Written Answers Nos. 40 - 49
40. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to intervene in the ongoing industrial dispute at a site (details supplied) in west Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6119/15]
View answerI understand that a number of separate, but connected, issues are involved in the dispute at the school building site near Lucan, Co. Dublin, including allegations regarding non-compliance with statutory rates of pay, status of employees and the issue of subcontracting.
The dispute was the subject of a recent Labour Court hearing and subsequent Recommendation. I understand that the parties involved are considering the Recommendation of the Court.
I would encourage all parties to give positive consideration to the Labour Court’s proposals. The experience and expertise of the Court offers the best avenue for resolving the issues in dispute.
However, Ireland’s system of industrial relations is voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial relations issues lies ultimately with employers and workers and their respective representatives as appropriate.
41. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide details of the number of visits made by the Industrial Development Agency to County Limerick in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5854/15]
View answerI am informed by IDA Ireland that there were 22 IDA Ireland sponsored site visits by potential investors to County Limerick in 2014. These site visits were from new companies visiting the location for the first time and from senior executives of existing companies. While IDA Ireland always seeks to influence the client decisions on where to visit or where to locate, the final decision in all cases is made by the investor.
Limerick, along with Clare and North Tipperary, forms part of IDA’s Mid-West region. Within that region, IDA Ireland concentrates its efforts on the Limerick/Shannon gateway and the hub town of Ennis. IDA Ireland works closely with third level educational institutions in the region so that the skill-sets necessary to attract high value added employment to the county are being developed.
At the end of 2014, there were 48 IDA Ireland supported companies in Co. Limerick employing 7,906 people in full time and part time employment. IDA Ireland has strong relationships with all these companies and works closely with them to ensure their long term sustainability and to encourage their growth, development and continuing re-investment in their sites. The primary opportunity for regional locations is in respect of the existing client base and potential further investment opportunities from same. Approximately 70% of all FDI investments won by IDA Ireland are from the existing client base.
To date in 2015, two announcements were made for Limerick and Shannon. ViaGoGo announced a 100 person expansion of their operations in Limerick and in addition, Amax Shannon also announced a 100 person expansion of its Global and Logistics Operations.
There were a number of other IDA announcements for Limerick during 2014 including ViaGoGo (100 jobs), Optel Vision (140 jobs) Filtertek (35 jobs) and Johnson and Johnson (100 jobs).
As the Deputy is aware, the Action Plan for Jobs 2015 was launched recently. This is the fourth annual plan in a multi-year process, which started in 2012. When the First Action Plan for Jobs was launched, unemployment stood at 15.1%. Today it stands at 10.6% and we are on track to exceed our target of 100,000 additional jobs by 2016. We are now setting a goal to bring employment to 2.1 million by 2018 – 2 years ahead of our original target.
We are determined that every region will benefit from the recovery and we will be announcing over the coming weeks and months a series of actions to help drive the achievement of this goal.
42. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an appeal against the refusal of a domiciliary care allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6347/15]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 3 February 2015, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing.
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.
44. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the current status of the family income supplement appeal in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6378/15]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that on receipt of an appeal in respect of a disallowance of family income supplement (FIS), where it appears that the reason for the decision may not have been fully understood, the letter of appeal is referred to the FIS Section requesting that the decision be clarified to the appellant.
In the case of the person concerned his letter of appeal was forwarded to FIS Section for clarification on 19 January 2015. If, following clarification, the person concerned is still not satisfied with the decision of the Deciding Officer, he should confirm this in writing to the Social Welfare Appeals Office stating clearly his complete and up to date grounds of appeal. On receipt of same the appeal will be formally registered and processed.
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.
45. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the reason a jobseeker's allowance payment will cease in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6382/15]
View answerThe person concerned made an application to illness benefit which was awarded with effect from 14 January 2015.
Consequently her jobseeker’s allowance claim was closed on 13 January 2015.
46. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will repeal section 247B of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act of 16 January 2012, which precludes community employment scheme participants from receiving the widow's/widower's pension, in view of the Minister for Finance's declaration that austerity is over. [6406/15]
View answerThere are no plans to allow new participants on the Community Employment (CE) programme to retain their original social welfare payments while employed on the scheme and receiving concurrent CE allowances. The main enactment of this measure was contained in Section 12 of the Social Welfare Act 2011. The main purpose of CE is to assist and support long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups to gain the necessary skills and confidence with a view to gaining employment.
47. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will consider flying the Amber Flag from her Department buildings on a chosen day in order to raise awareness of the Amber Flag programme, which works to raise awareness of mental health issues within second level schools, sports clubs and youth organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6436/15]
View answerThe Department of Social Protection currently operates out of approximately 400 individual buildings across the country, however only two of these buildings, Headquarter Buildings in Dublin (Áras Mhic Dhiarmada) and Sligo (Pensions Service Office, Cranmore), have flagpoles. To date, these flagpoles have only been used for the flying of the National Flag at appropriate times as instructed by the Department of the Taoiseach’s Office.
Through the provision of courses such as SafeTalk (delivered to 441 staff in 2013), ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), mental health awareness and stress awareness to staff, the Department aims to promote positive mental health and wellbeing and empower staff to provide support to customers in distress. In addition, the Department fully supports suicide awareness and provides training for staff and guidance officers in dealing with cases of actual and threatened suicide. The flying of the Amber Flag on our two buildings identified above is unlikely to generate the required awareness among the specific target audience of second level schools, sports clubs and other youth organisations.
The Department would be willing to explore other avenues to make our staff aware of the Amber Flag initiative through our intranet site and/or through other appropriate means.
49. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if an application for domiciliary care allowance will be expedited in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6475/15]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 30th January 2015. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Following receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made by a Deciding Officer and notified to the person concerned. It can currently take 10 weeks to process an application for DCA.
