Results 9,681-9,700 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I recognise the difficulties being experienced by those in the trade fairs and exhibitions industry during the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. I know that many employers, employees and the self-employed in this sector want to get back to work as quickly and safely as possible; and I support them in that ambition. This matter raised by the Deputy is, in the first instance, a matter for the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: Universal and equitable access to safe, effective and affordable vaccines, diagnostics and treatments is crucial in the global fight against COVID-19. International Trade is a competence of the EU under the Treaties and in exercising that competence, the European Commission engages fully with the Member States, including Ireland, through a variety of Committees and Working Parties/Groups,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: Delivering balanced regional growth is a core objective of this Government and my Department and its agencies have a strong role to play in this agenda through direct assistance to businesses as well as promotion and enhancement of regional locations as places for businesses to invest. Quality of infrastructure and accessibility is an important aspect of the latter and Co. Tipperary is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I am acutely aware of the ongoing difficulties that businesses continue to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Deputy is aware, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), Small...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Funding (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: My Department has been in discussion with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage concerning the circumstances surrounding the flooding of a small number of business premises following a weather event in February 2021. A decision will be made shortly, following further consideration of the necessary justification, on instigating a humanitarian flooding relief Scheme for the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: The Employment Permits scheme is vacancy led and driven by the changing needs of the labour market, expanding and contracting in tandem with its inherent fluctuations. The system is managed through the critical skills and ineligible occupations lists, which are subject to twice yearly evidence-based review. The critical skills employment permit is Ireland’s premium employment...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I am statutorily required to give due consideration on whether it is appropriate to give effect to a recommendation from the Labour Court concerning a proposal for an Employment Regulation Order. In considering whether it was appropriate to accept the Labour Court's recommendation, I wanted to ensure that workers and employers in the sector have adequate notice of the changes to the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: The Restart Grant and Restart Grant Plus Schemes provided by my Department were introduced as COVID-19 enterprise measures on foot of Government Decisions and operated by the 31 Local Authorities from May 2020 to October 2020. The table below sets out the number and monetary amount of grants paid out by Local Authority area. Local Authority Number of Applications Paid...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: My Department in conjunction with the Local Enterprise Offices network across the country has continued to develop a range of financial aid and business assistance programmes to help local businesses with the LEOs acting as a ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice and guidance, financial assistance, and other programmes for anyone intending to start or grow a business. In that regard,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Farm Safety (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I wish to assure the Deputy that farm safety in the agriculture sector remains a priority for both my Department and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). As an identified priority sector by the HSA in its current three-year strategy it continues to receive a sustained focus in the delivery of the HSA’s occupational health and safety policy and its inspection programmes. The HSA has...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 30, 31 and 34 together. Ireland’s employment rights legislation protects all employees who are legally employed on a contract of service basis. Vaccination status does not reduce the established employment rights that are afforded to employees. Where an individual believes they are being deprived of employment rights applicable to employees...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together. The Work Safely Protocol was recently updated to reflect information learned over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This revised Protocol incorporates current advice on the Public Health measures needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community and in workplaces and includes information on wearing of masks, ventilation of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Funding (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: The past 12 months have been unprecedented in terms of supports offered to businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside the normal enterprise supports that continued to be provided by my Department. Enterprise Ireland (EI), an Agency of my Department, have paid out a total of €10,009,199to companies in Co. Tipperary over the last 12 months, these figures exclude...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: On 1 April, the Tánaiste launched a public consultation to put the right to request remote working into law. Introducing the right to request remote working will provide a clear framework around which requesting, approving or refusing remote work can be based. The closing date for receipt of submissions was Friday 7 May. The consultation has been reviewed by officials in tandem with...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Vaccination Programme (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: COVID-19 vaccinations are an extremely important public health measure in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in the community and in workplaces. I would encourage workers to engage with their employer in the first instance once they are assigned a vaccination appointment to explore all options available to enable them to receive the vaccination should it fall during working time. I...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Health and Safety (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: The Exchequer allocation for the Health and Safety Authority for 2022 has not yet been determined. The 2021 Exchequer allocation for the Health and Safety Authority is €24.75m which covers pay, pension and non-pay costs. This allocation enables the Health and Safety Authority to deliver on a broad remit of work across a wide mandate which includes occupational health and safety,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 Jul 2021)

Damien English: The Health (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2021 provides for the lawful operation of certain indoor premises subject to conditions including the provision of a robust and enforceable system of verification of the vaccination or COVID-19 recovery status of certain patrons. The Act also provides for “relevant bodies” to designate compliance officers. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA)...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Health and Safety (9 Sep 2021)

Damien English: From 01 January 2021 to 27 August 2021, the Health and Safety Authority conducted 5,346 proactive inspections and 703 investigations. The HSA can launch an investigation on foot of a complaint received or as a result of a fatal or non-fatal incident. As requested, the number of investigations by county is presented in the table below:

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Weather Events (9 Sep 2021)

Damien English: My Department’s Humanitarian Flooding Relief Scheme may be invoked, following a Government Decision, to provide funding on the basis of confirmation received from the local authority and the National Emergency Coordination Group that relevant damage has occurred. My Department has been in discussion with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage concerning the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (9 Sep 2021)

Damien English: The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. The pilot quota-based scheme introduced in May...