Results 3,461-3,480 of 4,720 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (21 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together. I have not had any engagement or received any correspondence on this matter, but I appreciate that this is a difficult situation for those workers affected. Statutory and contractual employment terms apply in relation to the payment of wages. Failure to pay all or part of the wages due to an employee is considered an unlawful deduction...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Agreements (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Since the Ministerial Conference in June 2022, the WTO TRIPS Council held discussions on whether to extend the ‘Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement’ to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. However, no consensus could be reached by WTO Member States by the mandated deadline of the 17th December 2022. Acting on a request from Member...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices have an allocation of €47.78m for 2023. This represents the same core allocation as the 2022 budget but provides an additional €4m in capital funding to pilot both the extension of the LEOs mandate to grant-aid firms with over 10 employees in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors and the introduction of the Small Firms'...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications. Any planned or future schemes are a matter for the SEAI and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. The SEAI schemes currently operational are in the table below. SEAI Scheme Description Budget 2023 ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 57 together. The Small Firms Investment in Energy Efficiency scheme was announced in Budget 2023. The objective of the scheme is to support capital investment by businesses to reduce carbon emissions based on energy efficiency projects. The rationale of the scheme would be to support companies to reduce their carbon emissions and overall energy...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices' (LEO) Lean for Micro is available to help build resilience within small companies. Under this programme, clients can avail of consultancy support with a LEAN Expert (a qualified practitioner), who will work with the company to introduce lean principles, undertake a specific cost savings project and assist the company in benchmarking its performance. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices' (LEO) Green for Micro is open to all micro enterprises with fewer than ten employees. Qualifying businesses will access two days of intensive mentoring including a sustainability audit and action plan, designed to help "green" their business. This programme offers free advice and technical support on resource efficiency, how to better understand their carbon...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: In November 2022 the Government agreed to extend the mandate of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) to provide grant aid to firms in manufacturing and internationally traded services employing more than 10 but no more than 50 full time employees. The extension of the mandate will ensure a continuation of support for enterprises that have grown to ten or more employees, as appropriate to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Both the Business Continuity Voucher and the Micro Enterprise Assistance Fund were introduced as temporary emergency supports in 2020 to help businesses in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 and therefore only received a budget allocation in 2020. The primary aim of the Business Continuity Voucher scheme was to support companies to make informed decisions on the immediate measures...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Funding (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Ireland has significantly grown its investment in the European Space Agency (ESA) in recent years in line with the National Strategy for Space Enterprise 2019 – 2025, which seeks to build an economically sustainable and expanding space-active industry, delivering quality jobs for the economy of tomorrow. The supplementary estimate referred to in the Deputy’s question is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Restart Grant Scheme and its successor Restart Grant Plus Scheme were operational in 2020. It was launched in May 2020 and closed for applications on 31stOctober 2020. The 31 local authorities who operated the scheme received a total of 123,185 applications, of which 108,489 were successful. Overall Scheme cost was €632.4m, provided from the Department’s 2020 Vote. Of this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Deputy for her kind welcome. Consistency is not a bad thing in life. From the outset, I can confirm that I have read Mandate's report, Smoke and Mirrors: The Facts About Retail Workers' Incomes in Ireland. Indeed, Mandate raised it with me directly when I met them a week prior to its publication. We had a discussion then and we have had subsequent discussions via email and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The review will be quick, but most importantly it will be thorough. We are dealing with legislation that was described as groundbreaking by Mandate when it was introduced. We owe it the duty of care to make sure there is a thorough review that addresses real, statistical issues. The report is very welcome and there is a lot of interesting data in it, but it must also be looked at in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Very briefly, there is not much difference here between the Deputy and me, which is welcome. The workers will appreciate that politicians from all corners are here to try to get better conditions for them and to work with employers to make it sustainable. There is not low pay in the retail sector, because the average is €17 per hour, but there is an issue with hours. That is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I understand the Deputy has already engaged quite a bit with the Department in relation to this Bill, which is very welcome and I encourage that going forward. As the Deputy is aware, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment met in public session on 25 January to discuss detailed scrutiny of the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: As I said, serious concerns with the Bill were raised by my predecessor, and those concerns remain. While we are sympathetic to the plight and the case of the individuals who have been involved in drafting the Bill, many of whom I met as both a Senator and a Deputy, whether because they are my constituents or because they are members of other representative groups, there are several serious...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: As outlined, I have met the groups previously in my capacities as a Senator and a Deputy, and I would be more than willing to meet them again with the Deputy. There are serious concerns about this approach and the serious impact it would have on the industrial relations mechanism. It is in all our interest to work towards a solution relatively quickly, and I am prepared to do that with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Minimum Wage (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The minimum wage for those aged 19 and under is less than the minimum wage for those aged 20 and over, given that sub-minimum, or age-based, pay rates are in force. The latest figures available from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, using the labour force survey quarter 3 of 2022, show that there are an estimated 91,000 employees aged between 16 and 19. Of these, the CSO estimates 19,600...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Minimum Wage (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: It is a combined response to this question and the previous one. We both have to be careful in our language when we are talking about reports or anecdotal evidence versus empirical evidence. We do not want people to go out thinking that this is used across any sector, retail or otherwise, as suggested in terms of lower pay and the way hours are being allocated. There have been some reports...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Minimum Wage (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Deputy knows all the arguments from the Low Pay Commission as well as I do. She knows the reasoning as to why this was introduced in the first place. She knows what the response would be to the points she has made about other jurisdictions that have changed this. What I will repeat is that the Low Pay Commission has been asked to look at the matter by the previous Minister. It will...