Results 10,121-10,140 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Work Permits (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: Yes. There are two lists. There is a non-essential list as well. The critical list is for one category and the other category is the one the Deputy is after and that it would be opened up to permits. We changed that for health care assistants last year.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Work Permits (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: It is a good question. I do not know. I have not sat around the table. It is officials from all the various Departments who are on it. I imagine there is quite a strong gender balance because the majority of officials I come across demonstrate to me a gender balance. However, I will certainly check it out for the Deputy. To be very clear, the evidence gathered around this, which is in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Work Permits (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: When we undertake the labour market analysis, we try to look at short-term solutions in addition to long-term trends. The permits operation should not be seen as a long-term solution. It is an absolutely temporary one, which we have used to respond to many sectors over the past year. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, is leading this and trying to put a...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (Breach of Building Regulations) Bill 2022: First Stage (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: No.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Transfer of Undertakings (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As I am not familiar with the particular situation to which she referred, I will comment generally on the overall situation when companies are taken over or there is a transfer of undertakings. I do not have the details of the case she raised but I certainly will get them and look into the situation. I was not aware of the company to which the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Transfer of Undertakings (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: I disagree with the Deputy on that. There are quite a lot of protections under our employment laws and we expect any company, no matter what it is, to work within those laws. I gave commitments in regard to other situations last year, including that of the Debenhams workers, that we would look to see whether we can strengthen the laws in any situation where a company is being sold or bought...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Transfer of Undertakings (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: -----in general, I agree with the Deputy that all of those who are involved in the retail sector and the security sector right throughout Covid-19 stood up and provided a top-class service to this country. They were on the front line as much as anybody else. In most cases that I have seen, that has been properly recognised by their employers. I hope that that would be the case as well. ...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Work Permits (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: I thank Deputy Cowen for raising this issue, as well as for putting forward those two cases, which are familiar stories about the system, on the floor of the House. I am happy to take him through what we are doing to address this, as well as to give him some context on it. At the start, however, I want to say that I totally agree with the Deputy that this is not an acceptable timeframe....

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Work Permits (10 Feb 2022)

Damien English: I assure Deputy Cowen that every effort will be made by our Department to put enough staff in place and to change the system to make sure we can process these permits. As I have outlined, there has been an increase in staff on these teams. There are more than 50 additional people in the system and many of the existing staff are working overtime and every night they are allowed to work in...

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

Damien English: I and Government support increasing collective bargaining coverage in Ireland. That is one of the reasons the independently chaired High-Level Working Group on Collective Bargaining was established under the auspices of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) in March of last year. The forthcoming EU Directive on the Minimum Wage is one of the issues which the Group is considering as...

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

Damien English: It is understandable that households and businesses are concerned about the higher rates of inflation they are seeing at the moment. I know that people are feeling pressure as the cost-of-living increases and that people on lower incomes are being disproportionately affected. Ministers across Government, along with their officials, have been tasked with developing proposals for a package...

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

Damien English: Following extensive engagement with the social partners the “Plan for Action on Collective Redundancies following Insolvency” was published in June 2021. This sets out several commitments to safeguard further the rights of workers in these circumstances including; 1. amendments to company law and employment law, 2. a new Employment Law Review Group, and 3. the provision of...

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

Damien English: A key priority for Enterprise Ireland, is to develop new High Potential Start Ups and to help make Ireland a world-leading location to start and scale a business. Under its new 2022-2024 Corporate Strategy, Enterprise Ireland proposes to increase start-up and scaling activity by as much as 20%. Management skills and leadership capability will be a key underpinning objective in this area. ...

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

Damien English: Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government. Throughout 2021, my Department has overseen the development of nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024. These are ‘bottom-up’ plans, developed by regional stakeholders which identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities, and enable job...

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

Damien English: At the outset, it is worth stating that Ireland’s system of industrial relations is, essentially, voluntary in nature. The responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers, rests with the employer, the workers and their representatives. It is important that the autonomy of both employee and employer bodies and their respective members in such...

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

Damien English: The Restart Grant Scheme was launched in May 2020 and was succeeded by an enhanced Restart Grant Plus, which closed for applications on 31stOctober 2020. The 31 local authorities who operated the scheme received a total of 123,185 applications, of which 108,489 were successful. An overall allocation of €652m was made available by Government for the Scheme, with local authorities...

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

Damien English: Following extensive engagement with the social partners the “Plan for Action on Collective Redundancies following Insolvency” was published in June 2021. This sets out several commitments to safeguard further the rights of workers in these circumstances including; (i)amendments to company law and employment law, (ii)a new Employment Law Review Group, and (iii)the provision of...

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

Damien English: The Local Enterprise Offices have just come out of an 8th consecutive year of growth with 7,400 new jobs created by LEO clients in 2021. The LEOs now support over 7,100 companies financially within their portfolio with almost 36,000 associated jobs and a net gain of 3,000 jobs in 2021. That is not to mention the thousands of other businesses they have helped with additional supports such as...

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

Damien English: Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government. Throughout 2021, my Department has overseen the development of nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024. These are ‘bottom-up’ plans, developed by regional stakeholders which identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities, and enable job...

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

Damien English: The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 (No 5 of 2022) was published on 24 January 2022. The Bill will require businesses to clearly display their policy on how tips, gratuities and mandatory service charges are distributed, and provides for similar provisions for new models of work such as platform workers who are not direct employees, but their work typically...