublin 24 Offaly 49 Galway 43...