Written Answers Nos. 145-155
145. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide, in tabular form, the dates on which the company law review group has met between March 2011 and 2015 to date, and the group's work programme for 2014 to 2016. [25329/15]
View answerThe Company Law Review Group (CLRG) has met in plenary session on the following dates between March 2011 and to date in 2015:
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
Mar-Dec |
Jan-Dec |
Jan-Dec |
Jan-Dec |
Jan-Dec |
|
30th June |
31st January |
30th January |
28th January |
12th February |
|
11th October |
27th March |
13th September |
29th September |
|
|
3rd May |
24th November |
|||
|
27th September |
In addition, the CLRG has advanced its Work Programme through Committees of the Group.
The CLRG's Work Programme for 2014 to 2016 is as follows:
Priority Item
1. Provide ongoing advice to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation on the provisions of the Companies Bill 2012, including responding to queries raised by the Parliamentary Counsel and assisting the Department in advising the Minister on matters arising in the course of the passage of the Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas and, once enacted, its subsequent implementation.
Other Items for Consideration
2. Examine and make recommendations on whether it will be necessary or desirable to amend company law in line with recent case law and submissions received after the publication of the Companies Bill 2012 and which were not included in the Bill, in particular those proposals relating to:
- Part 6 of the Companies Bill 2012 (Financial statements, annual return and audit)
- Part 8 of the of the Companies Bill 2012 (Receivers)
- Part 10 of the Companies Bill 2012 (Examinerships)
- Part 11 of the Companies Bill 2012 (Winding Up)
- Part 12 of the Companies Bill 2012 (Strike Off and Restoration)
3. Examine and make recommendations on whether it is necessary or desirable to provide for amendments to the law relating to the representation of a company before the Courts.
4. Examine and make recommendations on whether it is necessary or desirable to adopt, in Irish company law, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency.
5. Review the enforcement of company law and, if appropriate, make recommendations for change.
6. Provide ongoing advice to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation on EU proposals, as requested by the Department, including proposals arising from:
- The EU Action Plan on company law and corporate governance
- The review of the EU's insolvency regime
This work programme is available to view online on the Company Law Review Group website www.clrg.org.
146. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will publish his report into the sudden closure of Clerys before Dáil Éireann goes into recess in July 2015. [25330/15]
View answerI anticipate completing a report shortly as requested by the Taoiseach, to further inform Government on progress to date in supporting the workers, setting out the sequence of events as I understand them, and on a number of issues arising from the closure of Clerys. It will be a matter for Government to consider developments to date in what is an evolving situation, certain aspects of which are currently under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
147. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is aware of the consequences of the inclusion of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25403/15]
View answerAccording to assessments made by the EU Commission, a comprehensive EU/US Free Trade agreement (TTIP) could over time boost EU GDP by 0.5% per annum bringing significant economic gains as a whole for the EU. This converts into 400,000 jobs across the EU. A study commissioned by my Department estimates that these benefits in Ireland will be proportionally greater than in the EU as a whole. It suggests growth in Irish exports of almost 4%, increases in investment of 1.5% and increase in real wages of 1.5%. It estimates somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 additional export related jobs.
The EU Commission's mandate to negotiate with the United States on a new Free Trade deal includes in the scope (paragraphs 22 and 23), investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The stated aim of negotiations on investment is to negotiate investment liberalisation and protection provisions on the basis of the highest levels of liberalisation and highest standards of protection that both sides have negotiated to date.
The mandate makes it clear that the inclusion of investment protection and ISDS will depend on EU interests being met and on the final balance of the Agreement. Importantly, the mandate states that the objectives of any investment protection provisions would be without prejudice to the right of EU and the member states to adopt and enforce measures necessary to pursue legitimate public policy objectives such as social, environmental, security, stability of the financial system, public health and safety in a non-discriminatory manner.
This means that the type of investment arbitration system under TTIP will be a vast improvement on investment protection in existing Bilateral Investment Treaties, some of which date back to the 1950s.
The Commission's Concept Paper, “Investment in TTIP and beyond – the path for reform”, published on 6 May, sets out the context for this reform and, building on the important progress that has been achieved in the investment agreements with Canada and Singapore, sets out four areas for further improvement: Governments' right to regulate, establishment and functioning of tribunals, relationship between national judicial systems and an ISDS system, and an appellate mechanism.
These improvements are aimed at fixing the problems with investor dispute settlement in order to create a new modern system of investment arbitration. Ireland already provides the highest protection for investors by virtue of Article 43 of our Constitution, so the policy intention of the Commission in these negotiations is not new to Ireland.
149. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered the development of an indigenous willow-growing industry located in the midlands and underpinned by long-term supply contracts; if he has examined incentive measures, including grant aid or tax breaks, with the Minister for Finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25206/15]
View answerMy Department has had a Bio-Energy Establishment Scheme in place since 2007, and this Scheme specifically provides support for the establishment of willow plantations. The Scheme has been variously funded at different times solely by the Exchequer or by a combination of national and EU funds. At present, the scheme is wholly Exchequer-funded.
The 2015 Scheme focuses exclusively on the growing of willow and provides establishment grants to farmers of up to 40% of the crop establishment costs subject to a maximum grant of €1,040 per hectare. In the light of disappointing take-up in recent years, and in response to submissions from the sector, the eligible area for planting was increased substantially from 30 hectares to 50 hectares under the 2015 scheme. Despite this, interest in the scheme remains very low with just four applications this year for a total of 145 hectares of willow, much of which is not expected to proceed. In the circumstances, my Department is now reviewing its options for the future.
