Results 10,401-10,420 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (19 May 2022)

Damien English: The Senator raised a couple of issues. I will address the funding. Public funding has increased significantly in the past seven or eight years, and rightly so. There is also significant private funding in this area as well as funding from families. It is not all Government funding, but it is certainly Government assisted. As I said, I think it is possible for the process to be completed...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pharmacy Services (19 May 2022)

Damien English: I thank Senator Byrne for raising this issue and giving me the chance to address the Seanad on the matter. It is timely with regard to the process. Ireland operates a managed employment permits system, maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland's labour market. The regime is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pharmacy Services (19 May 2022)

Damien English: Again, I thank Senator Byrne for raising this issue. It is a very important area because we know the service our pharmacists provide to all of us. Certainly, they have been extremely busy in helping with the response to Covid-19 over the past couple of years. They do great work and it is important they can access the level of staff they need. Again, to clarify for the record, the IPU does...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (19 May 2022)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 11, 187 and 188 together. On February 9th, the Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme was launched by the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance. This Programme has a strategic emphasis on attracting new fund managers to the Irish equity ecosystem and opening new pipelines for finance. It is a fund of funds, which is an indirect form of equity...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Damien English: Clare has witnessed an 11% increase in employment in overseas companies since 2012. Over 680 net new jobs were added to the FDI portfolio during this period. There are now over 6,924 people employed across 71 multinational companies in Clare. Recent investments of scale have been in the Technology, Med Tech, Pharma and Financial Services sectors, with announcements from companies like...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 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. establishing a new Employment Law Review Group, and 3. the provision of an...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Damien English: Regional development is at the centre of IDA Ireland's current strategy “Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024”. Of the target 800 investments in the Strategy, half are targeted at regional locations. As the Deputy may be aware, IDA Ireland announces mid and end year results. The latest results, released last December, show a very strong first year of this...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (19 May 2022)

Damien English: My Department experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year, impacting on processing times. From the start of January to the end of December 2021, some 27,666 applications were received, representing a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 (16,293) and a 47% increase on 2019 (18,811), which itself represented an 11 year high in applications....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Damien English: The Deputy will be aware that the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce was recently established following a commitment in the Programme for Government to ensure that local development plans are put in place to stimulate sustainable economic activity for those areas that had been expecting economic development arising from new fossil-fuel infrastructure. The Terms of Reference for the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 2022)

Damien English: The Payment of Wages Act 1991 regulates how wages and salaries are paid and what deductions may be made from same. Under this Act, an employer is not permitted to make deductions from an employee's wages unless the deduction is authorised under the contract of employment, required by statute, or is made with the prior written consent of the employee. Special restrictions are placed on...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 2022)

Damien English: The Tánaiste agreed to convene a consultative working group on the Determination of Employment Status, which I Chair. The first meeting of this group took place on Wednesday 13thof April 2022 and the second meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 21stof June. The group consists of representatives from ICTU, Ibec, the Construction Federation of Ireland and ISME as well as officials...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 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 completed Seanad 2nd Stage on 1st February last, at which session it was undertook to reconsider the treatment of service charges in the Bill. The relevant issues and potential implications including legal matters related to any regulation of service charges are...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Prices (19 May 2022)

Damien English: As the Deputy is aware, Government have responded with up to €2.1 billion in measures to date to mitigate the rising cost of living including a personal income tax package worth €520 million, a social welfare package of €550 million and we have reduced VAT from 13.5% to 9% on gas and electricity bills from the start of the month until the end of October. The Government...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 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. establishing a new Employment Law Review Group, and 3. the provision of an...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (19 May 2022)

Damien English: A new round of the Online Retail Scheme was opened for applications on 05 May and closes on 01 June 2022. I expect that the successful applicants for this Call of the Online Retail Scheme with a total fund size of €9.3m will be announced by early Q3 2022. In 2020, my Department launched the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the urgent need for retail...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (19 May 2022)

Damien English: The Code of Practice on the Right to Disconnect is a best practice guide and template to remind employers of the statutory obligations around record keeping, the maximum average weekly working hours permitted for employees, and employees statutory rest period entitlements. The Code is also aimed at ensuring employees are aware of their statutory entitlements and how to raise concerns in...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Policies (19 May 2022)

Damien English: As the Deputy is aware, Government have responded with up to €2.1 billion in measures to date to mitigate the rising cost of living including a personal income tax package worth €520 million, a social welfare package is €550 million and we have reduced VAT from 13.5% to 9% on gas and electricity bills from the start of the month until the end of October. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (19 May 2022)

Damien English: Ireland’s employment permit system is designed to supplement the State’s skills and labour supply over the short to medium term by allowing enterprises to recruit nationals from outside the EEA, where such skills or expertise cannot be sourced from within the EEA at that time. The system is, by design, vacancy led and managed through the operation of the occupation lists: the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (19 May 2022)

Damien English: To date my Department has provided funding of €250 million administered by Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of some 270 Enterprise Centres throughout Ireland, of which approximately 40 of these Centres originated from the Regional Enterprise Plans, including from Cavan and Monaghan. Such centres provide space and training for entrepreneurs, allowing them to work...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (19 May 2022)

Damien English: A new round of the Online Retail Scheme was opened for applications on 05 May and closes on 01 June 2022. I expect that the successful applicants for this Call of the Online Retail Scheme with a total fund size of €9.3m will be announced by early Q3 2022. In 2020, my Department launched the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the urgent need for retail...