Written Answers Nos. 108-122
108. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs promoted by the Industrial Development Agency for rates of pay less than €10,000 per annum; between €10,000 and €20,000; and in salary bands of €10,000 for those more than €150,000 for each year since 2007. [43462/13]
View answerThe Forfás Annual Employment Survey reports on job gains and losses on companies that are supported by the industrial development agencies. Figures are compiled on an annual basis and aggregated at county level. Information is provided by companies on a confidential basis for statistical purposes only. The survey does not track job gains and losses by salary. The tabular statement sets out the total number of jobs in IDA Ireland client companies in each of the years from 2007 to 2012.
Table showing the total number of jobs in IDA Ireland client companies in each of the years 2007 to 2012 inclusive
|
YEAR |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
|
Total number of jobs in IDA client companies |
155,949 |
152,910 |
138,654 |
140,281 |
146,215 |
152,785 |
109. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to his recent announcement regarding the re-introduction of the joint labour committee system in a reduced and amended manner, if he will provide clarification regarding his intention to abolish the joint labour committees that deal with terms and conditions for staff in the hotel sector in Dublin; the impact of this on the hotel sector outside of Dublin and in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43562/13]
View answerOn 1 October last, I published the Report of the Labour Court’s Review of the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system. The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012 provides that reviews of each JLC be carried out by the Labour Court, as soon as practicable after the commencement of the Act, and at least once every 5 years thereafter. The review assisted the Labour Court’s deliberations as to whether any JLC should be abolished, maintained in its current form, amalgamated with another JLC or its establishment order amended and the Labour Court is required to make recommendations to me to this effect.
The usual practice in JLCs in terms of convening meetings is for the worker representatives to seek a meeting to review pay and conditions of employment in terms of the remit of the particular JLC. The Labour Court report noted that, prior to 2011 when the existing JLCs were suspended, there were no meetings of the JLC for hotels in Dublin. This implied that for 14 years there had been no requirement for a JLC for Dublin or related Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) to provide protection for workers in hotels in the Dublin area. In effect, there has never been a operational JLC for hotels in Dublin.
Accordingly, as the JLC for Dublin and Dun Laoghaire hotels was never active, the Labour Court concluded that there was no demand for such in Dublin, (or in the County Borough of Cork, which has never been encompassed by a hotel JLC), and therefore it should be abolished
The Hotels (Other excluding Cork) JLC is to be retained, with an amended ERO to provide clarity as to what employees it applies to.
The amended Establishment Order for a Hotels JLC will take account of hotel employees that work in leisure facilities and those employed by the hotel or a related business engaged in the provision of personal services such as health, and beautician services provided on the premises to customers of the hotel, as well as ‘outdoor grounds workers’ and is aimed at reflecting a more accurate picture of the services hotels offer today.
This amendment provides clarity to who is covered by the JLC and removes the ‘incidental’ wording previously used to encompass hotel employees who worked in the range of services provided by hotels.
The Report of the Labour Court sits very much within the context of the continuous process of reform in an area of industrial relations and wage setting whose objective is balancing improvement in Ireland's competitiveness by enhancing wage flexibility while also ensuring protection for vulnerable workers.
The Industrial Relations Act, 2012, was very much part of the process of reform and introduced flexibility for employers in the context of JLCs and Establishment Orders and set specific parameters within which JLCs can operate.
For example, in proposing EROs that will give general effect to JLC proposals, the Labour Court must have regard to the legitimate interests of employers and workers, including:
- the financial and commercial interests of the employers,
- the desirability of agreeing and maintaining efficient and sustainable work practices,
- the desirability of maintaining competitiveness,
- the desirability of agreeing and maintaining fair and sustainable minimum rates of remuneration appropriate to the sector,
- the levels of employment and unemployment in the sector in question,
- the general level of wages in comparable sectors, and
- The current national minimum hourly rate of pay, and the appropriateness of fixing a higher statutory minimum hourly rate of pay.
The Act also made provision to introduce enhanced flexibility for employers to enable them respond to changing economic circumstances in that companies are able to derogate from EROs in cases of financial difficulty. The scope of JLCs has been narrowed in that JLCs no longer set conditions of employment covered by universal standards provided for in existing legislation. In particular they will not set Sunday premium rates. In addition, record-keeping requirements for employers in the sectors covered by JLCs have been reduced.
