Written Answers Nos. 212 to 229
212. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details of all Office of Public Works investment in County Cork during the period 2011 to 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1625/15]
View answer213. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the tourism related projects in County Cork that the Office of Public Works has provided funding for in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1626/15]
View answer214. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide an update on the Office of Public Works flood relief-prevention plans for County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1627/15]
View answer215. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the plans the Office of Public Works has in place for investing in County Cork over the next three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1628/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 212 to 215, inclusive, together.
The information sought by the Deputy is currently being collated. A comprehensive response will issue to the Deputy on the above questions directly.
216. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the statutory instrument that allows periods of illness experienced during pregnancy to be counted as general sick leave for teachers; the specific section of legislation that provides for this arrangement to be backdated four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1651/15]
View answerThe Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 124 of 2014) set out the provisions of the new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme.
Regulation 10 of the Sick Leave Regulations provides that an individual's sick leave record will be reviewed over a 4-year period in order to determine how much paid sick leave they have access to. Reviewing records over a period of 4 years is generally considered to be a more flexible way of providing support to employees during periods of illness. The alternative, providing more limited access to sick pay over a shorter time frame, is often more restrictive.
The retention of a 4 year look back was agreed by the Labour Court and reflects the practice that previously existed in the majority of the Public Service. The rationale for maintaining this provision was to ensure that individuals' sick leave records were not completely cleared on day one of the new Sick Leave Scheme. This would have undermined a fundamental purpose of the new Sick Leave Scheme, which is to reduce the unsustainable cost of sick leave, by allowing individuals who had exhausted their access to paid sick leave under previous sick leave arrangements to have access to the full allowance of paid sick leave under the new Scheme.
Regulations 19 and 20 provide additional access to paid sick leave for pregnancy related illness and were designed to comply with the European Court of Justice ruling in North Western Health Board v McKenna (C-191/03).
As the Deputy may be aware, in the McKenna case, the Court considered that it was not discriminatory for pregnancy related absences to be offset against the maximum number of days' paid sick leave to which a female employee is entitled. The Court also confirmed, however, that although it was not discriminatory to record the number of pregnancy-related sick leave days, a woman should still have access to the minimum payment that she would have received if she had not suffered a pregnancy-related illness.
In accordance with this, Regulation 20 provides that any pregnancy-related absence for which a female employee has been paid at the half rate of pay will not count towards her paid sick leave limits. In addition, Regulation 19 provides that a female employee who suffers from a pregnancy related illness will never receive less than the half rate of pay.
A further arrangement was recently introduced, in line with advice from the Attorney General's Office, to ensure that women who did not previously have access to sick leave at half pay (e.g. teachers), do not exhaust their access to paid sick leave because of pregnancy related illness.
217. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details of all consultancy firms engaged by his Department during 2014; if he will also provide details of all the relevant fees paid to those firms during the period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1672/15]
View answerIn response to the Deputy's question the following table outlines the total amount spent on consultancy firms engaged by my Department in 2014:
|
Name of External Report |
Costs |
Date or Expected Date of Publication |
Name of External Consultant |
|
Open Data project: - Best Practice Handbook - Data Audit Report - Roadmap for Open Data - Evaluation Framework - Open Data Publication Handbook |
€19,188.00 |
July 2014 |
Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway |
|
Development of Training & Organisation Development |
€22,900 |
July 2014 (date is approximate, relates to draft Report) |
Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon. Trinity House, Charleston Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 |
|
Value for Money Report of Dublin Castle's Conference Facilities |
€4,674.00 Incl Vat. |
Qtr 3, 2014 |
Newmarket Consulting |
|
Fund Structuring Services Agreement for Social Housing and Energy Efficiency in Ireland |
€26,766.65 |
5 November 2014 |
European Investment Bank |
|
Baseline Report Single Pension Scheme |
€24,900 |
9 December 2014 |
Mr Seamus O'Dwyer |
|
Comparative Report on European National Identification Numbers |
€37,500 |
Publication pending the completion of the work of the PPSN review Group |
Hans Graux of time.lex CVBA, Brussels, Belgium |
In the course of its normal business activity, the Office of Public Works engages technical consultants on many of its projects, primarily architectural and engineering. The costs of these consultants would be included in the overall project costs and are not included here.
218. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if a review of the discriminatory impact of changes in public sector sick leave entitlements which calculated pregnancy sick leave as part of overall sick leave entitlements, backdated for four years has taken place; his plans to eliminate this inequality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1748/15]
View answerThe Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 124 of 2014) set out the provisions of the new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme.
The Sick Leave Regulations provides that an individual's sick leave record will be reviewed over a 4-year period in order to determine how much paid sick leave they will have access to. Reviewing records over a period of 4 years is generally considered to be a more flexible way of providing support to employees during periods of illness. The alternative, providing more limited access to sick pay in a shorter time frame, is often more restrictive.
The retention of the 4 year look back was agreed by the Labour Court and reflects the practice that previously existed in the majority of the Public Service. The rationale for maintaining this provision was to ensure that individuals' sick leave records were not completely cleared on day one of the new Sick Leave Scheme. This would have undermined a fundamental purpose of the new Sick Leave Scheme, which is to reduce the unsustainable cost of sick leave, by allowing individuals who had exhausted their access to paid sick leave under previous sick leave arrangements to have access to the full allowance of paid sick leave under the new Scheme.
Regulations 19 and 20 provide additional access to paid sick leave for pregnancy related illness and were designed to comply with the European Court of Justice ruling in North Western Health Board v McKenna (C-191/03).
In the McKenna case, the Court considered that it was not discriminatory for pregnancy related absences to be offset against the maximum number of days' paid sick leave to which a female employee is entitled. The Court also confirmed, however, that although it was not discriminatory to record the number of pregnancy related sick leave days, a woman should still have access to the minimum payment that she would have received if she had not suffered a pregnancy related illness.
In accordance with this, Regulation 20 provides that any pregnancy related absence for which a female employee has been paid at the half rate of pay will not count towards her paid sick leave limits. In addition, Regulation 19 provides that a female employee who suffers from a pregnancy related illness will never receive less than the half rate of pay.
A further arrangement was recently introduced, in line with advice from the Attorney General's Office, to ensure that women who did not previously have access to sick leave at half pay (e.g. teachers), do not exhaust their access to paid sick leave because of pregnancy related illness.
I have committed to undertake a formal review of the new Sick Leave Scheme after a full year of its operation to identify and changes that will enhance the operation of the Scheme. I will consider all issues raised in the course of the year as part of that review.
219. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in view of the recent findings by the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht that there is a lack of staff with sufficient competence in Irish to meet the requirements to deliver services through Irish, the steps that are being taken across the Civil Service to rectify this; if there is an indicative timeframe by which actions are to be taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1753/15]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, in October 2013 the Government approved the introduction of a new approach to ensure that there are a sufficient number of civil servants who are able to perform their duties through Irish. These new arrangements were put in place in the context of replacing the policy of awarding bonus marks for Irish language proficiency in civil service recruitment and promotion competitions which was not meeting the Government's objectives.
Under the new approach measures are being introduced to increase the cohort of functional bilinguals in the civil service in order to reflect a more competency-based approach to recruitment and, where appropriate, promotion competitions.
In future, in the context of workforce planning frameworks, Departments will be required to identify the posts/areas of work requiring functional bilinguals and to include these in their workforce action plans. Having regard to the implementation of the Gaeltacht Act 2012, Departments will be asked to pay particular attention to posts that are located in, or that are serving, Gaeltacht areas. This process will be central to ensuring that future recruitment and interdepartmental promotion competitions run by PAS make sufficient provision for appointments to posts requiring functional bilinguals. In the case of Departmental recruitment and promotion competitions, an assessment will be made of the requirement for functional bilinguals and, where necessary and appropriate, a sub-panel of functional bilinguals will be put in place.
The new arrangements replace the scheme of bonus marks for Irish, introduced nearly 40 years ago following the abolition of compulsory Irish for entry to the civil service. Under the new arrangements, where a post in a Government Departments is identified as requiring proficiency in Irish, the intention is that it should be filled by a functional bilingual.
