Results 1-20 of 3,112 for speaker:James O'Connor

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service (26 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: 73. To ask the Minister for Health the status of a project (details supplied). [34992/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service (26 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: 123. To ask the Minister for Health her Department’s plans to increase home support services for older people in Cork county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34991/25]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (26 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: 170. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the National Broadband Ireland roll-out across Cork county; the number of houses that have benefitted from the installation of fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34988/25]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Sports Funding (26 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: 183. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his Department’s plan to increase funding for the next round of the community sports facilities fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34987/25]

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: Apologies have been received from Deputies Brian Brennan and Tony McCormack. We pass on our sympathies to Deputy Brennan on the passing of his mother. I will explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practice of the Houses as regards references witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I appreciate that, Mr. Hughes. I will now allow members to comment. Senator Comnor Murphy of Sinn Féin is first.

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I am next on the speaking rota. I welcome the witnesses and thank them for the work they are doing. I am interested in the scope of incentivising and accelerating decarbonisation and the digital transition, which is a fundamental part of this legislation. The IDA in particular is dealing with large multinationals. Is there a strong request coming from them for grant aid to support work...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I appreciate that. On the same question of consultancy grant aid, the premise of what I am saying is that you are dealing with some of the largest employers in the State. We have an example of a State agency that is providing consultancy grant aid for that. Without referring to a particular company, will Ms O'Sullivan give us an insight into or an example of the type of money involved in...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I appreciate that. Thanks for your very helpful information. On a broader point, of the 27 EU member states, Ireland now has the most expensive commercial electricity. How often has this been raised with the IDA? For me as a policymaker, it seems alarming. What is IDA Ireland's view on this and what is its strategic outlook?

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: Thank you, Ms O'Sullivan. Mr. Hughes, would you like to comment?

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: The point about private wire is very pertinent. It comes up quite frequently when I visit multinationals or large-scale employers in Cork that ESB Networks seems to have a very obtuse approach, even down to the length of time it allows for applications originally. I am glad to hear that this is a priority for the Department, because, unfortunately, it is a big issue. That is it for my time...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I thank Deputy Hayes. We now go to Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh.

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: To be fair to Deputy Conway-Walsh, I was going to raise that point as it is a valid question. I call Senator Crowe.

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I will ask a question as a follow-up to Deputy Gogarty's questions. What is the threshold for a company to be considered by IDA Ireland as a foreign direct investment employer coming into the country and where is the cut-off? Is it the case that it has an excess of a certain number of employees or is it their market threshold? What is the definition of that?

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I do not mean to be flippant but you cannot necessarily say that if a farmer in England wants to buy a farm in Ireland, that constitutes foreign direct investment. Where is the cut-off from the Department's point of view? Is it the case that the firm must be of a certain scale, a certain level or a certain financial value before the IDA deals with it? Do any of the witnesses know roughly -...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: The general scheme of thought - this has been raised by quite a few members - is that providing grant aid to people who already have significant financial resources is inflationary or a poor use of taxpayers' money. As a summary, these are a couple of the items raised by members. We will proceed now with our next speaker on the rota, Deputy McCormack.

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: That is no problem. For the second round of speakers, Deputy Conway-Walsh has indicated next.

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I will be brief and ask this before we proceed to Deputy Hayes. We have much of the skill set in the room here from IDA Ireland on this particular matter. I am conscious IDA Ireland's clustering of different industries has been a huge success. In life sciences, for example, there have been enormous IDA success stories with Carrigtwohill and Little Island in my own constituency. I am...

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: It is interesting to get insight into that. Does Mr. Hughes have any comments on that?

Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: General Scheme of the Industrial Development (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

James O'Connor: I have enormous respect for the separation of the roles that the Department and the agencies have to do. It is important not to forget Enterprise Ireland, which is here with us too. We can see the difference between a town that has had success with bringing in an IDA client and one that has not. For example, Panadol is manufactured in Dungarvan and we have seen the spin-offs from that....