It is important to remember that the JLC Establishment Orders envisaged will provide only a framework within which employers and employee representatives can come together voluntarily and negotiate terms and conditions of workers in their respective sector. For vulnerable workers, the advantage of JLCs is that they see fair terms and conditions such as wage rates, sick pay etc. agreed and given effect by ERO, while for some employers, the advantage of the JLC system, based as it is on the principle of self-governance, means that they can agree and set minimum pay and conditions, agree on work practices which are custom-made to their industry – a flexibility which cannot be achieved by primary legislation. Where both parties to a JLC see commonality of purpose and outcome then an agreement may emerge.
In addition, a key element of the reforms provided for in the Act is the introduction of provisions to ensure comprehensive Oireachtas and Ministerial oversight of the JLC system.
This process sits very much within the context of Ireland's voluntarist system of industrial relations.
110. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will remove the condition in the Consolidated Companies Act 2012 whereby small and medium businesses are subject to a compulsory audit for late filing of returns and instead apply a financial penalty, thereby removing the risk of significant costs to the business for accountants and auditors while simultaneously removing the risk of auditors-accountants being unable to recoup their fees. [43565/13]
View answerI requested that the matter of loss of audit exemption due to late filing of annual returns be examined by the Company Law Review Group (CLRG) in 2011. This request was with a view to receiving a recommendation on whether any change should be made to the combined regime of late filing penalties and loss of audit exemption for qualifying companies in the case of late filing. The CLRG, which is composed of many company law practitioners and members of the accounting profession, recommended no change to the present regime.
Section 53 of the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act 2003 sets out that a company, having met the conditions in section 32 (3) of the Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1999, is not entitled to the exemption from the requirement to have its accounts audited in a financial year unless it has made its annual return on time for that year and the previous year. While I support reducing burdens on business where warranted by circumstances, in the present case it is in the public interest that companies comply with filing requirements with the Companies Registration Office so that stakeholders and other interested parties have timely access to this essential information.
111. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress that has been made in considering an extension of the audit exemption to companies limited by guarantee, based on the recommendations of the Company Law Review Group 2009, to facilitate many small charities which are bearing non-proportional audit costs on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43675/13]
View answerAudit exemption was first introduced under the Companies (Amendment) (No.2) Act 1999, allowing private companies which satisfy certain conditions to be exempt from the audit requirements. Currently, to avail of the exemption, the amount of the turnover of the company must not exceed €8.8million and the balance sheet total of the company must not exceed €4.4million. Both these amounts are the maximum allowed under EU law. The average number of persons employed by the company must not exceed 50. The scope for companies to have an exemption from the requirement to have an audit carried out is set out in EU legislation (4th Company Law Directive).
The Companies Bill 2012 contains a provision to extend the audit exemption to guarantee companies, companies in a group situation and dormant companies which meet the above described thresholds. The Bill passed second stage in the Dáil on 25 April 2013 and committee stage is scheduled for November 2013.
I understand that many community or voluntary groups which have formed themselves as companies have done so as a company limited by guarantee (CLG).
112. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Social Protection with regards to mortgage interest supplement and the new legislation which was introduced in 2012 stating that in order to qualify for mortgage interest supplement that a person must be in negotiations with their banks for 12 months prior to applying, if this affects persons who were already in receipt of MIS prior to this legislation being introduced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43503/13]
View answerThe purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme is to provide short term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments. There are currently some 11,000 people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement for which the Government has provided almost €42 million in 2013. To ensure that those who are in mortgage difficulty engage with their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) and avail of its forbearance arrangements, from 18 June 2012 the mortgage interest supplement is not payable until applicants have agreed with their lender and complied with an alternative payment arrangement for a cumulative period of not less than 12 months. This measure is in line with the recommendations of both the Department’s “Review of the Mortgage Interest Supplement Scheme” published in July 2010 and the “Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt Group” chaired by Mr Hugh Cooney published in November 2010. This process acknowledges that it is in the interest of both the lender and the borrower to address financial difficulties as speedily and effectively as circumstances allow. Persons who were already in receipt of mortgage interest supplement when the legislation was introduced were not affected by this change. However, any person leaving the mortgage interest supplement scheme and subsequently reapplying after the introduction of the legislation are subject to this change.
113. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to protect the back to education allowance against cutbacks in the upcoming budget, which would deter mature students from returning to higher education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43653/13]
View answerThe objective of the Department’s working age employment supports, including the back to education allowance, is to remove barriers to employment in order to help people to enter or remain in employment. This is an integral part of the implementation of the Pathways to Work policy and the activation of jobseekers.
The Deputy will be aware that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Expenditure Report, 2013 published with the Budget last December provides for additional new expenditure reduction measures of €440 million to be achieved in 2014 in the Department of Social Protection budget.
The Government has finalised its consideration of the Budget having regard to all of its commitments, including the commitment in the Programme for Government to maintain welfare rates. The outcome of this process will be announced later today.
114. Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the European Court of Justice ruling as to the Irish State’s obligation to adequately protect the pension entitlements of former Waterford Crystal employees; when the judgment is likely to go to be reviewed in the High Court. [43674/13]
View answerThe ruling by the European Court of Justice was in response to a reference by the High Court seeking clarification of the interpretation of European law emanating from EU Directive 2008/94EC on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer.
Following the ECJ ruling, the matter will now revert to the High Court for consideration. It is anticipated that the Court will set a date for the hearing of this case shortly.
115. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection when the legislation requiring mandatory naming of a child's father on a birth certificate will be brought forward. [43001/13]
View answerOn the 19 July, 2013, the Cabinet approved the drafting of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2013.
One of the proposals I am seeking to introduce in this Bill is to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 by making it an obligation in the birth registration process to include the father’s particulars on a birth certificate so as to ensure that the child will have a record of the father.
Compulsory joint registration of a birth so as to include the father’s name on the birth certificate was recommended by the Law Reform Commission, in its 2010 report on Legal Aspects of Family Relationships.
The Department is currently working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government on the drafting of the heads of the Bill and I hope to introduce legislation early next year.
116. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm that people currently with a free television licence will receive a waiver from the new broadcasting fee. [43003/13]
View answer117. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm her commitment to protect the household benefit package as this package is of critical importance to the recipients. [43006/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 117 together.
The Government finalised its consideration of the Budget having regard to all of its commitments, including the commitment in the Programme for Government to maintain welfare rates. The outcome of this process will be announced today.
The household benefits package currently comprises the electricity or gas allowance, the telephone allowance and the free television licence. It is currently available to almost 410,000 customers and my Department will spend an estimated €290 million on the package in 2013.
The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has proposed introducing a Public Service Broadcasting Charge to replace the current television licence. This charge is the subject of public consultation at present and its impact on the free television licence scheme will be considered as part of that process.
118. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will expedite a carer's allowance appeal in respect of a person (details supplied). [43008/13]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 3 September 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 24 September 2013 and the case will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing.
If the means of the person concerned are insufficient to meet her needs it is open to her to contact her local Community Welfare service regarding her possible entitlement to Supplementary Welfare Allowance pending the outcome of her appeal.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
119. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if any steps will be taken to assist those who were previously self-employed but now are unemployed and not in a position to sign on the live register as their spouse is working and are, therefore, unable to avail of the back to work initiatives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43025/13]
View answerGiven the scale of the unemployment crisis, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused, in the first instance, on this cohort of unemployed people. It is recognised, however, that not all unemployed people (including those previously self-employed) are dependent on the State for financial support and some services (for example assistance with job search activities, use of online job search tools) are available to such people if they register with the Department’s employment services offices.
Unemployed persons (including those previously self-employed) not in receipt of payments may also be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through FÁS training or through further or higher education courses, but will not be eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking such training.
Access to employment or work-experience-based programmes, involving the payment of a supplement to participants’ basic jobseekers’ payments, continues to be confined to unemployed persons who are in fact in receipt of such payments
120. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to address high youth unemployment. [42575/13]
View answer156. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps she has taken to increase the number of young persons in employment since the Government came to office; and the impact these have had on the actual number of young persons employed. [42598/13]
View answer157. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Social Protection the actions being taken at European level to assist young persons in obtaining employment; the way these measures will translate here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33556/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 120, 156 and 157 together.
In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle all forms of unemployment, including youth unemployment, is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economy recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity through the Action Plan for Jobs. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and thus reduce unemployment and long-term unemployment. Past experience suggests that youth unemployment, which tends to rise relatively rapidly in a downturn, can be expected to fall relatively rapidly during the recovery.
