Results 7,721-7,740 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Staff Data (27 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: Staffing resources are an ongoing priority to ensure my Department’s continued ability to facilitate the wide mission and volume of work in a range of challenging policy areas. This will continue with ongoing day-to-day review of the appropriate staffing mix across my Department in response to known and probable priority areas. My Department liaises directly with the Public...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Missions (28 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen T.D. led a five-day Trade Mission to Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain.  This was one of the largest trade missions to the Middle East and is part of Enterprise Ireland’s market diversification strategy to expand the Irish export footprint and increase Irish company exports to...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Legislative Programme (28 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The Government approved the priority drafting of a Bill on the basis of the General Scheme of the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill 2018 on 4 December 2018. The Bill is one of the main actions in the Government’s package of “Measures to enhance Ireland’s corporate, economic and regulatory framework”, published in November 2017. It will establish the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Foreign Direct Investment (28 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: Ireland continues to perform strongly in terms of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).  There are now over 229,000 people employed in IDA Ireland client companies. Last year alone IDA Ireland won 265 projects, compared with 237 in 2017.  Within this figure, a record number of 134 were from new companies investing in Ireland for the first time, which represented an...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Expenditure (28 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: My Department and its offices have attended the National Ploughing Championships, over the years 2016 to 2019, to engage with the public and promote various aspects of our work. These included the Finance for Growth Unit, SME Policy Unit, Enterprise Agencies Unit, Employment Permits Unit, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Patents Office. The presence of these staff, on a rotational...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Research Funding (28 Nov 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is a €500 million fund established under Project Ireland 2040 and forms a key part in the delivery of the Pillar 1 goal of Future Jobs Ireland to embrace innovation and technological change. The DTIF has been established under the responsibility of my Department with Enterprise Ireland providing administrative support. The first...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Personal Injuries Commission (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. During its 18 month work programme, which concluded in July 2018, the Personal Injuries Commission, PIC, delivered two reports with 14 recommendations. The first report of PIC, published in December 2017, made four recommendations. The first recommendation was the adoption of a standardised approach to the examination of personal injuries. The...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Personal Injuries Commission (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I am, as I know the Deputy is, very aware of the serious impact of high insurance costs, particularly liability insurance, for businesses and consumers. We as a Government are using every lever at our disposal to bring down insurance costs. We have done a huge amount of work and I expect all of this work will pay dividends. The Judicial Council Act has passed, which means that once the new...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Personal Injuries Commission (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The Chief Justice is doing what he can to identify the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the judicial council and its relevant committees can hit the ground running once established. I expect that the council will be set up next year. As I understand it, it should be done very quickly because the law is passed and everything is in place. The Deputy is right about the PIAB. We...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: IDA Ireland Jobs Data (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Creating high-quality, well-paid and secure jobs, whether in indigenous or overseas firms, has been a top priority of mine ever since becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation. The multinational sector in Ireland continues to thrive, with new jobs being created in sectors including information and communications technologies,...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: IDA Ireland Jobs Data (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The average salary figure of €66,000 per annum I have given the Deputy is calculated using my Department's annual business survey of economic impact, which entails consulting with up to 4,200 companies across the country. However, neither my Department nor IDA Ireland has access to comprehensive information on the pay scales or salary levels within multinational companies in Ireland....

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: IDA Ireland Jobs Data (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I am not familiar with the particular case the Deputy mentioned so I do not want to comment on it. However, FDI companies make a huge contribution. I only visited WuXi Biologics outside Dundalk three weeks ago. That company announced 200 new jobs in addition to the 400 jobs already announced. There will be 600 high-quality jobs in the biopharma space right on the Border in Dundalk. There...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: IDA Ireland Jobs Data (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I just want to tell the Deputy how important FDI is, especially in the Border region. She should go and look at that site. The development taking place there is amazing. Some 2,000 people will be employed on the site come January in light of the work due to be carried out. They will be 600 high quality jobs and staff from throughout the region - Cavan, Monaghan, Meath and Louth - will...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I launched the OECD review of SME and entrepreneurship policy in Ireland with the Minister of State, Deputy Breen, and the Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, on 31 October 2019. The report is pivotal research on the current environment for SMEs and entrepreneurship in Ireland, the scale of which has not previously been undertaken. I am working with my...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The OECD laid out a number of recommendations and we will develop the strategy. For example, only 6% of our SMEs export but we want to double the number as quickly as possible. We will scale up the training online voucher programme for SMEs, expand the exporter development department of Enterprise Ireland, EI, which assists companies, and beef up InterTradeIreland's grant support and...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I am a great supporter of the LEOs, as is my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Breen. They have done great work. We increased their budget by €5 million in budget 2019 and have introduced a number of new funds. In July, I announced two funds for the LEOs, one of which was a €2.5 million competitive fund, for which there were 16 successful projects. It was up to the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. While I am aware of the work of the task force on climate-related financial disclosures, TFCD, set up on the recommendation of the Financial Stability Board of the G20, I have not had any direct engagement with this group. My understanding is that the group has developed voluntary climate-related financial disclosures, recommended to complement the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The enterprise sector has been tasked with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10% to 15% by 2030. The climate action plan identified that the largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be realised in the cement and food and beverage industries. An uptake of 80% in the cement industry in using alternative fuels, such as waste, combined with an 80% uptake in a switch from oil to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: The enterprise agencies are focused on the transition to a green economy. Future Jobs Ireland is one of the ways we can help businesses transition to a low-carbon economy. If we examine some of the supports that enterprise agencies are rolling out, whether it is IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland, we can see programmes and initiatives such as lean-green, which encourages businesses to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Rights (3 Dec 2019)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Deering for raising this matter. As Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I understand the growing importance of promoting a good work-life balance for employees as new ways of working emerge. This is addressed under pillar 4 of our Future Jobs Ireland strategy. Pillar 4 is focused on increasing participation in the labour force as this will lead to the more...