Results 34,281-34,300 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I wish to clarify what I said earlier in case I was misunderstood or I misspoke. I would not question the right of any citizen to take a case to court, whether a Deputy, a Senator or otherwise. People and companies are free to go to court and free to seek vindication of their legal rights. However, I believe there is a decency issue. When people take cases that are unnecessary or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Senator Boylan said the majority of countries representing the majority of the population had rejected it. That is not the case.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Protection (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The PQs referred to by the Deputy relate to issues on the enforcement of data protection law in this jurisdiction. I have no direct responsibility for the enforcement of data protection law. I am not in a position to comment on draft legislation in a separate jurisdiction. Having made enquiries, my officials inform me that our embassy in Washington is aware of the draft legislation and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: 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 primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: In building towards recovery, it must be recognised that not all previous jobs will return, while capacity constraints may emerge in other areas.  Fundamentally, the Government’s labour market approach is  about developing people and their potential through opportunities to reskill and upskill and supporting individuals to secure and remain in sustainable and quality...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Social Media (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I would like to re-assure the Deputy that I am aware of the genuine concerns of social media content moderators. I have previously met with them, and their representatives, and I have also raised their concerns with one of the primary social media companies, on whose behalf content moderation work is carried out. It must be emphasised that there is already, in Ireland, a strong legislative...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Protection (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is not clear whether the Deputy is referring to cyber security breaches or more generally to personal data breaches under the GDPR, which would include the inadvertent disclosure of personal data to third parties.  Since 2018 there have been no cyber security breaches of ICT systems directly controlled and managed by my Department. In that period, there was one incident where...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 my Department established a dedicated Business Supports Call Centre to provide information to business owners seeking assistance following the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. It assisted businesses in identifying the relevant business supports for which they are eligible and directing businesses on how and where to access grants, loans,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Protected Disclosures (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The table attached sets out the number of protected disclosures made to my Department in each of the past five years and to date in 2021.  I am informed by my officials that in four of these, the matters raised were not the subject of areas of responsibility of the Department and had been also separately raised with the relevant Government Department.  The nature of the protected...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together. IDA Ireland do not intend to set up an office in Israel. A request for tender for a part-time Israel based Business Development Consultant was issued on 26 April 2021. The Business Development Consultant will be expected to identify Israeli-headquartered companies with potential for investing in Ireland. IDA Ireland has not yet awarded...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Agreements (1 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 153 together. The Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement was commissioned by my Department through an open competitive tender process. The Request for Tender was published on the eTenders website and in the Official Journal of the European Union in December 2019. Five bids were received for the tender...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Economic Policy (2 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Since the start of this pandemic, the Government has provided unprecedented levels of aid to businesses aimed at ensuring that viable businesses will survive this pandemic. The Government was clear that there would be no cliff edge to this assistance and that businesses would be given as much certainty about the levels of help which will be available in the future as this pandemic allows. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (2 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My Department published ‘Making Remote Work’, the National Remote Work Strategy on January 15th, 2021. The objective of the Strategy is to ensure that remote work is a permanent feature in the Irish workplace in a way that maximises economic, social and environmental benefits. The report is built on three pillars which are bolstered by underpinning conditions. These pillars are:...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Minimum Wage (2 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Statistics on the number of persons in receipt of the minimum wage are gathered by the Central Statistics Office. Below is the latest information made available to my officials by the Central Statistics Office. In Q4 2020, 60,500 employees between 15 and 24 earned the minimum wage or lower. A further 22,400 employees between 25 and 34 earned the minimum wage or lower.  Across all age...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (2 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Since the outbreak of  COVID-19 in Ireland, Government has worked to put in place a range of loan guarantee schemes that offer access to appropriate financing to businesses as they respond to the impacts of the pandemic on their business. These include the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, which makes available up to €2 billion in lending for terms of up to five-and-a-half years....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Insurance Industry (2 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Sub-Group on Insurance Reform, under the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery & Investment, which I chair was established to oversee and drive forward insurance reform. The Action Plan for Insurance Reform was published on December 8thand sets out 66 actions across Government to bring down the cost of insurance for consumers and business. Actions for my own Department under the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Relations Commission (3 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy and colleagues for taking the third question first. I tried to get here in such a hurry that I managed to walk up to the higher level and then had to come back down again. The WRC is an independent statutory body under the aegis of my Department. It was established on 1 October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. On its establishment, sanction for 60 labour...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Relations Commission (3 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: There are 200 staff in the WRC. The number of inspectors currently sanctioned is 60. Ninety is an old figure that predates the reform of the five bodies. We merged five into two, thereby reducing some of the requirements for staff. That is not to say we will not go above 60 but the figure of 90 is no longer one we recognise. To return to what I was saying about the meat plants, I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Relations Commission (3 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not saying we do not need more labour inspectors; we may well do. I am just saying the figure of 90 is an historic one and not one that is committed to by the Government or one that is mentioned in any existing agreement with the trade unions. We anticipate that as we move out of Covid, we will be able to reduce the number of Covid-related inspections and increase the number of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Job Losses (3 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I will be very happy to work with all the local representatives in the area and on a cross-party basis on this matter. If the Deputy has any helpful leads on investors interested in the sites, I would be very happy to explore them. I thank the Deputy for his recent letter to me on job losses in the area. As I said in my reply on 20 May, I was very disappointed to...