The new arrangements are part of the Executive Officer (EO) recruitment competition for which applications closed on 8 January 2015. The new arrangements have also been incorporated into the ongoing Clerical Officer (CO) recruitment competition. Stage 2 of the CO process is nearing completion. Those who expressed a preference to be tested in Irish will now move on to oral and written tests which will test their abilities in the Irish language.
It is intended that a sub-panel of Irish language functional bilinguals comprising up to 6% of the overall panel size, will be created in both competitions subject to a sufficient number of candidates meeting the required standard.
The operation of the new arrangements in these competitions will be reviewed and will be revised as necessary in the context of experience and progress in achieving the Government's objectives.
220. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form the number of EU directives which remain to be implemented within his Department; the name of these directives; the timeframe for the implementation of these directives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1798/15]
View answerIn response to the Deputy's question the following table outlines the number of EU Directives which remain to be implemented within my Department:
|
EU Directives yet to be implemented by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform |
||
|
Name |
Purpose |
Expected Implementation Date |
|
Directive 2014/23/EU |
Award of concession contracts |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2014/24/EU |
Public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2014/25/EU |
Procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2013/37/EU amending Directive 2003/98/EC |
This updates a number of the existing provisions of Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI). The main changes included are: - to make public sector bodies allow the reuse of existing and generally accessible documents they create, collect or hold. The effect of this is to make permitting reuse mandatory in most cases. - to extend the PSI Directive's scope to cover PSI held by public sector museums, libraries (including university libraries) and archives where they allow their information to be made available for reuse - to introduce the principle that charges for reuse should be set at marginal cost, with exceptions in certain circumstances. - to introduce a means of redress operated by an impartial review body with the power to make binding decisions on public sector bodies. |
18th July 2015 transposition to be completed Q2 2015 |
|
Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October |
Assessment and Management of Flood Risks |
Implementation ongoing from 2011 until end of First Cycle, expected in 2016, followed by 6-year cyclical reviews. |
|
Directive 2014/24/EU repealing Directive 2004/18/EC |
Rules governing public procurement carried out by public sector. The Directive is a revision of 2004/18/EC. |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2014/25/EU repealing Directive 2004/17/EC |
Rules governing public procurement carried out by certain Utilities. The Directive is a revision of 2004/17/EC. |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2014/23/EU
|
Rules governing concession contracts. Concessions are similar to contracts for works or services, except that the consideration (benefit) received by the economic operator normally comprises of an exclusive right to payment for running the concession. Toll roads are one example. The new rules have been adopted to ensure a more consistent and transparent approach to how such contracts are awarded across the EU. |
April 2016 |
|
Directive 2014/55/EU |
Obligation on the contracting authorities and entities to accept electronic invoices compliant with the European standard on electronic invoices in relation to public procurements covered by the Public Procurement Directives. |
May 2016 |
221. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form the number, name and date of bills initiated in his Department that have been subject to the pre-legislative scrutiny procedure in the Oireachtas. [1819/15]
View answerIn response to the Deputy’s question the following table outlines the Bills initiated in my Department that have been subject to the pre-legislative scrutiny procedure in the Oireachtas:
Bills initiated by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
|
Number |
Name |
Purpose |
Subject to Pre-Legislative Scrutiny |
Reason why no Pre-Legislative Scrutiny took place |
|
No. 39 of 2012 |
Statute Law Revision Bill 2012 (Subsequently Passed 2 July 2012) |
Repeals spent and obsolete statutes enacted prior to 6 December 1922 |
N/a |
Bill was introduced prior to the introduction of Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Process |
|
Not Enacted yet Bill No. 75 of 2012 |
Valuation (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2012 |
To accelerate the National Revaluation Programme and update valuation legislation. |
No |
Bill was introduced prior to the introduction of Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Process |
|
No. 33 of 2013 |
Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013 |
To provide for the exercise by either House or both Houses of the Oireachtas (or by a Committee of either House or both Houses) of a power to conduct an inquiry into specified matters, to provide for matters relating to compellability, privilege and procedure in the Houses (and in Committees of either House or both Houses), and to provide for related matters. |
Yes |
|
|
No. 47 of 2013 |
Public Sector Management (Recruitment and Appointment) (Amendment) Act 2013 |
To enable the redeployment of members of staff in the Civil Service and certain other sectors of the Public Service to other positions in the Public Service (whether the Civil Service or other foregoing sectors); to provide for regulations concerning sick leave in the Public Service; for that purpose to amend the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, and to provide for related matters. |
No |
Bill was introduced prior to the introduction of Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Process |
|
No. 30 of 2014 |
Freedom of Information Act 2014 |
Reform of Freedom of Information |
Yes |
|
|
Not Enacted yet Bill No. 59 of 2014 |
Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014 |
