Results 1,641-1,660 of 14,528 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Official Engagements (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: On 19th of April I was proud to host Digital Ministers from the D9+ group of advanced digital member States, together with my colleague Minister Ossian Smyth, at a plenary meeting in Dublin Castle where we shared experiences in implementing the suite of groundbreaking EU digital rules which will set the guardrails for the digital economy in Europe. The meeting was the central event of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: The EU Artificial Intelligence Act was adopted at the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Telecoms Council) two days ago, Tuesday 21st May, and is expected to enter into force next month. Its various provisions will apply, in a phased manner, over the subsequent 36 months. This is a pioneering Act, the first comprehensive regulation addressing the risks that can arise from...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: To support the implementation of the National AI Strategy, an AI Advisory Council has been established, chaired by Dr. Patricia Scanlon. The Council’s function is to provide independent expert advice to Government on artificial intelligence policy, with a specific focus on building public trust and promoting the development of trustworthy, person-centred AI. Its first role is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Data (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: My Department continues to ensure that appropriate supports are available to businesses in Ireland throughout their lifecycle. Last week, I announced that the Government had agreed a range of measures with the aim of reducing costs for small and medium sized businesses. These measures represent agreement from across government on the need to support our SMEs and are central to our ability to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Insurance Industry (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: My Department has been involved in the Action Plan for Insurance Reform from the beginning. The actions that have been allocated to my Department under the Action Plan are: As part of the Sub-Group of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment to agree and publish an Action Plan, As part of the Sub-Group of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment to make a...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: Go raibh maith ag an gCathaoirleach. Gabhaim buíochas leis agus leis an gcoiste as a gcuid ama ar maidin. I thank the Chairman for making committee time available to further progress the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024. My then colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond had a very good debate on Second Stage in the Dáil. From looking at that debate, I...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: Subject to correction from Ms Greene, that is normal process, in that the board would get recommendations from the Public Appointments Service, PAS, after it has done its work. The Public Appointments Service-----

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: Yes. The board will be given names and the recommendation for appointment will be given to the board-----

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: Yes. It is a technical thing, but PAS would have the ball.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: Yes.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I am confident that the provisions as outlined in section 13D(2) are quite restrictive. Any proceeding that is "before a court or tribunal" is pretty tightly reined in terms of the words. That is the only thing that the chief executive officer of the day "shall not be required to give an account before an Oireachtas Committee". That would have to be live proceedings before a court or...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I am confident-----

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I am confident that it cannot be. It is also important that the board, even though it is formally appointed by the Minister, will be selected through the public appointments process as well. I will ask the officials to examine it again and make sure it is as tight as possible ahead of Report Stage.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: We certainly do not want any civil or public servant not to be able to be accountable to an Oireachtas committee. They must be.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: In terms of the highlights, a flavour of which I gave earlier, since 2012, just over 5,000 loans issued, at €83.5 million, supporting 10,000 jobs. In terms of sectors, which is probably interesting, 20% of loans were in wholesale and retail, 11% were in manufacturing, 10% were in other services and 9% were in professional, scientific and tech. A total of 42% of approvals were to...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I would absolutely support that. The recent changes we have announced, such as increasing the loan ability to up to €50,000, will help businesses and increase their capacity. The figure €25,000 was good ten years ago but it needed to be changed. To give the Deputy some more information on the bad-debt level, in 2020, during Covid, it was 31%, whereas in 2023, it was down to...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: It is not where I want it to be, by any means. We tend to land Microfinance Ireland into emergency situations and people have not heard about it. This year, we will introduce the enterprise hub, that is, the one-stop shop where people will be able to go to get all the supports, and bringing it into the Department will allow us to do that. Second, in respect of the increase in its ability...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: To an extent, the LEO system is a different beast, even though it is a partner with MFI. Furthermore, it is worth acknowledging this is the tenth year of the LEOs, a significant year. To go back to Deputy Stanton's point, which is aligned with that of Deputy Shanahan, we have a lot more work to do to promote the work of MFI. One aspect that has changed is that on the body’s...