Results 32,041-32,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Health and Safety Authority (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 155 together. The staff of the Health and Safety Authority is comprised of both administration and inspector grades. The inspector grades comprise of Grade I (senior inspectors) as well as GII and GIII inspectors. Inspectors operate across all mandates of the Health and Safety Authority including occupational health and safety and market surveillance...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 156 together. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s core services include the inspection of employment rights compliance, the provision of information, adjudicating on complaints under...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Trade Agreements (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: In January 2020, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, commissioned independent consultancy firm, Implement Consulting, to undertake an Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the EU-Mercosur Agreement following a competitive tender process. The ESIA will consist of two equally important and complementary components, namely...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Work Permits (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. The system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Sick Pay Scheme (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Industrial relations are based on voluntarism. The Minister has no power to compel parties to engage with one another. Should parties wish to explore collective bargaining in an impartial environment the conciliation services of the WRC are available. I have publicly stated my intention to establish a Statutory Sick Pay Scheme in full consultation with employers and unions. This will...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Job Losses (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland’s employment rights frameworks are horizontal, meaning that any statutory employment right must protect all workers and cannot discriminate on a sectoral or other basis, such as where a person lives. Ireland has a comprehensive body of employment legislation, in respect of which the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is mandated to secure compliance, and we have a strong...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Enterprise Ireland (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is a €500 million fund, running from 2018 to 2027, established as part of the National Development Plan under Project Ireland 2040. It is administered by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of my Department. The Fund is available for collaborative projects seeking investment in the development and deployment of disruptive innovative...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: EU Directives (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has not incurred any costs in relation to fines for non-transposition of EU directives into Irish law.

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Industrial Development (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The property that the Deputy is referring to is not owned by IDA Ireland. However, the Agency has included this building in its database of available property solutions for prospective clients looking to invest or expand in County Kerry. More generally, County Kerry has witnessed a number of significant announcements from IDA client companies in recent years including investments from...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Action Plan for Jobs (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Building on the extensive enterprise and employment supports that had already been deployed, the €7.4 billion July Stimulus Package was, as promised, a package of measures of sufficient scale that demonstrates the commitment this Government has to stand behind enterprises, limit the damage to our economy wreaked by this pandemic and get our people back to work. Indeed, it is bigger in...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Credit Guarantee Scheme (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Announced as part of the Government’s suite of supports for businesses that have been negatively impacted as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ireland, the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme will facilitate up to €2 billion in lending to eligible businesses. The Scheme offers a partial Government guarantee (80%) to participating finance providers against losses on qualifying...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Small and Medium Enterprises (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government introduced the July Stimulus €7bn package of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, the pandemic unemployment payment for the self-employed, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst SMEs. Full details on all COVID-19 supports for business are...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Company Liquidations (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Debenhams is a court-supervised liquidation, subject to oversight of the High Court and accordingly is sub judice. Under the Companies Act 2014, I have no power to intervene in a court-supervised liquidation. Similarly, the Government cannot intervene with a liquidator, who has a statutory duty to realise assets and distribute to creditors in accordance with the law and who reports to the...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The July Jobs Stimulus Plan announced by the Government contains a suite of tax, loan and expenditure measures designed to directly support business at all levels of the economy that are negatively impacted by Covid-19. The Stimulus Plan includes a number of fiscal measures which have been set out in the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No.2) Bill 2020, published in August 2020. The Tax...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Contracts (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has not engaged a third-party company to conduct online and-or social media monitoring and-or provide reports on social media coverage of my Department in each of the years from 2017 to date.

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Staff (6 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The number of staff on sick leave in my Department between March and September by month in 2019 and 2020 and the number of sick days accounted for by my Department by month over the period are set out in tabular form below. The total number of sick leave days accounted for in the period March to September 2019 is 7384 and for the same period in 2020 is 4077. MONTH YEAR...

Brexit and Business: Statements (7 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am grateful for the opportunity to address Members on the important topic of Brexit and business. The date of 31 December 2020 is drawing in and this signals a major change for Irish businesses doing business with the UK as it exits the EU Single Market and the customs union. Businesses that move goods from or through Great Britain will be subject to a range of customs formalities,...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Third Level Institutions (7 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The main purpose of this Code of Practice is to provide guidance to employers, employees and their representatives on the general principles which apply in the operation of grievance and disciplinary procedures and the promotion of best practice in giving effect to such procedures. While the Code outlines the principles of fair procedures for employers and employees generally, it is of...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Third Level Institutions (7 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The main purpose of this Code of Practice is to provide guidance to employers, employees and their representatives on the general principles which apply in the operation of grievance and disciplinary procedures and the promotion of best practice in giving effect to such procedures. While the Code outlines the principles of fair procedures for employers and employees generally, it is of...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (7 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I understand this is a difficult time for many businesses, especially those heavily impacted by the crisis who are facing an uncertain future. I know that some firms are concerned about how they are going to continue to pay the rent due for their business premises. Throughout this crisis, the Government has been encouraging commercial tenants and landlords to engage with each other and have...