To provide for establishing and maintaining a register of persons who carry on lobbying activities; to provide for a code of conduct/ to amend the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995; and to provide for related matters |
Yes |
|
|
Not Enacted yet Bill No. 75 of 2014 |
Houses of the Oireachtas (Appointments to Certain Offices) Bill 2014 |
To amend and extend the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959 and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 and to provide for related matters |
Yes |
|
222. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form the number, name and date of Bills initiated in his Department since September 2013. [1834/15]
View answerIn response to the Deputy's question the following table outlines all Department and Public Expenditure Bills enacted since September 2013, including those published but not yet enacted:
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Bills enacted since September 2013
|
Name |
Enacted |
Purpose |
|
Appropriation Act 2013 |
20/12/2013 (No. 43 of 2013) |
To appropriate to the proper supply services and purposes sums granted by the Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act 1965, to make provision in relation to deferred surrender to the Central Fund of certain undischarged appropriations by reference to the capital supply services and purposes as provided for by section 91 of the Finance Act 2004 and, for the purpose of maintaining a sufficient amount of moneys in the paymaster general's supply account so as to enable the discharge of particular liabilities, to make provision for repayable advances from the Central Fund |
|
Public Service Management (Recruitment & Appointments)(Amendment) Act 2013 |
24/12/2013 (No. 47 of 2013) |
To enable the redeployment of members of staff in the civil service and certain other sectors of the public service to other positions in the public service (whether the civil service or other foregoing sectors); for that purpose to amend the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, and to provide for related matters |
|
Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2014 |
12/04/2014 (No. 6 of 2014) |
To amend and extend the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 and to provide for related matters |
|
Protected Disclosures Bill 2013 |
08/07/2014 (No. 14 of 2014) Published 03/07/2013 |
To make provision for and in connection with the protection of persons from the taking of action against them in respect of the making of certain disclosures in the public interest and for connected purposes. |
|
Freedom of Information Act 2014 |
14/10/2014 (30 of 2014) Published 24/07/2013 |
Bill entitled an Act to enable members of the public to obtain access, to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy, to information in the possession of public bodies, other bodies in receipt of funding from the State and certain other bodies and to enable persons to have personal information relating to them in the possession of such bodies corrected and, accordingly, to provide for a right of access to records held by such bodies, for necessary exceptions to that right and for assistance to persons to enable them to exercise it, to provide for the independent review both of decisions of such bodies relating to that right and of the operation of this Act generally (including the proceedings of such bodies pursuant to this Act) and, for those purposes, to provide for the continuance of the Office of Information Commissioner and to define its functions, to provide for the publication by such bodies of certain information about them relevant to the purposes of this Act, to repeal the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003, to amend the Central Bank Act 1942, to amend the Official Secrets Act 1963, to repeal certain other enactments, and to provide for related matters |
|
Appropriation Act 2014 |
19/12/2014 (No. 112 of 2014) |
To appropriate to the proper supply services and purposes sums granted by the Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act 1965, to make provision in relation to deferred surrender to the Central Fund of certain undischarged appropriations by reference to the capital supply services and purposes as provided for by section 91 of the Finance Act 2004 and, for the purpose of maintaining a sufficient amount of moneys in the Paymaster General's supply account so as to enable the discharge of particular liabilities, to make provision for repayable advances from the Central Fund, and to provide for related matters |
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Bills published but not yet enacted
|
Name |
Published |
Purpose |
|
Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 |
Published 01/08/2012 |
To amend the Valuation Act 2001 and to provide for self-assessment by occupiers of the valuation of certain premises, to provide for other matters relating to property and to provide for related matters |
|
Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014 |
Published 20/06/2014 |
To provide for establishing and maintaining a register of persons who carry on lobbying activities; to provide for a code of conduct relating to carrying on lobbying activities; to impose restrictions on involvement in lobbying by certain former designated public officials; to amend the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995; and to provide for related matters
|
|
Houses of the Oireachtas (Appointments to Certain Offices) Bill |
Published 17 July 2014 |
To amend and extend the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959 and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 and to provide for related matters |
223. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of secondments from his Department to external private firms in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and to date in 2015; the firms involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1848/15]
View answer224. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of secondments based in his Department from external private firms in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and to date in 2015; the firms involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1862/15]
View answer225. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has a policy regarding secondments from and within his Department to external firms; when the policy was initiated and last updated; the details of the policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1876/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 223 to 225, inclusive, together.
