Results 18,881-18,900 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Appeals Tribunal (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am advised by the Employment Appeals Tribunal that, currently, the average waiting time for a hearing before the Tribunal is 63 weeks. This has reduced from an average of 79.5 weeks in 2012 and every effort is being made to finalise cases on hand as efficiently as possible. The Tribunal indicate that there are currently approximately 3,500 cases on hand. There is likely to be a small number...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The purpose of the negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is to reduce barriers to trade and investment in order to generate jobs and growth. According to assessments made by the EU Commission and other European bodies, a comprehensive TTIP could over time boost EU GDP by 0.5% per annum bringing significant economic gains as a whole for the EU. This injection...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Economic Competitiveness (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: A key objective of the Action Plan for Jobs process which this Government commenced in 2012 was to rebuild our competitiveness and provide a solid foundation for future growth. The recovery in jobs and exports to date is in large part due to the considerable improvement in competitiveness that has taken place in recent years. Prices and labour costs have grown less in Ireland than in our...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Losses (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Immediately after the announcement by the company concerned, I established an inter-agency group to coordinate the response to the proposed job losses. The group, chaired by Enterprise Ireland, will seek to secure alternative employment for the area affected and ensure that departing workers have access to supports they need from State agencies for retraining, access to social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The primary objective of the TTIP is to promote growth and jobs, greater compatibility in regulation, high standards, and common rules to facilitate trade and investment. The EU Commission’s mandate to negotiate with the United States on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on behalf of the EU states that that the Agreement will exclusively contain provisions on trade and...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Company Law (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Receiverships arise as a result of private contractual relationships, normally between a company and a lending institution. Receivership is a remedy that derives from the courts of equity. The law in relation to receivership is largely made up of rules which the courts have developed by applying general private contract law and equitable principles. The Companies Act, 2014, which will...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Construction Contracts (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Government is committed to the earliest possible implementation of the Construction Contracts Act, 2013 and, as a consequence, approved the delegation of responsibility for its implementation to my colleague the Minister of State for Business and Employment last November. I am informed that Minister Nash intends to appoint a Chairperson of the Ministerial Panel of Adjudicators, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Staff (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Attracting Foreign Direct Investment is a key element of the Government’s enterprise strategy. Ireland is currently enjoying a strong period of growth and almost 175,000 people are now employed at IDA Ireland client companies, the highest number on record. These companies export over €124bn a year, procure 22.4bn in Irish goods and services, €8.5bn of which relates...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Sustained investment in economic infrastructure to underpin employment growth has been one of the key priorities of the Action Plan for Jobs. The soon to be published Capital Investment Programme along with other Government strategies such as the National Broadband Strategy will identify key infrastructural priorities to be addressed within the constraints of available resources. The...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The availability of competitively priced world class infrastructure (energy, broadband telecoms, transport, waste and water) and related services is critical to support economic growth and job creation. Investing in economic infrastructure to underpin employment growth has been one of the key priorities of the Action Plan for Jobs since its inception in 2012. Despite the economic downturn...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Expenditure (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Approximately 70% of all FDI investment won by IDA Ireland comes from the existing client base. IDA has a structured client engagement process aimed at assisting existing investors evolve and grow through a company transformation process. This involves many dimensions from new mandates, R&D activities, retraining and in some cases managing job reductions. Although there were no...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2015 was published in January and is the fourth in the multi-annual series. In addition to explicitly setting out measures to be taken by Government over the course of a year to enhance the environment for job retention and creation, it also points to parallel Government strategies which deal with other sectors or policy areas, for example Food Harvest 2020,...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Economic Competitiveness (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I was pleased to welcome the publication of the recent National Competitiveness Council (NCC) which noted our progress in rebuilding our competitiveness but also set out the progress still to be achieved. The report by the NCC has been noted by both the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs. I have asked my Ministerial colleagues to consider appropriate actions,...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Investor-State Dispute Settlements Mechanism (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The EU Commission has been working over the last few months on a number of areas by way of follow-up to its public consultation on ISDS. These are: the protection of the right to regulate; the establishment and functioning of arbitral tribunals; the relationship between domestic judicial systems and Investor to State Dispute Settlement (ISDS); and the review of ISDS decisions for legal...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Enterprise Support Services Provision (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The 2015 Action Plan for Jobs sets out a comprehensive range of measures to support entrepreneurship, SMEs and the self-employed in the areas of education and research, business environment and supports, innovation and access to finance, networks and mentoring; and, access to markets. Increasing entrepreneurial activity is a Disruptive Reform in the Action Plan for Jobs for 2015. Our key...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The 9th round of the TTIP negotiations took place in New York from 20 – 24 April 2015. Another round is expected in mid-July 2015. In addition, inter-sessional discussions will also be organised between formal rounds. The objective during these rounds is to make as much progress as possible in all areas of the negotiations. During the last Round, work advanced in all three pillars...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Construction Contracts (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Government is committed to the earliest possible implementation of the Construction Contracts Act, 2013 and, as a consequence, approved the delegation of responsibility for its implementation to my colleague the Minister of State for Business and Employment last November. I am informed that Minister Nash intends to appoint a Chairperson of the Ministerial Panel of Adjudicators, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cross-Border Enterprise Initiatives (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: There are already a range of mechanisms in place to pursue cross border economic development. My ongoing engagement with the Northern Ireland Administration through the North South Ministerial Council, both in Plenary format and through the Trade and Business Sectoral sessions, presents a very useful forum to drive cross border and all-island economic issues. I will continue to pursue...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Site Visits (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am informed by IDA Ireland that there were 6 IDA Ireland sponsored site visits by potential investors to County Donegal during 2014. IDA Ireland sponsored site visits by potential investors to specific locations in Ireland are only part of the long and complicated process involved in attracting foreign direct investment to this country. These site visits may take place at the beginning...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation (13 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: A series of actions are being implemented by local and national bodies to source an alternative employer and find alternative employment for those impacted by the MBNA redundancies, which unfortunately took effect on November 28th last. An inter-agency group, led by Enterprise Ireland, has been formed and its membership includes representatives of all the relevant State players. This...