Written Answers Nos. 804-818
804. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount her Department spent on public relations consultants and all matters relating to public relations in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11432/17]
View answerDetails of expenditure by my Department on public relations in 2016 are set out as follows:-
|
PR Company |
Purpose of Contract |
Amount Spent in 2016 |
|
Fuzion Communications |
Provision of communications services to the Workplace Relations Commission. |
€643.64 |
|
Keatings and Associates |
Provision of communications services to the Workplace Relations Commission. |
€3321.00 |
805. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the details of the 2017 plans for the Enterprise Ireland community enterprise centre initiative; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11462/17]
View answerIn 2015, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland, began a new approach to supporting job creation initiatives through competitive funding schemes. These schemes support of the Regional Acton Plans for Jobs at local and regional level.
Enterprise Ireland launched the Community Enterprise Initiatives Fund, the first of these competitive calls, in 2015. It focused on community-driven enterprise initiatives and how all the local players, public and private, can work together to maximise job creation.
The Fund was open to existing Community Enterprise Centres (CECs) and also to any other organisation or groups of organisations with innovative ideas to create jobs, promote entrepreneurship, boost innovation or enhance exports. In June 2016 €3m was awarded to 32 projects to work together at regional level.
To continue to stimulate regional growth, as detailed in the Action Plan for Jobs 2017, the Government will provide further investment of up to €60 million across 2017 – 2020 to support collaborative approaches to boost enterprise and job creation throughout the country.
As part of this commitment, Enterprise Ireland will announce a new competitive fund in the near term. This competitive funding will support major new collaborative and innovative initiatives that can make a significant impact on enterprise development in a region, across regions, or nationally, to build on unique regional capabilities and drive balanced regional enterprise development throughout Ireland.
Eligible applicants will be not for profit entities that comprise national/regional, county and local stakeholders, with a purpose of benefitting the wider needs of the community and region/nation. CECs will be eligible to apply for this competitive funding.
806. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the level of construction inflation that has been experienced by her Department in each of the past six years and to date in 2017 in respect of construction projects and other capital projects; the way in which she monitors construction inflation and the mechanisms she employs to establish this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11539/17]
View answerMy Department does not have any role in tracking or monitoring inflation levels in the construction sector and therefore does not employ any mechanisms to establish these.
807. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 332 of 1 February 2017, if she will provide a list of projects put forward by her Department in November 2014 to the Department of Finance for inclusion in the submission to the task force established to develop an EU investment project pipeline for the European Fund for Strategic Investments. [11550/17]
View answerIn response to the request for submissions from the EU Task Force on Investment of potential investment projects as part of its scoping exercise, a joint proposal was submitted by agencies operating under the auspices of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The agencies (Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices, IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland) put forward a proposal related to the Knowledge and Digital Economy sector, entitled "Regional Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions".
The proposal was a regionally focused enterprise funding package with 3 strands:
(1) Regional Enterprise (€50m) funding innovation infrastructure and competitive collaboration. The purpose of this funding is to stimulate the enhancement of the local and regional enterprise eco-system by competitively offering to co-finance projects proposed by local/regional alliances.
(2) Enhance enterprise innovative capacity within the regions (€200m) via four Research, Development and Innovation hubs:
(i) Southern Region: Manufacturing Competitiveness,
(ii) Border Region: Smart Grids and Cities,
(iii)Eastern Region: Digital Platforms, Content and Applications,
(iv)Midlands Region: Sustainable Food Production and Processing.
(3) Improve infrastructural supports (€30m) to the regional enterprise base in order to increase employment opportunities and promote economic growth and social inclusion.
808. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total annual number of exporting firms broken down between Enterprise Ireland client companies and IDA supported companies over the 2014-2016 period, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11553/17]
View answerExports by Enterprise Ireland client companies totalled a record €20.6bn in 2015. The Enterprise Ireland Strategy 2017-2020 is to Build Scale and Expand Reach.
The strategic aims are to:
- Assist clients to create 60,000 new jobs and to sustain the existing record of new jobs by 2020; and
- Grow annual exports by €5 billion to €26 billion per annum by 2020. Within this, Enterprise Ireland is seeking to increase the diversification of client company exports into new markets, with 2/3 of exports going beyond the UK. This includes a major focus on the Eurozone where the agency is targeting a 50 per cent increase in exports.
IDA Ireland has a client base of 1,318 companies which export 96% of everything they produce in Ireland. Exports by IDA client companies totalled €149bn in 2015.
Enterprise Ireland and IDA records client exports as part of the annual ABR survey. The latest available data is for 2015. The 2016 exports figures will be available in Q2. 2017.