Responding to this PQ I will also deal with PQs 1862/15 and 1876/15 as the questions are related.
My Department was established in July 2011 and I can confirm that we have not had any secondments out or into the Department involving private firms.
Circular 03/2013, "Staff Exchange Scheme between the Civil Service and the Private Sector" sets out the details of how such secondments would operate. This scheme is along the lines of the Temporary Staff Transfer Scheme provided for under Department of the Public Service Circular 10/1979. The scheme will run on a pilot basis for two years and will be reviewed at the end of the second year of operation. Circular 3/2013 is available on my Departments website.
226. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49526/14]
View answerThe purpose of the negotiations on the 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 European Commission and other European bodies, a comprehensive TTIP could over time boost the EU's GDP by 0.5% per annum, resulting in 400,000 additional jobs across the EU. Ireland has particularly strong economic links with the US, with over 118,000 people employed in 585 US companies here. The total level of trade (imports and exports) between Ireland and the US in 2012 was €55 billion. The US is Ireland biggest merchandise export market. The most recent data from the CSO shows that Ireland’s services exports to the US increased by 40% in 2012. Notwithstanding the present high level of trade enormous benefits could be derived from a comprehensive and ambitious TTIP.
My Department has commissioned a study on the potential impact of the TTIP for Ireland. This study is intended to assist in guiding the Irish position in the negotiations. The study is expected to be finalised in January 2015 and published in early 2015.
The initial findings by Copenhagen Economics show that the benefit to Ireland would be more than double the EU average, with 1.1% added to GDP. Other preliminary findings include increased exports (2.7%), increases in real wages (1.4%) and investment (1.6%). Opportunities are expected mainly in manufacturing – pharmaceutical and chemical industry, electrical machinery and other advanced machinery; services – insurance and ICT and Agriculture and processed foods.
A total of seven rounds of negotiations in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have taken place to date, the most recent during the week beginning 29 September last year in the US. A summary of each of the Rounds is included in the reply to Question No 179 [48982/14] of 18 December 2015.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in Brussels during the week of 2 February 2015.
On 7 January, 2015, the EU Commission published a number of documents, all of which can be found at http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1230.
Included in the published documents are some of the EU’s proposals for legal text in the TTIP that have been tabled for discussion with the US. The areas covered by the texts published are competition, food safety and animal and plant health, customs issues, technical barriers to trade, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and government-to-government dispute settlement. The EU Commission also published EU position papers explaining the EU's approach in the areas of engineering, vehicles, and sustainable development. This brings to 15 the total number of published EU position papers on TTIP. In addition, the EU Commission has published readers guides to the documents it has made available explaining what each text means, a glossary of terms and acronyms, and a series of factsheets that set out in plain language what is at stake in each chapter of TTIP and what the EU's aims are in each area. I very much welcome the openness and transparency which will help to demystify the negotiations.
The EU Commission published its report on the results of the public consultation on investor protection on 13 January, 2015. The Report, along with explanatory material, can be found at http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1234.
227. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Authority at water meter installation sites by date and location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1461/15]
View answerThe Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the Act) applies to Irish Water and all other employers / contractors engaged in activities relating to the installation of water meters and the Health and Safety Authority retains all powers conferred on it by the Act. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 duties are placed on employers in regard to the retention and preservation of the health and safety of their employees, and similarly to others including non-employees either present at a place of work under the control of the employer or employees not in the direct employment of the employer responsible for the place of work. As with all workplaces, any works carried out by Irish Water in respect to the installation of water meters can be subjected to a workplace health and safety inspection. Similarly, as with all employers, the company is required to prepare and maintain a written risk assessment relating to all work practices and the outcome of this risk assessment must be taken into account in the preparation, by the company, of its safety statement.
The carrying out of inspections and investigations of incidents or complaints relating to sub - categories of contractors form part of the day to day operational functions of the Health and Safety Authority and I, as Minister with delegated responsibility for occupational safety and health, have no direct function in regard to these day to day matters.
228. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if advertisements for adjudicators as provided for in the Construction Contracts Bill will be placed by the end of 2014. [49437/14]
View answerThe Government approved the delegation of responsibility for implementation of the Construction Contracts Act, 2013 to my colleague, the Minister of State for Business and Employment, Mr. Gerald Nash T.D., in November. Work is continuing on the preparations for the full implementation of the Act in the Spring. This will include the selection of adjudicators through an open competitive process to be run by the Public Appointments Service, which will commence at the earliest opportunity and will be advertised accordingly.
229. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in the context of the disconnect between the magnitude of the fall in crude oil prices and the magnitude of the fall in retail petrol, diesel and home heating oil prices, his views that perfect competition exists in the wholesale and retail market for petrol, diesel and home heating oil; if not, in what respect is the market deficient in that respect; the actions he has taken to address this issue; the actions he has taken to ensure transparency in the market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49506/14]
View answerThe Irish oil industry is fully privatised, liberalised and deregulated and there is no price control on liquid fuel products in Ireland. The price of fuel is dictated by global factors and reflects global market price (traded in dollars), Euro/Dollar fluctuations, refining costs, transportation costs, other operating costs, prevailing Excise Duty and VAT. The National Consumer Agency, now part of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, carried out a survey in 2008 in relation to the underlying reasons why pump prices for petrol and diesel were appearing not to fall in line with the drop in the wholesale price of oil. The related Report’s overall finding was that, at national level, price changes for refined petroleum products are being passed on to Irish consumers in a relatively timely fashion. The report noted in particular, that the prices that Irish retailers charge for oil products relate to the refinery price rather than to the price of crude oil. The refinery price for oil products varies with demand and does not always move in line with crude oil prices. There is a time lag between movements in crude prices and refined prices.
The former Agency’s report also found that, in the main, as well as price changes for refined petroleum products being passed on to consumers in a relatively timely fashion, that profits of oil companies involved in the downstream supply of refined oil product supplies in Ireland were relatively modest and that many fuel retailers were becoming more and more dependent on non-fuel retail offerings to sustain revenue and margin opportunities. The Agency's report did highlight the importance of the availability of price information in terms of empowering consumers to achieve the best value for money when purchasing liquid fuel products.
Many international studies have identified that petrol and diesel prices tend to rise faster than they decline, and that this is likely due to a time lag between when the retailers learn that wholesale prices will be changing and when consumers learn this and begin to more actively shop around.
The Retail Price (Diesel and Petrol) Display Order 1997 (S.I. No 178 of 1997) requires all persons selling certain fuel products to specify by way of a public notice on their premises the price per litre being charged to the consumer for these commodities. Accordingly, I would strongly encourage consumers to inform themselves of the different price offerings in their localities so as to enable them to proactively seek out the best value when purchasing fuel products.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is the independent statutory body responsible for enforcing competition law in the State and has a statutory role in monitoring compliance with this law and ensuring that petrol and diesel prices are accurately and accessibly displayed. As the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission can investigate anti-competitive practices on its own initiative or on foot of complaints received, any evidence (past or present) of anticompetitive arrangements in the wholesale and retail market for petrol, diesel and home heating oil should be brought to the attention of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission www.ccpc.ie.
