Parliamentary questions

Departmental Staff Rehiring

Eoghan Murphy

225. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if there are any retired public sector workers from his Department, or any other part of the public sector, currently on his Department's payroll, for example, for sitting on a committee or preparing a report, but not exclusively these two areas; the number on the payroll; the cost to his Department; the services being delivered for this money; and the way the positions were originally advertised. [6267/13]

Data Protection

Eoghan Murphy

226. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he is concerned that the destruction of data, obtained through the use of the heel prick test, will result in a loss of valuable data that could be used to better understand certain diseases and their genetic links; and if he has considered restrictions on the use of such data instead of its destruction. [6276/13]

Hospital Staff

Eoghan Murphy

227. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health his views on the use of agency nurses in hospitals, in particular the cost-effectiveness of using agency nurses in cases of unexpected demand, specialist nursing and to cover the sick leave and holidays of Health Service Executive staff. [6278/13]

Departmental Staff Rehiring

Eoghan Murphy

247. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there are any retired public sector workers from his Department, or any other part of the public sector, currently on his Department's payroll, for example, for sitting on a committee or preparing a report, but not exclusively these two areas; the number on the payroll; the cost to his Department; the services being delivered for this money; and the way the positions were originally advertised. [6272/13]

Bord na gCon Expenditure

Eoghan Murphy

685. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount the State subsidy to the Irish Greyhound Board is worth; the person who oversees its spend; what it is designated for; if it is performance linked; and his views on whether the allocation is value for money. [5282/13]

HSE Staffing

Eoghan Murphy

793. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if Ireland complies with the EU working time directive for non-consultant hospital doctors at present; if NCHDs are working more than 48 hours per week and-or working for more than 24 hours consecutively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5281/13]

Health Insurance Cover

Eoghan Murphy

794. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health when the single health insurance fund will be put in place; the persons who will be covered under the new system; the services to be covered by the fund; the amount of the additional cost that is covered; if there is a forum in which private insurers may decide how to modify their plans in line with these services; if additional tax relief is planned for those still maintaining private health insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5283/13]

Pension Provisions

Eoghan Murphy

100. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his position on the transfer by AIB of €1.1 billion of its assets to its pension fund. [57931/12]

Pension Provisions

Eoghan Murphy

101. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his views on correspondence related to pension fund investments (details supplied). [57932/12]

Pension Provisions

Eoghan Murphy

102. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his plans to allow self-employed persons to have access to their pension funds in the same way that those who have made voluntary contributions to their pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57934/12]

Universal Social Charge Payments

Eoghan Murphy

103. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the reason self-employed persons pay a higher rate of universal social charge on their earnings. [57935/12]

Mortgage Debt

Eoghan Murphy

109. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the residential investment mortgages issue. [57992/12]

Youth Unemployment Data

Eoghan Murphy

245. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the 2012 McKinsey Center for Government Report, Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works. [57936/12]

EU Funding

Eoghan Murphy

390. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if he is investigating the use of the Common Strategic Framework Funds that is the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund in developing co-investment funds specifically targeting angel investors, as is being promoted by the European Commission and European Investment Bank. [58161/12]

EU Funding

Eoghan Murphy

391. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if he is considering developing co-investment funds, as in the UK and other countries, to address the seed/early stage financing gap and help develop the angel investment market. [58162/12]

Commercial Rates Calculations

Eoghan Murphy

616. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider a proposal for pop-up shops as a way of helping villages deal with empty premises and young entrepreneurs get their business ideas established (details supplied). [58205/12]

Road Traffic Accidents Data

Eoghan Murphy

729. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of road accidents in 2012 that involved one or more drivers on a provisional licence. [1734/13]

Garda Vetting of Personnel

Eoghan Murphy

743. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to an issue regarding disclosure of a non-conviction under Section 1(1) of the Probation Act, (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57937/12]

Crime Levels

Eoghan Murphy

761. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the number of bicycles that have been reported stolen in the Dublin Metropolitan area of An Garda Síochána where the date of theft has been in the five year period ending in June 2012 and the number of prosecutions that have been brought by the Gardaí before the courts in relation to such bicycle thefts in the Dublin Metropolitan area in respect of thefts in the period ending June 2012; and the number of convictions that resulted from these prosecutions. [58159/12]

Crime Levels

Eoghan Murphy

762. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the number of motor vehicles that have been reported stolen in the Dublin Metropolitan Area of An Garda Síochana where the date of theft has been in the five year period ending in June 2012 and the number of prosecutions that have been brought by the Gardaí before the courts in relation to such motor vehicle thefts in the Dublin Metropolitan area in respect of thefts in the period ending June 2012; and the number of convictions that resulted from these prosecutions. [58160/12]

Proposed Legislation

Eoghan Murphy

901. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to the commitment in the Programme for Government to modernise and reform outdated elements of family law, in particular the legislation to consolidate and reform the law on adoption, the way this legislation is progressing and if this will contain provision for the recognition of rights for non-biological parents or children in same-sex relationships. [58049/12]

HSE Funding

Eoghan Murphy

962. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health his veiws on correspondence regarding funding for day care services for elderly people (details supplied). [57933/12]

Tax Code

Eoghan Murphy

153. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider modifying the various statements issued by the Revenue to persons so that these would state the total tax paid by a person as a percentage of their income as well as providing the various breakdowns under the different headings. [56488/12]