Table 1 as follows presents the number of EI and IDA client companies that reported export sales in the 2014 and 2015 ABR survey.
|
No of clients that reported export sales in the ABR survey. |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Enterprise Ireland clients |
1,740 |
1,740 |
Not available yet |
|
IDA clients |
1,242 |
1,290 |
Not available yet |
Source: Annual Business Review (ABR)
809. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding the transposition of the EU Accounting Directive into law; her views on the fact that the application of section 1A of FRS 102 and FRS 105 is not yet in place here; if her attention has been drawn to the consequences for SMEs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11869/17]
View answerThe Companies (Accounting) Bill 2016 will transpose Directive 2013/34/EU (the EU Accounting Directive) into Irish legislation. That Bill is expected to be scheduled for Report Stage in the Dáil later this month.
Clearly, the timing of enactment thereafter will depend on the availability of parliamentary time.
Section 1A of FRS 102 sets out the information that shall be presented and disclosed in the financial statements of a small entity that chooses to apply the small entities regime, while FRS 105 is the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime. The Bill introduces new provisions for small companies and for a new category of micro company, which is a subset of the category of small company. Accordingly, Section 1A of FRS 102 and FRS 105 will be available to small and micro companies, respectively, once the Bill is enacted and commenced.
810. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the latest report which showed that the gender pay gap has widened by 6.5% in the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11873/17]
View answerPolicy responsibility for gender equality in employment remains with my colleagues the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD and her colleague David Stanton TD, Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration. To that end Minister of State Stanton is chairing a Strategy Committee to advise the Department of Justice and Equality on the preparation of the new National Women’s Strategy. In public consultation the gender pay has emerged as an issue of concern to many respondents.
Under Section 10 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHERC) has a statutory role to ‘keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice in the State in relation to the protection of human rights and equality’.
With regards to my Department, in 2015 Ministers Richard Bruton and Ged Nash (then Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation and Minister for Business and Employment, respectively) wrote to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) asking it to report on the preponderance of women on the national minimum wage.
The LPC report found only 5% of employees are on the National Minimum Wage. It is self-evident that men and women on the National Minimum Wage receive the same remuneration per hour - €9.25 per hour. However, 64.7% of employees on the National Minimum Wage are women. Reasons suggested by the report for this are: women tend to work part-time more often than men because of caring responsibilities, the cost of childcare and women are over-represented in the Accommodation and Food sector, which carries the greatest risk factor of being on the National Minimum Wage. The report was brought to Government and published in October 2016.
811. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if the State has adopted the European Commission's quality framework on traineeships, which was a key element of the youth guarantee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11945/17]
View answerMy Department does not have responsibility for the development or delivery of traineeship schemes. Solas, which is under the remit of the Department of Education and Skills, delivers the National Traineeship Programme, which is tailored to the needs of Irish industry and offers participants occupationally relevant training and industry recognised qualifications.
I am informed by my colleague the Minister for Social Protection that the Quality Framework on Traineeships was adopted by the Department of Social Protection when implementing the JobBridge scheme, which has now closed.
812. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her attention has been drawn to the fact that a facility (details suplied) is up for sale in Carrickmacross; if any State agencies has plans to buy this property to create jobs in the town; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11961/17]
View answerI am informed by IDA Ireland that the Agency is aware that the facility is on the market, but has no plans to purchase it at this time.
IDA Ireland has had frequent engagement with relevant local authorities about the facility in question. The Agency will continue to pursue all opportunities to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to Monaghan and will bring the facility to the attention of prospective investors as part of this process.
As well as exploring FDI opportunities, following a series of meetings between myself, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Monaghan County Council, I have asked IDA and Enterprise Ireland to work together to progress the development of a masterplan to enhance the value proposition for indigenous enterprise at IDA Ireland owned lands in Knockaconny, Co. Monaghan.
813. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of persons employed in total in two industrial estates (details supplied). [11970/17]
View answerIDA Ireland collates its employment data on an annual basis by region and by county. I am informed by the Agency that it supported 696 client companies in Co. Dublin in 2016, employing 86,622 people.
The following table sets out details relating to Poppintree Industrial Estate, including the amount of land available for marketing and number of tenants. The Agency does not track the number of people employed in the park. IDA Ireland does not own Ballymun Business Park and consequently does not hold any details in relation to its occupancy.
