Results 2,341-2,360 of 14,473 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (14 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 17 together. The Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum was established in May 2022 and includes representatives of indigenous and multinational companies, as well as experts in digital technologies and their adoption. The Forum assists the Government in driving the digitalisation of enterprise across Ireland and in the implementation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (14 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: Ireland's National AI Strategy, “AI - Here for Good”, provides a high-level direction to the design, development, deployment and governance of AI in Ireland. It presents an integrated framework to manage the expected beneficial socio-economic opportunities that AI presents. In developing the Strategy, my Department undertook an extensive engagement process and one of the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Consumer Protection (14 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: Media reports indicate the company concerned is arranging to enter the liquidation process. Where a business has stopped trading, consumer legislation in Ireland will not apply as the company that a person has a customer contract with no longer exists - therefore there is no company to claim from. However, where they have gone into liquidation, they may be able to submit a claim for the...

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

Dara Calleary: Digital infrastructure is one of the four dimensions of the Government's national digital strategy, which was launched in February of this year. A progress report on the cross-governmental implementation of the national digital strategy was published last week. I encourage all Deputies to consider it. As the Deputy will be aware, responsibility for connectivity and the national...

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

Dara Calleary: I assure the Deputy that IDA Ireland is not involved in driving jobs back into any city centre. One of the key targets laid out in the White Paper is that over half of new investments will be in the regions. That figure has been achieved according to IDA Ireland's 2022 figures. My Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development are developing a national hub strategy for...

Confidence in Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Motion (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: The Deputy is pretty good at that himself.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Veterinary Services (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, who is attending a Cabinet meeting. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science does not place a quota on the number of places on veterinary medicine courses offered by higher education institutions.As such, the number of places...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Veterinary Services (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: As I said, there are expressions of interest from the four provinces with regard to providing new courses. As the Senator will understand, this also relates to workforce planning requirements. There are significant practical elements and placement requirements as part of veterinary medicine programme provision, including appropriate laboratory facilities to ensure these courses meet the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Admissions (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, who is currently at a Cabinet meeting and unavailable. The Senator has raised this previously and our colleague Senator O'Loughlin has also raised a number of issues in this regard. For school planning purposes, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Admissions (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I assure the Senator that the Department is in discussions with the patrons and stakeholders of the schools in the area with regard to the immediate need for 2023-24, which the Senator has identified, but also for future needs. The Department is progressing additional solutions for Newbridge and Kildare, including the relocation of Curragh Community College to Kildare town, which will...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Facilities (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I thank Senator Sherlock for raising this matter because it provides me with an opportunity to outline the position on the proposed review of the guidelines on the use of school buildings outside of school hours and the Government's firm commitment on allowing school buildings to be used where possible for community, educational and recreational use outside of school hours. The Department of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Facilities (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I again thank the Senator for raising the matter. As already stated, a review is under way with other Departments. The Department intends further consultation in the near future. The intention of the Department is that the review will ensure the guidelines on the use of school buildings outside of school hours are as effective and efficient as possible. It is the intention that the review...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. As he knows, Ireland has been supportive of the objective of the proposed directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, which will play a significant role in promoting responsible business conduct. This is a complex proposal with far-reaching implications for companies and stakeholders concerning the prevention of adverse human rights and environment impacts. An...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: Again, we do not support the overall adoption and we raised concerns about the financial sector. There was an issue during the early stages of the negotiation that there were different treatments in this directive from other directives. We wanted to support consistency in various directives around that. We also had concern about the inclusion within the scope of national social security...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: The trilogue process is going to be quite challenging and Barry Andrews MEP is working very hard on this within the Parliament. He has kept in close contact with me and my officials on this. I do not want to comment on what the potential outcome of that process may be. I am not going to speculate on that, but we have laid our cards very strongly on the table at Council level around this issue.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I commend Lir Analytical. It is a really exciting, home-grown company. I certainly look forward to working with the Deputy assisting its work. The Deputy and I had the pleasure of joining the midlands regional enterprise oversight group, which is chaired by Dr. Anne Cusack, along with programme manager Sarah Morgan. There was massive energy in the room where we met, with massive...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Flaherty for raising this. As he acknowledged, the Tánaiste was able to announce very strong annual results for IDA Ireland in 2022 yesterday which showed a substantial increase in growth in FDI employment on the 2021 figures. The growth in employment in 2022 brought the number of people employed in the FDI sector in Ireland to more than 300,000, which is the highest FDI...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: We also met some very successful and hungry companies in the Deputy's area. I look forward to working with the Deputy. As the Minister of State, Deputy English, said, there is potentially space within the regional plan to assist them in acquiring space and in growing their operations.

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

Dara Calleary: We are doing that. I have outlined the national hub strategy, which I presume the Deputy is talking about. This will enable remote working and employees working in remote areas. We also secured up to €145 million from the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, to fund the regional enterprise plans. The Minister of State, Deputy English, and myself are engaged with regional...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (13 Dec 2022)

Dara Calleary: I understand that the Deputy is referring to both Enterprise Ireland’s Cork office and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in Cork. There are currently 20 staff employed at Enterprise Ireland’s Cork regional office. The staff cover a wide remit of interests to serve County Cork and the Southwest region generally. There are also currently 28 staff based in the Cork Local...