Results 221-240 of 5,844 for speaker:Alan Dillon

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: Social enterprises are an important and growing part of Ireland’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, creating jobs and stimulating local economic activity and are recognised as an integral part of Ireland’s broad enterprise policy landscape. Responsibility for social enterprise is within the remit of the Department of Rural and Community Development. There are a wide range of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Inquiries (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: Ireland operates a managed, vacancy-led employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. This approach complements the policy objective of Government to upskill the resident population at all levels. Where specific skills prove difficult to source within the European Economic Area (EEA), and where the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Inquiries (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: My Department’s new Portal-based employment permits IT system – ‘Employment Permits Online’ was launched on the 28th April 2025. The previous employment permit service utilised older technologies which were no longer fit for purpose. The new modern cloud-based system will transform the way in which employment permits are submitted, processed and issued. It will...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: Ireland operates a managed, vacancy-led employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. This approach complements the policy objective of Government to upskill the resident population at all levels. Where specific skills prove difficult to source within the European Economic Area (EEA), and where the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Inquiries (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: The Employment Permits Act 2024 introduced a provision that allows a permit holder to change a pending application from a general employment permit to a critical skills employment permit. This provision reduces the administrative burden on both the department and users of the system by eliminating the need for re-submitting of applications in this situation. This change is part of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Inquiries (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: While the Employment Permits Act 2024 introduced a provision that allows a permit holder to change a pending application from a general employment permit to a critical skills employment permit, it is not permitted to make such a change once a permit has been issued. A new application would be required in that case. The Department's website provides information on applying for an employment...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: This Government is fully committed to supporting workers. Legislation in this area is kept under active review to reflect national and international developments, including at European Union, Court of Justice, and International Labour Organisation level. Measures taken since 2020 include the following:The Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 was published on 1 April 2025 and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (29 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: Ireland operates a managed, vacancy-led employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. This approach complements the policy objective of Government to upskill the resident population at all levels. Where specific skills prove difficult to source within the European Economic Area (EEA), and where the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Arts Policy (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: I again thank the Deputy for raising this important Topical Issue matter this evening. I will certainly relay his comments to the Minister. I am encouraged by what the Deputy said about the importance of the youth culture card. Every organisation providing a range of programmes, events and resources for young people, including both in-person and online events, needs to be supported. ...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Arts Policy (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for arts, Deputy O'Donovan. Having worked with the Deputy on the tourism and arts committee for five years during the previous Dáil term, I know how important this issue is and what a champion Deputy Byrne is for the arts and cultural sector. What he has raised today is significant and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: The regulation of textiles has become a priority focus for the EU in recent years. There are two significant pieces of relevant legislation in development or recently implemented. First, since 1 January 2025, the waste framework directive requires all member states to have a separate collection system for textiles. Ireland's system consists of a network of local authority and charity bring...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: I acknowledge the Deputy’s work with Liberty Recycling. Since January of this year, Ireland has understood and tried to transpose the EU law that is required by every member state. We currently have a system in place for the separation and collection of textiles, and the bring banks are a significant part of that. I understand that significant improvements are required. I am aware...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: As I said in my earlier contribution, we have drafted the national policy statement and roadmap for circular textiles, which will be important in supporting the transition. That will soon go out to consultation. On the Deputy’s point, we have a real challenge around fast fashion and how we address it. The current system needs to be enhanced. We need to continue to work with local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: I thank the Deputy for the question. The programme for Government acknowledges the increased energy cost pressures on households and businesses, and aims to bring forward a number of measures to help contain energy costs. These include bringing forward taxation measures to help contain energy costs. We have established a cross-government energy affordability task force to identify, assess...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: I thank the Deputy. I disagree with his comment that data centres create only a few jobs. The role that data centres play in the economy is significant for large tech and foreign direct investment, FDI. We will continue to support our commitment to working with key stakeholders in that area, including the IDA, to identify and support new approaches. That is important. We need to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: The Deputy needs to consider that the tech investment going into these data centres and the AI revolution is leading the way around renewable energy solutions.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: Ireland needs to be to the fore in this regard. We all know that AI will unlock opportunities to produce solutions-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: -----to energy and efficiency measures. We are certainly committed and have said that we will ensure we have clear principles for sustained data centre development. We published our statement on the role of data centres in Ireland's enterprise strategy. We want clearer guidance for decision makers in the planning process. We also want to encourage the data centre sector to implement...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: There has been a commonality in People Before Profit to demonise data centres. I just saw the Deputy using her phone. Phones are central to everything data centres present around AI and online storage. They are critical to the infrastructure of a modern economy in Ireland. We will continue to deliver a balanced approach to facilitate additional demand for energy by data centres. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Apr 2025)

Alan Dillon: To address the Deputy's first point, AI is the technology of the future. To say it has no relevance to us trying to reach our climate targets-----