Poppintree Industrial Estate Details
|
County |
Town |
Business Park/Site Name |
Total Size |
Available for marketing (size) |
No of tenants |
|
Dublin 11 |
Poppintree |
Poppintree Industrial Estate |
c. 20.6 ha / c. 51 acres |
c. 3.78 ha / c. 9 acres |
6 |
815. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total number of job announcements for the south east for each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017 , by county; the total number of IDA site visits for south east for each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12013/17]
View answerThere were 24 job announcements by IDA Ireland client companies in the South East region from 2011 to date. It is important to realise that the number of announcements does not necessarily reflect the level of FDI activity in the region because not all IDA clients choose to publically announce investments. In the same period IDA supported companies in the South East created 4,630 jobs, bringing total employment in the region to 13,369 at the end of 2016.
IDA Ireland carried out 176 site visits to the region from 2011 until the end of 2016, with 2015 and 2016 figures more than double those of the previous two years. Site visit data is collated at quarterly intervals on a county basis. Data for the first quarter of 2017 will not be available until next month.
Details of the job announcements and the breakdown of site visits for the region are set out in the following tables.
IDA Ireland Client Company Job Announcements South East 2011-2017
|
- |
Date |
Company |
County |
|
1 |
06/04/2011 |
Bausch & Lomb |
Waterford |
|
2 |
06/06/2011 |
Mycroft |
Waterford |
|
3 |
08/08/2011 |
Boston Scientific |
Tipperary |
|
4 |
16/09/2011 |
Coca-Cola |
Wexford |
|
5 |
22/09/2011 |
MSD |
Tipperary |
|
6 |
26/07/2012 |
Envelope Supply Company |
Kilkenny |
|
7 |
28/03/2013 |
Nypro |
Waterford |
|
8 |
30/06/2014 |
NuVasive |
Waterford |
|
9 |
02/10/2014 |
West Pharma |
Waterford |
|
10 |
05/11/2015 |
Clearstream |
Waterford |
|
11 |
25/03/2015 |
Sunlife |
Waterford |
|
12 |
25/04/2015 |
Agora Publishing |
Waterford |
|
13 |
29/04/2015 |
Bausch & Lomb |
Waterford |
|
14 |
15/06/2015 |
CRI |
Wexford |
|
15 |
07/09/2015 |
CipherTechs |
Kilkenny |
|
16 |
07/09/2015 |
Bluefin |
Waterford |
|
17 |
22/09/2015 |
MSD |
Tipperary |
|
18 |
21/01/2016 |
First Data |
Tipperary |
|
19 |
21/04/2016 |
OPKO Health/Eirgin |
Waterford |
|
20 |
13/06/2016 |
Eurofins |
Waterford |
|
21 |
30/08/2016 |
Se2 |
Waterford |
|
22 |
04/11/2016 |
Compar AG |
Waterford |
|
23 |
06/02/2017 |
Mercury Filmworks |
Kilkenny |
|
24 |
06/02/2017 |
Red Hat |
Waterford |
Site Visits to South East Region 2011 - 2016
|
Region |
County |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
South East |
Carlow |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
|
South East |
Kilkenny |
0 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
10 |
|
South East |
Waterford |
11 |
26 |
14 |
11 |
31 |
17 |
|
South East |
Wexford |
0 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
|
South East and Mid-West * |
Tipperary |
1 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
12 |
8 |
|
Total |
13 |
36 |
20 |
18 |
46 |
43 |
*Tipperary straddles two regions – South East and Mid-West.
816. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the rights available to a person who does not use a gift voucher before the stated expiry date; her plans to introduce legislation to ban the policy implemented in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12154/17]
View answerGift vouchers supplied to consumers are subject to the provisions of general consumer protection legislation, in particular the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 on unfair, misleading and aggressive commercial practices and of the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 27 of 1995). Gift vouchers that are not financial services products are covered also by the provisions of the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 484 of 2013). Gift cards that come within the definition of “electronic money” in the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011 are subject to the provisions of these Regulations unless the card can be used only to acquire goods or services in the premises of the card issuer or within a limited network of service providers or for a limited range of goods and services. The issuer of a gift card which comes within the definition of electronic money must, at the request of the electronic money holder, redeem the monetary value of the electronic money at par value at any time. Redemption may be subject to a fee in specified circumstances and any such fee must be proportionate and commensurate with the costs actually incurred by the issuer of the electronic money.
My Department published the draft Scheme of a comprehensive Consumer Rights Bill for public consultation on 25 May 2015. In addition to Parts dealing with the consolidation and updating of the law on the supply of goods, digital content and services and on unfair contract terms, the draft Scheme contains a number of provisions for the regulation of gift vouchers, including a proposed ban on expiry dates in contracts for the supply of gift vouchers. The responses to the gift card provisions raised a substantial number of issues, including concerns expressed by businesses about the impact of a complete prohibition on expiry dates and the need for clarity and certainty in respect of the regulation of gift cards that come within the scope of the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011. While the present proposal is for a ban on expiry dates for gift cards that do not come within the scope of the Electronic Money Regulations, I am willing to listen to other views and possible approaches, such as a requirement that gift cards remain valid for a set period such as five years.
