Results 7,921-7,940 of 8,320 for speaker:Peter Burke

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: State Bodies (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: Regional development is a key element of the Government's enterprise policy, as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise, and is a key focus of the work of my Department and our Enterprise Development Agencies. In that regard, regional development is a strategic imperative for the IDA which is committed to the pursuit of balanced, compact regional development and is targeting 550 of a total...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Conservation (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) is available through the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). There are 31 LEOs across the country, each of which provides an extremely important role at local level as part of a supportive ecosystem. They provide services directly to small businesses, promote entrepreneurship, and contribute to the growth of jobs in the locality. I would strongly encourage...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Conservation (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) Scheme and the Power Up grant paid out over €400 million to SMEs in 2024. My Department is aware of issues that have arisen during the registration period, in particular, in relation to businesses that were ineligible for the grant due to incorrect classification of their business type while registering for ICOB. The Department is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Meetings (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's MinMAC comprises the Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, both Ministers of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, members of the Department's Management Board and, as required, other Department officials. Since taking office in January of this year, there has been one meeting of the Department's MinMAC,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) Scheme and the Power Up grant paid out over €400 million to SMEs in 2024. My Department is aware of issues that have arisen during the registration period, in particular, in relation to businesses that were ineligible for the grant due to incorrect classification of their business type while registering for ICOB. The Department is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Early Childhood Care and Education (2 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: A Joint Labour Committee (JLC) is an independent body made up of equal numbers of employer and worker representatives. A JLC sets the employment conditions and minimum rates of pay for employees in a certain sector. The role of a JLC is set out in the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012. JLCs are independent in their functions. If a JLC adopts proposals for an Employment Regulation...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (3 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: I fully recognise concerns raised by Irish authors and their representative bodies regarding the use of work by a Tech company in training generative AI models without author consent. I understand that a legal challenge by authors against a company is ongoing in the US District Court of Northern California in relation to its use of LibGen, a pirated database of copyrighted material, to...

Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025: Second Stage (8 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025. Before I go through the main provisions of the Bill, I will first give some background and context to the legislation. The Bill implements one of the commitments included in the Government’s response to the pensions commission...

Tariffs: Statements (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputies for their engagement this afternoon. It is abundantly clear from today's debates that we are living through precarious times, with unprecedented threats to the international trading environment and resulting impacts on relations with trading partners, on the Irish economy and of course on Irish businesses. Deputies have raised a number of recurring themes throughout the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: Both the Power Up scheme and the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) scheme are now closed, however it is worth noting that in 2024 over €400 million was paid to SMEs right across the country under these grant schemes. My Department is reviewing an issue that has arisen in relation to businesses who misclassified their business sector when applying for ICOB. The review of that issue...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Language Schools (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The Government is committed to fair wages for all workers. The National Minimum Wage increased to €13.50 per hour on 1st January 2025, an increase of over 6% which is ahead of projected wage growth across the economy. The substantial increases in the National Minimum Wage over the last few years show Government’s continuing commitment to fair wages for the lowest paid...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Company Closures (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: The information requested is being compiled by the Companies Registration Office and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Promotion (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: Each year my department, engages with the enterprise agencies, Enterprise Ireland IDA Ireland and in 2025, Tourism Ireland, to develop a Ministerial-led Trade Missions Programme for the year ahead. We have developed a programme of trade promotion and investment missions and events which support the goal of securing high-level market access for companies based in Ireland who are aiming to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Data (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: Ireland remains committed to the principles of free and open trade, which have underpinned our economic success. This brings economic opportunities, creates well-paid jobs and fosters innovation. It also builds economic resilience within a strong rules-based international trading system. The EU also remains dedicated to fostering a stable, balanced, and predictable economic partnership with...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Irish Sign Language (9 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: My Department understands the responsibility on all public bodies to offer services to those accessing or seeking statutory entitlements through Irish Sign Language. Arising from the Irish Sign Language Act 2017 (ISL), my officials established procedures to be implemented where clients of my Department wish to interact through ISL. These procedures are published on my Department’s...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Low Pay Commission (10 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 and 192 together. The National Minimum Wage Acts allow for sub-minimum rates of the minimum wage for those employees aged under 20. Those aged less than 18 years can be paid 70 per cent of the full minimum wage rate, while those aged 18 years and 19 years can be paid 80 and 90 per cent of the full rate, respectively.The Low Pay Commission (LPC)...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Projects (10 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: My Department is reviewing issues in relation to businesses that may have been ineligible for the grant due to incorrect classification of their business type while registering for the Increased Cost of Business scheme (ICOB) and my Department has engaged with local authorities in relation to the extent of the issue. This review is ongoing and my Department is continuing to consult with...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (10 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: My Department has been undertaking a modernisation exercise to update systems written in legacy software, and also to meet new requirements as they arise. The opportunity has been taken to standardise the data points in a methodical fashion across these systems, which will in due course facilitate the broader use of Data Analytics and Machine Leaning / Artificial Intelligence capabilities...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (10 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: I propose to take Questions Nos. 200 and 202 together. The information requested is currently being collated by my Department and will be forwarded directly to the Deputy as soon as it is finalised.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Artificial Intelligence (10 Apr 2025)

Peter Burke: My Department first issued a policy document on the use of Generative AI to all staff in July 2023. That policy highlight some of the potential areas where Generative AI can deliver efficiencies but also set out the risks of using such technologies and the mitigations that staff in the Department must adopt to avoid those risks. This was based on guidance received from the National Cyber...