Results 10,901-10,920 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Good progress is being made on the implementation of Ireland's Industry 4.0 Strategy 2020-2025. The key focus of the Strategy is to enhance the adoption and the deployment of digital technologies to the manufacturing sector through access to funding and supports provided by the enterprise agencies under my Department as well as through access to technical resources from the network of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: The National Smart Specialisation Strategy for Innovation 2022-2027 (S3) was launched on 11 July 2022. As the Deputy is aware, Smart Specialisation is an innovation policy concept developed by the European Commission to boost regional innovation, contributing to growth and prosperity by helping and enabling regions to focus on their strengths. This will promote broader benefits, including...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: As the Deputy is aware, my Department published Ireland’s first National Space Strategy for Enterprise in 2019. The vision of the strategy is for Ireland to develop an economically sustainable and expanding space-active industry, delivering quality jobs for the economy of tomorrow.   The Strategy is built on the 5 pillars of: investment; strengths and opportunities;...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: The current staffing levels at Enterprise Ireland’s international offices is as follows: - Location Current Headcount Abu Dhabi 1 Amsterdam 5 Austin 3 Beijing 4 Boston 5 Brussels 5 Budapest 1...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Job Losses (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Section 12 of the Protection of Employment Act 1977 provides that employers proposing a collective redundancy must notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of the proposed collective redundancy.  Information on collective redundancy notifications does not reflect the total number of actual redundancies that take place across the workforce. Collective...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 102 together. The Employment Permits Section of my Department informs me that General Employment Permit applications in respect of both individuals (in the details supplied) were received on 17/11/2022. Separate requests for further information in relation to these applications issued from my Department on 29/11/2022. The applicant has been granted 28...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (6 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Under the Employment Permit Acts, in order to work in the State all non-EEA nationals require a valid Employment Permit or relevant immigration permission from the Minister for Justice which allows them to reside and work in the State without the requirement for an Employment Permit. The Irish State’s general policy is to promote the sourcing of labour and skills needs from within...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Enterprise Policy (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again. I will go back over the information we have. Following the dissolution of the county enterprise boards in 2014, an enhanced national assistance enterprise model was established to be delivered by local authorities on behalf of Enterprise Ireland through the local enterprise offices, LEOs. This structure has allowed the LEOs to effectively...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Enterprise Policy (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: We have discussed some of the issues the Deputy has raised previously. We certainly discussed them at the SME task force that the Tánaiste set up over two years ago to focus and see if we need another agency or if we can reach the companies we want to reach through our existing structures. Our best estimate is that it is best to use the structures we have that have worked extremely...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Enterprise Policy (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: It is important that we use the centre-of-excellence approach, which shares the data across the various LEOs and is able to compare them. There is that advice and guidance through the LEOs as well. Having visited all the LEOs, I saw the great work they are doing at first hand. While each LEO administers the national schemes and the schemes we have all agreed, they have their own version of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Visa Applications (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy for raising this question. This is an important area and one the Department has concentrated on a great deal in recent years. We have made efforts to put in place the right team to manage the permits that have been applied for through the Department. Much has already been done to improve the employment permit system. My Department is already focused on improving the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Visa Applications (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: To answer the question in reverse, my understanding is that the answer is "Yes". While every case is slightly different, generally once somebody is legally permitted to be in this State, they can apply for a work permit. I can deal with the Deputy on specific cases. Regarding home care assistants, thankfully, we have made some progress on this. The Minister of State at the Department...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Visa Applications (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: The aim is that within the next six months the working group involving both Departments will bring forward some suggestions about how we can align our systems. We will set out a plan for establishing a single application procedure to cover employment permits and entry visas. It is about how we can align our systems. We managed to fast track and fix the delays in our Department by...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I have discussed on a few occasions with his colleague, Deputy Bríd Smith. As Deputy Paul Murphy is aware, we have difficulties with the Bill. We put that on the record on the first night in the convention centre when we discussed it. During the Second Stage debate on the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Perhaps the Deputy did not listen to my answer-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: -----or maybe it was the case that he came in with preprepared ideas in the context of what he was going to say. I very clearly said that following on from the commitment given to his colleague on the floor of the convention centre, we would explore the issue to see if we could help. We fundamentally disagree with the Bill because it would change the relationship of industrial relations...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Just in case there is any doubt, it is Deputy Paul Murphy's legislation: I am not stopping him bringing it back through the committee and following the usual channels.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: Nobody is blocking the Deputy from doing so. He is totally free to argue his case and bring the Bill through the system. What the Government is stating is that it does not agree with the Bill. We think it is a flawed Bill that will not solve the problem the Deputy wants to solve. It will also complicate the industrial relations machinery we have that operates extremely well because it...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Job Creation (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: There are a couple of questions in this space, so the answers are pretty similar. I know the Deputy has already had a discussion with the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, but I will try to add to that. Delivering balanced regional growth and job creation is a core objective of this Government and the Deputy is aware that it is something we are committed to. We want to try to help as...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Job Creation (13 Dec 2022)

Damien English: I was involved in setting up the growth centres. Athlone was a regional one, Sligo was another. We know our cities, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and Cork are already thriving. In the growth centres of Athlone, Dundalk, Drogheda and Sligo, we try to target the infrastructure in order that those areas are ready to create jobs and can win jobs. We have seen the success of that in...