While I am anxious to progress the Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill, I have to take account of current European Union legislative proposals for Directives on consumer contracts for the supply of digital content and consumer contracts for the online and other distance sale of goods. These proposals which were announced in May 2015 and published in December 2015 overlap very substantially with two of the main parts of the draft Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill. Discussions on the digital content proposal at working party level have proceeded rapidly with a first reading of the proposal completed by April 2016 and agreement reached at the June Justice and Home Affairs Council on the basic principles of the proposal and on political guidelines for future work on it. Discussions in the second half of 2016 under the Slovak Presidency made further progress and provided the basis for a policy debate on a number of aspects of the proposal at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 8-9 December. The current Maltese Presidency has indicated that it aims to achieve agreement on a general approach to the digital content proposal in the first half of 2017. In this situation, I have to consider the advisability of bringing forward a legislative proposal to the Oireachtas when a directly related and fully harmonised legislative proposal may be at an advanced stage of the European Union legislative process. The wisdom of introducing legislation in the Oireachtas in 2017 if large parts of that legislation would have to be repealed or substantially amended within a relatively short space of time is obviously open to question. I will continue to review the progress of the two European Union proposals with a view to deciding the best course of action to take with regard to the Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill.
817. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of school completion programmes in schools that do not have DEIS status (details supplied); the way these programmes will be impacted following the recent DEIS announcement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11488/17]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that there are currently just over 150 Non-DEIS schools supported under the School Completion Programme (SCP). The Educational Welfare Service of the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) has advised that it does not intend to make any changes to the SCP for the 2017/2018 school year as the planning process for the 2017/2018 school year is already at an advanced stage. Tusla will be engaging in discussions with my Department and the Department of Education and Skills in relation to the status of Non-DEIS schools and the SCP over the coming months. It is considered that any changes to the SCP in the context of the recent DEIS announcement will not take place until the 2018/2019 school year at the earliest.
818. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is a taskforce for the development of the early years strategy; and if so, the detail of the members of the taskforce, their title and their organisation. [11185/17]
View answerIreland’s first ever Early Years Strategy is being progressed by my Department. This Strategy, which is expected to be published later this year, will take a whole-of-Government approach outlining Ireland’s vision for the coming decade in seeking to improve the lives of children from birth to 6 years. It will address a range of issues affecting children in their first years of life such as child health and well-being, parenting and family support, learning and development and play and recreation.
The Strategy is taking account of the Right from the Start, the Report of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy and the reports of two Inter-Departmental Groups established and chaired by my Department in 2015, specifically the Report on Future Investment in Childcare in Ireland and the Report on Supporting Access to the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme for Children with a Disability. Membership and affiliation of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy is presented below.
The Strategy is also being informed by bilateral discussions with the relevant Government Departments and by a range of stakeholder consultations, including one undertaken with children aged 3-5 and an Open Policy Debate held on in December 2016. The Open Policy Debate brought together over 80 experts, practitioners and stakeholders from the fields of health, education, early childhood care and education, child protection, housing, community, social protection and social inclusion. Participants included parents’ organisations, statutory and non-statutory organisations and advocacy groups, trade union and business representatives, and Government departments. In addition, in the coming months and before publication, my Department intends to consult with the various structures created to implement Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, including the Consortium, the Advisory Council and the Children and Young People's Services Committees (CYPSC ) National Steering Group.
|
Membership and affiliation of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy at the time Right from the Start was published |
|
Eilish Hennessy, Chair, National University of Ireland, Dublin |
|
Catherine Byrne, The Atlantic Philanthropies |
|
Siobhan Feehan, Deansrath Family Centre, Clondalkin |
|
Fergus Finlay, Barnardos |
|
Irene Gunning, Early Childhood Ireland |
|
Prof. Nóirín Hayes, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) |
|
Fiona McDonnell, National Specialist, Early Years Inspectorate |
|
Roisin McGlone, Sligo Institute of Technology |
|
Breda McKenna, Monaghan County Childcare Committee |
|
Patricia Murray, Childminding Ireland |
|
Fr. Gerard O’Connor, St. Ultan’s, Cherry Orchard |
|
Patricia O’Dwyer, Public Health Nursing Consultant |
|
Biddy O’Neill, Health Service Executive |
|
Kathryn O’Riordan, Cork City Childcare Committee |
|
Thomas Walsh, Primary District Inspector, Department of Education and Skills |
|
Toby Wolfe, Start Strong |
