Answered on June 11, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Taoiseach the percentage of the overall workforce that is employed in small and medium enterprises.

Reply from Minister of State, Paul Kehoe: The breakdown requested by the Deputy is included in Table 1 (right). The year 2010 is the latest reference year for which final data is available. Data from 2006 – 2010 is included for comparison purposes. 

The source of the estimates is the Business Demography series as published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are defined as follows: 
1. Small Enterprises: less than 50 persons engaged. 
2. Medium Enterprises: between 50 and 249 persons engaged.
3. Large Enterprises: greater than 250 persons engaged.

The enterprise figures quoted relate to the private business economy, which includes Industry, Construction and Services in NACE Rev 2 sectors B – N (excluding 64.20 “Activities of holding companies”). Enterprises in the Public Sector, Health, Education and Agriculture are not covered.

The following should be noted when analysing the figures provided above. The figures provided are on a “person engaged in employment” basis and not on an employee basis. The definitions used are:
1. Persons engaged, includes employees, proprietors and family members. 
2. Employees are persons who are paid a fixed wage or salary. Persons at work or temporarily absent because of illness, holidays, strike etc, are included. Persons working on a labour-only subcontract basis are excluded.
3. Proprietors and family members; included here are those proprietors (partners etc) and members of their families who work regularly in the firm and are not paid a definite wage or salary.
 
The Business Demography Press Release of 22 June 2012 is available HERE.

Answered on June 11, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the levels of immigration of non-nationals into the country in each of the past five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: EEA nationals, of which many thousands reside in the State and who are subject to EU freedom of movement legislation, are not required to seek permission to reside in the State and accordingly the immigration authorities do not maintain statistics on the numbers of such persons present here.

Non-EEA nationals, subject to certain exemptions such as persons under the age of 16, who have permission to reside in the State are obliged to register their presence in the State. Based on the figures available from the register of non-nationals, the number of non-EEA nationals granted permission to reside in the State for the first time in the period 2008 to 2012, inclusive, was 130,128.

For the purpose of context, the Deputy may wish to note that Census 2011 showed that overall Ireland’s non-Irish national population accounts for 12% of the national population or some 544,000 people, the majority being from EEA countries.

Answered on June 11, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide trade figures between Ireland and China for each of the past five years.
 
Reply from Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore: The Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Ireland compiles external trade figures for Ireland, which are available at www.cso.ie. The trade figures outlined below for China include total merchandise trade and total trade in services between Ireland and China, including Hong Kong and Macau, for the period January 2008 to December 2012.

In 2008, total bilateral trade between Ireland and China was €8,907 million (m). Total bilateral merchandise trade was valued at €6,600m; with exports worth €2,325m and imports worth €4,275m. Total bilateral trade in services was valued at €2,307m; exports were worth €1,625m and imports worth €682m.

Total bilateral trade in 2009 was valued at €7,144m; with total bilateral merchandise trade valued at €5,209m. Of this figure, €2,330m were exports and €2,879m were imports. Bilateral trade in services totalled €1,935 m; exports at €1,648m and imports at €317m. 

Total bilateral trade with China totalled €7,603m in 2010. Total bilateral merchandise trade valued €5,249m; with exports at €2,494m and imports at €2,755m. Total bilateral trade in services were valued at €2,354m with exports worth €1,943m and imports worth €411m.

In 2011, total bilateral trade with China was valued at €7,824m. Total bilateral merchandise trade was worth €5,155m with exports worth €2,453m and imports worth €2,702m. Total bilateral trade in services was worth €2,669m; exports and imports were valued at €2,471m and €325m respectively.

In 2012, total bilateral merchandise trade between Ireland and China was valued at €5,027m; exports €2,167 and imports €2,860. Figures for trade in services for this period will become available from the CSO in September of this year.

From a broader perspective, in 2012, total bilateral trade (imports to and exports from Ireland) increased by 4.7% to €318.5 billion. Total exports increased by over 5% in 2011 in nominal terms and by over 5.5% in 2012.  Exports are almost evenly divided between goods and services, with almost all of our export growth in 2012 accounted for by services exports, which grew by 11%.  This overall trend is evident in trade with China where our merchandise exports decreased in 2012; in large part due to the ‘patent cliff’ in respect of pharmaceuticals while our exports of services increased by 52% over the period 2008-2011.

Answered on June 11, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who have been deported from the State each year in the past four years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: The number of persons removed from the State on foot of Deportation Orders made under Section 3 of the Immigration Act, 1999 in respect of 2010 was 343; 280 persons were removed in 2011, 303 were removed in 2012 and 57 were removed by the end of the first quarter 2013.
 
In addition, people are refused entry into the State at airports and other ports of entry for various reasons.The number of persons removed under this category together with other persons who were transferred under the Dublin Regulation to the EU member state in which they first claimed asylum and EU nationals who were returned to their countries of origin on foot of an EU Removal Order totalled 2,876 in respect of 2010, 2,719 in respect of of 2011, 2,364 in respect of 2012 and 459 by the end of the first quarter 2013. 

Answered on June 11, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of asylum requests that were refused and were granted each year in the past five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: It is important that the asylum recognition rate not be perceived as some target to be achieved irrespective of the merits of applications. Applications for refugee status in the State are assessed at first instance by the statutory independent Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and on appeal by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal in accordance with a prescribed legal framework and exclusively on their merits having regard to their subjective and objective elements. Accordingly, the recognition rate will change from year to year, and in 2012 stood at 9%. The information the Deputy has requested is detailed in the table above.

May 30, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current number of persons incarcerated in Irish prisons; and the number for each of the last five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: I can inform the Deputy that there were 4,245 persons in custody on 27 May 2013.

A breakdown of the number of persons in custody on the same date for the previous five years is included in the above table.

May 30, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prison officers employed by the State for each of the past five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: I wish to inform the Deputy that the attached table outlines the number of Prison Officer grades (all grades, from Recruit Prison Officer to Governor level) employed by the Irish Prison Service for each of the past five years. Figures are based on whole time equivalent numbers serving on 31st December for each year:

May 30, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of retirees from the Garda Síochána from all ranks in each of the past five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: I have been informed by the Garda Commissioner that the number of members, broken down by rank,  who have retired from the force on voluntary, compulsory or other grounds,  in the years ending 31 December 2008 to 2012 and up to 30 April 2013, the latest date for which figures are readily available, is set out in the attached table.

May 30, 2013
Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Gardaí deployed to the traffic corps in each of the past five years.

Reply from Minister Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, throughout the organisation and I have no direct function in the matter. This allocation of resources is constantly monitored in the context of demographics, crime trends, policing needs and other operational strategies in place on a District, Divisional and Regional level to ensure optimum use is made of Garda resources and the best possible Garda service is provided to the public.

I have been informed by the Garda Commissioner that while all Gardaí have responsibility, inter alia, to deal with Traffic Policing issues as and when they arise, the number of personnel assigned to the Traffic Corps on 31 December 2008 to 2012 and also on 30 April 2013, the latest date for which figures are readily available, was as set out in the table hereunder: