Results 33,581-33,600 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of a directive on this matter but I will check it out and come back to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I understand where the Deputy is going with this but I am constrained by stock market rules in what I can say in this regard. What I will say is, as I said earlier, that the Government supports the concept of establishing a third banking force with sufficient scale to challenge Bank of Ireland and AIB. We have never really had that in Ireland and it would be a good thing to have it. We...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies. The list of mass vaccination centres is not exhaustive. There may be additional centres or centres that are open for a few weeks in one area and then moved to another area so that a large county can be catered for and perhaps this can include Limerick. I want to make the point very clearly that the list is not exhaustive and there may be additional centres. It is...

Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: First Stage (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Consumer Protection (Loyalty Penalty and Customer Complaints) Bill 2021: First Stage (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am glad to have this opportunity to update the House on the topic of business and Covid-19 under this new format of statements and questions and answers. I look forward to answering Deputies' questions. I am sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Troy. Although today's topic is business and Covid-19, I will also speak about how my Department is supporting employees. Covid-19...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The Minister for Finance is leading on this issue on behalf of the Government. He has been in touch, as recently as yesterday, with Ulster Bank and its parent, NatWest. He has also met with the FSU. He is keeping me, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, informed of the situation but he is the lead person for the Government on all aspects relating...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I have no doubt whatsoever that bogus self-employment is very real and is a problem in our economy and our society but it is worth pointing out that the percentage of people who are self-employed in Ireland has not changed much in recent years. There is a narrative out there that there has been a huge drift to self-employment and that more people who in the past would...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have to give the Deputy that one. The CRSS is working very well and I get very good feedback from businesses about it. It is helping them with their fixed costs. It is not the only scheme out there and there is a tourism continuity scheme for businesses that were not included. There is also a transport scheme and the new CBAS, which was only announced the other day. We should bear in...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The aviation task force report is probably pretty out of date at this stage. It involves reopening our skies and allowing people to fly again but the country has moved on from that process, which was to rely on testing. We are not relying solely on such testing any more. I say very clearly that Aer Lingus will not be allowed to fail. It is already receiving substantial financial...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy states, the future growth loan scheme is working very well. It is long-term money but it is for a particular purpose where companies want to and can expand, so they would already be doing quite well. The microfinance loan for very small businesses is also going very well. The credit guarantee scheme was not doing so well but there has been a big pick-up in the past month or...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: They are all very reasonable questions. Unfortunately, I cannot write as quickly as the Deputy can speak, so I may have missed a few of them. I will do my best to answer those I can remember. It is the case that the average interest rates on mortgages and loans in Ireland are too high, and higher than the EU average. However, they have been falling, and falling substantially in recent...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies. I recognise Deputy Farrell's ongoing interest in Aer Lingus, Dublin Airport and aviation workers in particular. As I said earlier, we are in discussions with Aer Lingus to see what we can do to make sure the airline survives the pandemic and is there to enable connectivity whenever we can get flying again. In regard to the hospitality sector, it benefits from both...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will come back to the Deputies' other points later, if I can, or in writing.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Kerry Group has been in contact with the Department. We are aware that 150 job losses are planned. They will not all take place in Naas but we will obviously be working to ensure redeployment is an option and that the number of compulsory redundancies will be minimised, if there are any at all. I had not heard the idea of Ireland becoming an EU hub for live events. It sounds like a...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: On the rates waiver issue, the Government is considering whether to extend the rates holiday into quarter 2. We will give businesses notice of that long before the Bill might arrive.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We have only had initial contact with Kerry Group but my understanding is that what is proposed is a consolidation of services across two of its sites. The group has more staff than work that needs to be done so I am not sure that saving the jobs, as such, is a possibility. Perhaps redeployment, early retirement and voluntary redundancy are possible. The objective is always to avoid...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is fair enough to state that the stay and spend scheme has not cost very much. It has not cost as much as we had believed because people have been confined to their counties or to within a radius of 5 km. The same applies to the 9% VAT rate. The hospitality sector did not benefit from that in the way we had intended. When we get to the point where hospitality businesses can reopen,...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Could the Deputy give me the name of the scheme again?