Results 4,001-4,020 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (30 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss this with IDA Ireland but I have asked my officials to follow it up and will revert to the Deputy as soon as possible. As the Deputy is aware, there are 120 IDA supported companies in the West Region, employing 29,419 people in total. There are 94 IDA supported companies in Galway City and County, employing 22,801 in total. Ballinasloe is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: National Standards Authority of Ireland (30 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The NSAI Committee, NSAI TC 063, was and continues to be responsible for the development of I.S. 465. The table below lists companies and bodies represented on the technical committee which developed I.S. 465 in 2018 and its amendment in 2020. Chaired by retired structural engineer Association Consulting Engineers Ireland (ACEI) Cement...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (30 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: None of the state agencies under the aegis of my Department are registered as charities.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (29 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: 2021 was a record year for FDI in Ireland. IDA Ireland won 249 investments, increasing Ireland’s market share of investment into Europe in the face of global declines in FDI. The number of people directly employed in multinational companies in Ireland grew to over 275,000. FDI investment decisions were taken not only within the context of the OECD International Tax negotiations, but...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: International Agreements (28 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 129 together. As the Deputy will be aware, trade policy is a competence of the European Commission under Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and referred to as the Common Commercial Policy. The EU and Morocco established a Free Trade Area as part of the EU-Morocco Association Agreement, signed in 1996, which...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Bodies (28 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employments has 8 State Boards that come under his remit.  Details of each Board and the persons currently serving on them are set out in the attached document. Composition of State Boards

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (28 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: There are currently 1011 (974.6 FTE) staff working in my Department.  Since late February of this year, in general staff have been attending the office for two days per week.  Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were c.10 staff in a formal remote working arrangement. In addition, some staff would have had occasion to work remotely some of the time, based on the nature of their...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Expenditure (28 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the  Corporate Enforcement Agency will be formally established very shortly and will effectively subsume the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. The new Agency will have greater autonomy and flexibility in terms of the ability to recruit staff with the necessary skills mix and depth of experience  to meet the reinforced mandate of the CEA. ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (28 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The matter of IDA client companies’ recruitment methodologies and policies is not one in which my Department or IDA Ireland is directly involved. Recruitment of staff by IDA Ireland clients is governed by the relevant Irish employment legislation and regulations. Conditions contained in IDA’s Grant Agreement between the Client, and the Agency are generally related to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I will speak to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, on that issue as I am not as up-to-date on the issue as I would have been in the past. Certainly, 12 people seems a very low number. I appreciate that many consultant neurologists have doubts about the clinical efficacy of cannabis as a treatment for certain illnesses. While it is not for us to tell doctors what to prescribe...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I was in Geneva for the World Trade Organization talks last week. As the European Union negotiates on behalf of Ireland in these talks, decisions were made at European Commission level rather than at member state level. We did however manage to come to an agreement on a waiver in respect of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS. It may not be the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: To be frank, I am not fully apprised of the detail of that treaty. It probably falls under the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, so I will make sure that he knows it was raised and I will ask him to come back to Deputy Costello directly.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I concur with Deputy Bruton's remarks. Some good work is being done around the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the advocacy services linked to that. That is a very narrow area of the issue to which Deputy Bruton refers. He is talking about a wider area so I will talk to Deputy Bruton about it in more detail offline and see what we can do.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I will respond in reverse order. I thank Deputy Farrell for raising this issue. I understand that publication will happen in the next number of weeks, hopefully before the recess. In relation to Deputy Richmond who raised the real problem we have at the moment in regard to people being able to get taxis and get home safely, I am not sure there is much we can do for this weekend or for the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is not a funding issue. Funding was provided in both the national service plan in 2021 and 2022 to progress the home support management system. The Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people is aware that an IT system is an essential foundation to drive reform of home support and to make it more efficient and...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: In the distant past, I used to work in North East Doctor on Call, seeing patients in an old prefab right across from the emergency department in Navan Hospital and also the cottage in Drogheda. It was a very good service, I have to say. I think that, as much as possible, these services should operate 24-7, for reasons we will all understand. I understand this is principally a funding...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is a good idea and definitely worthy of examination. My Department has responsibility for consumer affairs and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, falls under our remit, so I will talk to my officials about that to see if there is something we can do around price monitoring. I should say that it is clear to me that the drivers of inflation are multifactorial....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I think that sometimes there is more than one solution to a problem. I very much support late-night and 24-7 public transport. The Deputy will be aware new services are coming online and for the first time we have 24-7 public transport services. Improving conditions for taxi drivers can help as well. I do not think we should rule out giving consideration to additional solutions. Like the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Almost certainly not. I have not seen a draft yet, so it is probably not completed. However, we are committed to doing it. We will try to get it done in the next few weeks. It is evident to everyone that in Ireland we need more electricity. We need it for all the new homes being built, all the new business that are being established, all the electric cars that people are going to buy and...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Jun 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage at the moment. Obviously, there is a cost to the Exchequer in raising those thresholds. It is something that will have to be considered in the context of the forthcoming budget. As the Deputy knows, I am somebody who broadly believes in the concept of indexation as a principle, not just for tax credits and tax bands, but...