Results 35,701-35,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Support Services (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Through my Department's participation in the Hospitality and Tourism Forum, I am fully aware that recruitment continues to be a significant challenge for the tourism and hospitality sectors, with up to two-thirds of businesses reporting reduced capacity due to staff shortages. The Forum was established in late 2020 to provide a platform for structured engagement between the sectors with...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Regional Aid is an enhanced form of State aid that can be provided to Irish enterprises in economically disadvantaged areas. It helps Irish enterprises to grow and expand and assists in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country. Within my Department, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland grant Regional Aid, amongst other valuable forms of assistance. Since 2014 there has...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Official Engagements (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 60 together. I visited Saudi Arabia from 13 – 15 November 2021 as part of an Enterprise Ireland-led trade mission to the Gulf. I held a number of meetings in Saudi Arabia including the Saudi Minister for Commerce, the Saudi Minister for Investment, and the Saudi Minister for Transport. I also had meetings with the President of the Saudi...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Programme for Government makes the commitment to "progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government.” I have spoken before about how the pandemic has caused many of us to reconsider and re-evaluate what an essential worker is. We now understand that it is a much broader group of workers than people would have originally described, many of whom are on low pay and in the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department regularly explores ways to assist businesses and to create an environment that stimulates their growth. This includes potentially methods which may prove useful to enterprises such as the possibility of an export credit insurance scheme. A state supported export credit insurance scheme should only be considered where private sector insurance is unavailable and where there is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department published 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. My Department led the implementation of the Strategy’s 15 actions through an Interdepartmental Group. There has been significant...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Missions (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Each year, Enterprise Ireland offers a programme of trade missions and events which support the goal of securing high-level market access for companies based in Ireland who are aiming to grow business overseas and increase domestic employment. In recent years the majority of Ministerial-led Trade Missions have taken place to the Eurozone, North America and Asia Pacific, which...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: State Properties (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The agencies of my Department do not own any land banks that could be used for the provision of housing. IDA Ireland operates a dynamic portfolio of strategic land banks as the availability of an adequate supply of marketable, serviced land and office/industrial buildings is a key element in Ireland's ability to compete for mobile Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The availability of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Economic Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) reports to the Taoiseach and the Government, through myself as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on key competitiveness and productivity issues facing the Irish economy and offers recommendations on policy actions required to enhance Ireland’s competitive position. On 21 September 2021, the NCPC published...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Economic Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s Economic Recovery Plan, published on 1 June 2021, set out renewed supports, investments and policies to underpin economic recovery and transition, including the overarching ambition of having 2.5 million people in work by 2024. This is a medium-term employment target to grow employment and crucially to ensure that these jobs are more productive, innovative, resilient...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Prices (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Wholesale and retail energy costs, electricity and natural gas, have risen significantly over the past year, primarily driven by the market price for natural gas internationally. The global natural gas price spiked in December, and has been volatile since, due to a combination of international geopolitical factors, lower-than-usual reserves, and regional supply chain and weather issues. ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: On 25 January the Government approved the priority drafting of the Right to Request Remote Working Bill 2022. I carried out a public consultation in April 2021 and there was significant engagement, which included submissions from both employer and trade union representative groups. I have also been updating the employer and trade union representative groups on the legislation through the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme has been operating since September 2020 and during that time up to the end of 2021, a total of €617 million in loans has been drawn or approved by over 8,800 businesses, maintaining over 63,000 jobs. Businesses which have been most impacted by the effects of COVID-19 are drawing the most loans; the wholesale and retail sector, the accommodation and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Legislative Measures (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 (No 5 of 2022) was published on 24 January 2022. The Bill will provide clarity on the meaning of tips, gratuities and service charges; place tips and gratuities outside the scope of a person’s contractual wages; oblige employers to display prominently their policy on the distribution of both cash and card tips; and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Regional Development (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Regional enterprise development and sustainable job creation is a key policy priority of mine and the Government and is a core element of the National Development Plan. My Department plays a very strong part in implementing that policy goal through a variety of policy initiatives and investments in the regions. Future employment growth and sustainability requires a major focus on...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Over the last three years, IDA Ireland has supported several initiatives and programmes in its aviation client base in Shannon. Government support has helped to retain employment as the impact of the global pandemic hit the global aviation industry and aviation-related companies in Shannon. By targeting training and R&D, as well as other initiatives, through IDA Ireland the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The timely provision of appropriate, innovative, and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions that meets the needs of MNCs remains essential to winning FDI. IDA Ireland’s regional property programme aims to ensure availability of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations for current and prospective clients of both IDA and Enterprise Ireland. Over the last 5...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I was happy to see that IDA Ireland won 249 investments during 2021, with 104 new name investments showing that the confidence of investors in Ireland remains strong.The number of people directly employed in multinational companies in Ireland grew to 275,384, this is the highest level of foreign direct investment employment ever achieved. The creation of more than 29,000 new jobs during the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland continues to be an attractive location for foreign direct investment, with strong FDI results in 2020 and in 2021, despite COVID-19 and a downturn in global FDI. In 2021 IDA won 249 investments, 104 of which were new name investments. The number of people directly employed in MNCs in Ireland grew to 275,384, with over 29,000 new jobs being created by the sector in 2021. These...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (10 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Programme for Government makes the commitment to "progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government.” I have spoken before about how the pandemic has caused many of us to reconsider and re-evaluate what an essential worker is. We now understand that it is a much broader group of workers than people would have originally described, many of whom are on low pay and in the...