Results 19,361-19,380 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Programmes (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: My Department's Customer Action Plan 2014-2017 sets out the standards and level of service customers can expect in their dealings with my Department. This document was updated in 2014 with the objective of enhancing the delivery of public services as outlined in the Public Service Reform Delivery Plan of January 2014. The Action Plan commits that, over the period 2014-2017, the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation Targets (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 67 together. The aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is to help enterprises to create employment in all regions of the country. While employment has increased nationally by approximately 80,000 since the start of the Action Plan process in 2012, not all regions are yet fully experiencing the benefits of economic recovery. That is why the Government is...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Local Enterprise Offices (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Donegal is the first-stop-shop for micro- and small-enterprise development within the County. In 2014, €18.5 million was allocated for County Enterprise Development and the same budget was allocated for 2015. Enterprise Ireland (EI) is responsible for allocating budgets to individual LEOs for both current administration and capital requirements. I...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Last week, the Government announced details of a comprehensive new strategy to support enterprise growth and job creation at regional level. The Action Plan for Jobs - Regional initiative seeks to build on the success of the national Action Plan for Jobs by developing locally-driven plans that build on the strengths and opportunities identified in each region. My Department will work with...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Last week, the Government announced details of a comprehensive new strategy to support enterprise growth and job creation at regional level through Action Plans for Jobs-Regional. This initiative seeks to build on the success of the annual Action Plan for Jobs process by developing locally driven plans that can build on the strengths and opportunities identified in each region. Eight...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Action Plan for Jobs (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Action Plan for Jobs – Regional - is based on the principle that the best way to support job-creation in towns and villages across the country is to support agencies and organisations within 8 regions, to build on the particular strengths and assets of their area and drive new job-creation strategies and projects. This five year strategy will be based on the successful Action...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Agreements (18 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a trade and investment agreement being negotiated between the EU and the US. The scope of the EU Commission’s mandate to negotiate with the US on TTIP is comprehensive and can be found on the EU Council’s website at . Since the negotiations started with the US in 2013, eight negotiating rounds have taken place, the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I thank the committee for facilitating us. It is an honour to attend. As members will see, we are seeking a €790 million allocation for 2015. We can stand over the value that we are yielding from the budgets the committee is giving us. The amount is broken down into capital expenditure of €489 million and current expenditure of €301 million. Our capital expenditure...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: That was not my telephone. The reforms play an important part in ensuring that we yield value for money. They are reflected in the Estimate. In April, we dissolved the county enterprise boards, CEBs, and established local enterprise offices, LEOs. Since then and under the new service-level agreement with Enterprise Ireland, there has been a new dynamic in those offices. As the CEOs of...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: It is A12.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I will take them in order. The Deputy is correct to alert us to job losses, but that rate of job loss in the context of the IDA's total portfolio is 4%, which is one of the lowest on record. It is marginally higher than last year, but last year it was at an extraordinarily low level. We take a very keen interest in companies in difficulty. The IDA has a substantial transformation...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Actually, these are net numbers. The net figure is 3,690 full-time equivalents, made up of 3,127 full-time and 1,132 part-time. It is very satisfactory. The service level agreement is only beginning to have an impact. The LEOs will develop their first annual plans this year. That process is ongoing at present and it is a big part of the regional enterprise approach. There are two...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The IDA will be developing proposals to improve existing business parks and identifying areas where it needs to make other property investments - land banks, service sites or whatever. That would be part of its own five-year plan, which it will announce fairly soon. This will set out its approach.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy for his acknowledgement of the progress being made. Some exciting announcements have been made, particularly on the Enterprise Ireland side. One can genuinely say we have Mittelstand companies, as they would be described in Germany, such as the likes of Combilift and Ribworld. There are several that are now proving their capacity to be global players and they have the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I thank Deputy Conaghan. The truth is that Irish enterprise and Irish workers have shown remarkable resilience in the face of difficult circumstances. We have seen them finding new markets, going further afield, applying innovation and applying more lean processes to become globally competitive. They have been extraordinarily successful in this regard. We have yet to see the confirmed...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The local enterprise offices are effectively first-stop shops for all such initiatives, but we are also stepping up the advertising of the more than 80 programmes that are available to small and start-up businesses. We have a website, actionplanforjobs.ie, which includes a tool that allows users to input information about the profile of their businesses and obtain information on suitable...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We see the regional enterprise strategy, like the Action Plan for Jobs, as being an annual event. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, is working on the issue of broadband provision and a tender will be drawn up later in the year, but there is a lot that can be done with our existing resources. We are very much about looking to see what we can do...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We are learning and applying metrics to the exercise we are running at present, including on the impact of our social media campaign. We have brought in our industry partners, the people who won the young entrepreneur competition and the main business organisations such as Chambers Ireland, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, ISME, and the Small Firms Association. Our spend...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Few people know of the existence of the seed capital scheme as only 63 claimed it. This scheme allows a PAYE worker who establishes a business to get a refund of the tax paid in the previous six years to offset against some of the investment being made. The 63 claimants are a drop in the ocean of the 12,000 businesses which have been established. The scheme should be more widely available.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (17 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We would encourage the Deputy to do so.