The following table shows planting levels under the Scheme since 2007.
Planting figures for the Bioenergy Scheme
|
Year |
Miscanthus |
Willow |
Total Area Planted |
Total Expenditure |
|
(Hectares) |
(Hectares) |
(Hectares) |
€m |
|
|
2007 |
617 |
64 |
681 |
0.654 |
|
2008 |
775 |
128 |
903 |
1.077 |
|
2009 |
709 |
168 |
877 |
1.090 |
|
2010 |
159 |
185 |
344 |
0.594 |
|
2011 |
78 |
130 |
208 |
0.357 |
|
2012 |
64 |
99 |
163 |
0.258 |
|
2013 |
12 |
62 |
74 |
0.178 |
|
2014 |
0 |
103 |
103 |
0.087 |
|
Total |
2414 |
939 |
3353 |
4.32 |
150. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered the case for the development of an indigenous willow-growing industry located in the midlands and underpinned by long-term supply contracts with Bord na Móna's stations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25207/15]
View answerMy Department has had a Bio-Energy Establishment Scheme in place since 2007, and this Scheme specifically provides support for the establishment of willow plantations. In fact, the 2015 Scheme focuses exclusively on the growing of willow and provides establishment grants to farmers of up to 40% of the crop establishment costs subject to a maximum grant of €1,040 per hectare. In the light of disappointing take-up in recent years, and in response to submissions from the sector, the eligible area for planting was increased substantially from 30 hectares to 50 hectares under the 2015 scheme.
Despite this, interest in the scheme remains very low with just four applications this year for a total of 145 hectares of willow, much of which is not expected to proceed. In the circumstances, my Department is now reviewing all options for the future, including the value of long-term supply contracts where feasible.
151. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department uses any system software for the auto deletion of e-mail messages; if so, his Department's guidelines on the use of such a system; and the length of time e-mails are stored before they are auto deleted. [25173/15]
View answerMy Department has email filtering software in place which deletes incoming emails which are definitively categorised as being viruses, malware or spam. In cases where there is a doubt over the provenance of an email, the email is quarantined and the intended recipient is notified. They can then request the email administrator to release the email - if it is not deemed to be a threat.
Otherwise the Department does not have any processes in place that carry out auto-deletion of emails from our email servers. All email data is backed up in accordance with our backup policy and can be restored to particular points in time if required.
152. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if lands (details supplied) will be included in the specific constraints scheme, island land parcels, in view of the fact that they are inaccessible for much of the time, depending on the tides. [25191/15]
View answerMy Department has already received a request for a review of the land parcels in question under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme (Islands) from an agent acting on behalf of the person named. My Department will be in direct contact with both the person named and his agent as soon as this review is complete.
153. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding an application for an oyster licence in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry. [25196/15]
View answerMy Department’s records do not indicate receipt of an application for an aquaculture licence for the cultivation of oysters corresponding to the name and PPS number referred to by the Deputy.
154. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of calls his Department's animal welfare helpline received in 2013 and 2014 and in 2015 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25203/15]
View answerMy Department operates an Animal Welfare Helpline for members of the public to report suspected cases of animal neglect and or abuse. Calls received in 2013, 2014 and 2015 are broken down as follows:
|
Year |
Calls |
|
2013 |
212 |
|
2014 |
652 |
|
2015 to date |
350 |
Where it is considered appropriate, follow up action is arranged by Inspectors from my Department or with the assistance of ISPCA/DSPCA Inspectors under their respective Service Agreements.
155. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that if a bull or heifer is rated four or five stars at either the time of purchase or the time of testing the animal will remain in compliance with the beef genomics and data scheme despite any subsequent downgrading which may take place thereafter, as was confirmed by a person (details supplied) at the most recent meeting of the Oireachtas agricultural committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25211/15]
View answerThe Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) Programme forms part of Ireland's Rural Development Programme and allocates funding of some €300 million over the next six years to suckler farmers in Ireland. The BDGP builds on the large strategic investment in data recording and genomics which has been made in recent years, and will ultimately bring about fundamental improvements to the entire sector by substantially improving the genetic quality of the national beef herd. The Programme was launched on 5 May and almost 30,000 applications had been received by my Department when it closed on 5 June. While analysis of the applications is still ongoing, the initial figures suggest that the programme is fully subscribed.
The requirement for farmers to move towards using four and five star rated stock bulls and heifers is an essential component of the Programme. All farmers will receive comprehensive training, and ongoing information and advice to assist them in introducing the required breeding strategy. I am also aware that these requirements will take time to introduce which is why there is a substantial lead-in time included in the design of the programme.
The Deputy is correct to state that bulls or heifers rated as 4 or 5 stars at either the time of genotyping for animals sourced within the herd, or at the time of purchase for animals sourced outside the herd, will remain in compliance with the replacement strategy requirements of the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme even in situations where the animal may be subsequently reassessed to 3 stars or lower as the index evolves.
The intention of the programme is to encourage the introduction and retention of higher genetic merit animals into suckler farms in Ireland – it would not be appropriate to penalise a farmer who follows this replacement strategy and subsequently finds that some of the animals are reassessed at a later date as the index rises. The fact that breeding is on the basis of animals that are four or five stars at the outset means that the trend is towards an overall increase in the genetic merit of the herd at individual and national level.