The Government is also implementing a number of programmes to assist young unemployed persons and keep young jobseekers close to the labour market. There are five main approaches being taken to tackle youth unemployment: education, training, job search assistance/guidance, work experience, and encouraging job creation. These actions range across a number of Departments and Agencies and include:-
- The Youthreach programme providing 6,000 integrated education, training and work experience for early school leavers without any qualifications or vocational training who are between 15 and 20 years of age;
- The Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme scheme, which provides a range of courses to meet the education and training needs of unemployed people over 21 years of age, particularly focusing upon early school leavers;
- The Back to Education Allowance scheme run by the Department of Social Protection provides income maintenance for unemployed people returning to further or higher education. Over 6,500 young people participated on this scheme in the last academic year;
- Approximately 12,000 persons aged under 25 completed a training course with FÁS in 2012. This excludes apprenticeships and evening courses;
- This year MOMENTUM, a scheme for education and training interventions, which is part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs initiative, is currently being rolled out by the Department of Education. MOMENTUM will support the provision of free education and training projects to allow 6,500 long term jobseekers to gain skills and to access work opportunities in identified growing sectors. Over 1,250 of these places are assigned specifically for under 25s;
- The JobBridge National Internship Scheme is focused on providing work experience to young people with the total number of placements of young people on JobBridge during 2012 at 2,700;
- Long-term unemployed youth will also benefit from the JobsPlus initiative which is designed to encourage employers to recruit long-term unemployed people. Under this scheme the State will pay circa €1 of every €4 it costs the employer to recruit a person from the Live Register;
With regard to the expected impact of policy, the original Action Plan for Jobs sets out a target for 100,000 net new jobs to be created by 2016, many of which will be filled by young people. In addition, the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 includes the Pathways to Work initiative’s targets for increasing the number of people who are long-term unemployed moving into employment and reducing the average length of time spent on the Live Register.
Specifically, these targets include:
1. At least 75,000 of those who were long-term unemployed in early 2012 will move into employment by 2015
2. Increase the exit rate of people on the Live Register for two years or more by 50% (to 40%) by the end of 2015
3. Reduce the persistence rate (the rate at which short term unemployed people become long term unemployed) to 25%.
As almost 2 out of five young unemployed are long-term unemployed, these targets are pertinent to young people.
The most recent statistics available from the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey shows the level of youth unemployment has fallen from an average of 75,000 in 2010 to 63,000 in the most recent twelve months for which data are available. The level of employment of young people appears to have stabilised, and indeed the employment rate (proportion of the population with jobs) for those aged 20-24 years rose from 46.5% in mid-2012 to 49% in the second quarter of this year.
Looking forward, in addition to current initiatives, policies to increase youth employment will be supplemented by additional measures under the Youth Guarantee which will be rolled out in 2014.
While the Recommendation for an EU-wide Youth Guarantee Scheme was adopted during the Irish Presidency earlier this year, the implementation of the scheme across the EU has yet to begin. It is recognised, both in the Youth Guarantee Recommendation itself and more generally, that the pace of implementation must take account of the scale of the youth unemployment and inactivity challenge and consider the fiscal capacity of each Member State. At the same time, Member States should take all possible measures to ensure that the Recommendation is swiftly implemented.
The scale and nature of any additional measures required for the implementation of a Guarantee at national level will depend on the trend in youth unemployment, and in particular the number of young people likely to experience periods of unemployment of more than four months under current policies.
The Department of Social Protection has set up an interdepartmental group with officials and programme managers from the Department of Education and Skills, Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, to review the current range of youth employment policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the implementation of the Guarantee. The Department of Social Protection has also requested the assistance of the OECD in developing the Youth Guarantee Policy.
It is intended to produce a concrete plan for the implementation of the Guarantee for consideration by the Government in December before being transmitted to the European Commission by the end of 2013. Development of the implementation plan will include identification of the costs of implementation, and how it is envisaged that these will be met (how much can be provided from domestic sources, and what is the likely requirement from EU funds, e.g. European Structural Fund and Youth Employment Initiative). The amount that will be required for Ireland will only become clear when the implementation plans are drawn up.
121. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 550 of 18 September 2013, if contact has been made with the person regarding the progress of the appeal in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; the progress made in respect of determination of the appeal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43043/13]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 8 August 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 16 September 2013 and the case will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing.
The person concerned has been advised that her file papers have been received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
