Results 36,561-36,580 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: IDA markets Carlow as part of the South East region for FDI investment. There are 4 FDI companies in Carlow with a combined employment of 1,477. In 2021, 178 new jobs were created in Carlow. In response to COVID related global travel restrictions, IDA migrated many of its business development and client engagement activities to digital platforms during 2020 and 2021. As part of this,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Prices (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is acutely aware of the difficulties businesses have faced over the past number of years with the necessary COVID-19 restrictions and now with the increased cost of living and in particular energy costs. The Government has already implemented measures to help ease the impact on enterprises of rising energy costs, including a temporary reduction in the excise duties charged,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Right to Request Remote Working Bill is part of a broader Government vision to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all – economically, socially and environmentally. The Right to Request Remote Working Bill will, for the first time, provide a legal framework around which requesting, approving or refusing a request for...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: National Minimum Wage (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland has a well-established system for setting the minimum wage, based on the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, and this system works well. Since its establishment in 2015, the Low Pay Commission has delivered six consecutive annual increases in the minimum wage. The national minimum wage has increased from €8.65 per hour to €10.50 per hour between 2016 and 2022,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Balanced regional development is a priority of mine and this Government. The Government, through Enterprise Ireland, has provided over €126m in funding through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, Border Enterprise Development Fund, and Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme to assist enterprise development and regional jobs growth across all regions.These Funds enable significant...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Rights of People with Disabilities (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department is progressing a range of actions to promote the inclusion of people with a disability in the workforce. These actions cover issues such as Workplace Relations Commission referrals referencing disability grounds, the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s Excellence Though People certification scheme, and Enterprise Ireland’s (EI) collaboration with the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware that Irish businesses have faced dual-challenges from Brexit and Covid, and that many are still at an early stage in understanding and mitigating their climate impact. For this reason, my Department has been working hard to assist enterprises understand their environmental impact, set clear climate targets and broaden their knowledge of the measures available to achieve them....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Job Creation (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department compiles official statistics on clients of the enterprise development agencies only. For enterprise agency client companies (Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta clients) there was a net increase of 2,815 jobs in the Financial Services Sector between 2019 and 2021. This represents a percentage increase of 8.3% in the two years to 2021. The total...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cost of Living Issues (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is understandable that workers are concerned about the rising costs they are seeing and experiencing currently. The impact of rising prices is not unique to Ireland, and is facing all major economies around the world. The Government has been proactive in limiting the fallout from higher rates of inflation. Budget 2022 contained a large range of measures to protect households from the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Staff (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The number of instances associated with persons within my Department that received special leave with pay for COVID-19, set out in the categories requested by the Deputy is as follows: Numbers up to 1 July 2022 291 Numbers for an extended period of 12 weeks or more 1 Numbers since 1 July 2022 37 Numbers...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Labour Market (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 159 together. When we launched the Economic Recovery Planlast year, we set a goal of achieving 2.5 million people in employment by 2024. The Plan not only aimed to recover employment lost during the pandemic but to promote new employment opportunities through increased labour market activation and by accelerating the provision of training, reskilling...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Small and Medium Enterprises (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is very aware of the economic challenge of escalating prices, in particular energy prices, and has put in place measures to assist businesses, including small and medium enterprises. I and my Department are working with Minister Ryan, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and across Government, to manage our response to the energy situation as it...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cost of Living Issues (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The top competitiveness challenge facing enterprise today is the high inflation environment and rising input prices. Many small and medium businesses around the country are seeing their margins squeezed by the rising costs of doing business, and in particular the significant increases in energy costs. The Wholesale Price Index for energy products rose by almost 78 per cent in the year to July...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cost of Living Issues (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The top competitiveness challenge facing enterprise today is the high inflation environment and rising input prices. Many small and medium businesses around the country are seeing their margins squeezed by the rising costs of doing business, and in particular the significant increases in energy costs. The Wholesale Price Index for energy products rose by almost 78 per cent in the year to July...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland’s reputation as an attractive location for FDI has remained strong, as evidenced by IDA Ireland’s 2022 mid-year results. Ireland won 155 investments up to the end of the second quarter this year, exceeding both 2021 and 2019 investment levels by 9% and 10% respectively, with total investments having an associated employment potential of over 18,000 jobs. Despite this...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The international call centre industry is an important sector in Ireland. Customer experience operations have been a significant employer in Ireland since the 1980s, and in 2019 it was estimated that approximately 56,000 people were employed in this sector. In recent years it has evolved from traditional call centres to language and technology-based customer interaction and customer...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (15 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department published the National Remote Work Strategy on January 15th, 2021. The Strategy identified 15 actions to ensure that remote work is a permanent feature in the Irish workplace in a way that maximises its economic, social and environmental benefits. My Department led the implementation of the Strategy’s actions through an Interdepartmental Group. The Interdepartmental Group...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Transport (20 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I can confirm to the Deputy that neither my Department, or any of the Offices or Agencies under its remit, own any vehicles so the question is not relevant to our specific business operations. 

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Reports (20 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Details of currently ongoing studies, reviews and research projects undertaken or commissioned by my Department are set out in the table below. Study/Review/Research Project Anticipated Date for Completion Report on the Future of the Irish Retail Sector October 2022 Audit of the Small Business Assistance Scheme for Covid ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (21 Sep 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) has been operating a number of Loan Schemes for my Department throughout 2022, that require approval of an eligibility code from SBCI for accessing the scheme. The €800 million Future Growth Loan Scheme closed to new applications in early May 2022, as lending capacity had been reached across all lenders, so it is unlikely that...