Property Taxation Application

Eoghan Murphy

154. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will review a case regarding the assessment of the value of certain properties for the local property tax (details supplied) [56490/12]

Property Taxation Exemptions

Eoghan Murphy

155. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if there will be provisions in the property tax for properties (details supplied). [56491/12]

Banking Sector Remuneration

Eoghan Murphy

156. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a detailed breakdown of any non salary entitlements or benefits going to current and new employees of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation as part of their terms of employment. [56492/12]

Tax Rebates

Eoghan Murphy

157. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 174 of 15 May 2012, if he will be granting a fuel rebate to bus and coach companies. [56493/12]

Revenue Commissioners Investigations

Eoghan Murphy

191. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 151 of 11 December 2012, if he will provide more detailed information on the work being undertaken by the Revenue Commissioners with a Government Department and a public sector agency regarding means testing for State benefits. [56938/12]

School Staffing

Eoghan Murphy

247. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the current system of subbing lists in use in primary schools, in particular insofar as the way in which substitute teachers are selected for positions in schools and offered covering work on a day to day or week to week basis, to be unbiased and fair. [56760/12]

School Staffing

Eoghan Murphy

248. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to retired teachers doing substitution work, in particular the supervision of trainee teachers in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56761/12]

Work Permit Applications

Eoghan Murphy

299. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will outline any visa programmes available to senior executives coming to work in foreign owned companies based here, including uptake numbers of these programmes in 2011 and 2012. [56939/12]

Pension Provisions

Eoghan Murphy

369. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an explanation as to the necessity to require registered pension schemes to generate a funding standard reserve of 15% of scheme assets at a time when such schemes have difficulty, due both to the reduction in assets caused by the requirement to pay a levy of 0.6% of such assets for four years and the requirement to calculate scheme liabilities in the most conservative manner in relation to sovereign bonds, in achieving a minimum funding standard of 100%. [56758/12]

Pension Provisions

Eoghan Murphy

370. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 30 June 2011, if, in respect of Government plans to increase the retirement age to 66 in 2014, there is a provision for those who are presently contractually obliged to retire at age 65 and will retire in 2014 and will therefore not be entitled to receive their contributory pensions until one year after they finish work , in particular in view of the fact that jobseeker's allowance will now only support them for nine months of that year. [56759/12]

Proposed Legislation

Eoghan Murphy

492. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the timeframe for the enactment of changes to family law legislation that are expected following the passing of the children's rights referendum. [57095/12]

Speech and Language Therapy

Eoghan Murphy

618. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he has considered a proposal regarding graduate speech and language therapists (details supplied) [56495/12]

United Nations Funding

Eoghan Murphy

51. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount of money that Ireland contributes to the United Nations that is spent directly on Internet related challenges, such as cyber security, cyber-crime, Internet freedom, privacy rights, and other related issues; if this money is contributed directly to such programmes or through a general fund; the percentage this makes up of the total allocation of United Nations funding on these areas; the person responsible in the United Nations for allocating these resources either directly or from a general fund; the agency that is responsible for implementation; their location; and if any Irish personnel are working for them either on secondment or independently. [56100/12]

Drug Treatment Programmes Availability

Eoghan Murphy

167. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health his views on methadone clinics (details supplied). [56062/12]

Tax Reliefs Availability

Eoghan Murphy

123. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he has considered extending the vehicle registration tax for electric vehicles beyond December 2012. [55345/12]

Tax Code

Eoghan Murphy

151. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he has considered the merits or demerits of a tax initiative (details supplied). [55682/12]

Public Procurement Contracts Tenders

Eoghan Murphy

215. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the percentage of Government contracts in his Department that were awarded to non-Irish companies in the three years 2009 to 2011 inclusive; and the percentage of these that went to EU companies in that period. [55257/12]

Retail Sector Issues

Eoghan Murphy

222. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he has any jurisdiction over store opening hours, for example Sundays or on St. Stephen's Day. [55612/12]

Electric Vehicle Grants

Eoghan Murphy

282. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has considered extending the grant support for electric vehicles beyond December 2012. [55345/12]

EU Directives

Eoghan Murphy

283. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in view of possible gas and oil finds off the Irish coast, his plans for Ireland to sign the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a global standard ensuring transparency of payments from natural resources. [55399/12]

Visa Applications

Eoghan Murphy

328. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide the number of persons that have applied for, and the number of persons that have received a visa under the visa investment scheme programme, the start-up visa scheme, and any visa programmes available to senior executives coming to work in foreign owned companies based here. [55325/12]

Public Procurement Contracts Tenders

Eoghan Murphy

8. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the percentage of Government contracts that are awarded to non-Irish companies; the percentage of these that go to EU companies; and if he will provide details as to the percentage of contracts awarded by other EU Governments outside of those countries to EU based companies in order that we can compare Ireland’s performance in this regard. [54897/12]

Tax Code

Eoghan Murphy

5. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his views on a residential scheme (details supplied). [54746/12]

Fire Service Issues

Eoghan Murphy

62. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on manning levels in Dublin City's Fire and Rescue Services (details supplied). [54751/12]

Health Services Provision

Eoghan Murphy

132. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he is planning any cuts in budget or service to CoAction West Cork in 2013. [54748/12]

Hospital Staff Issues

Eoghan Murphy

133. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health his views on a possible shortage of suitably trained nurses in hospitals here. [54749/12]

Nursing Education

Eoghan Murphy

134. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the number of nurses who have qualified here and subsequently emigrated since 2010. [54750/12]