Results 321-340 of 1,023,148 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Patrick Costello OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin)

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputy. Her suggestion of supporting workers and businesses at the same time is actually something we are already doing in this Government. Only last week, the Minister, Peter Burke, and our team announced additional measures to support businesses, and under this Government, we placed significant emphasis on workers' rights. We put sick pay on a statutory footing for the first...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: What it looks like to me is that the Government is punishing workers to compensate for another one of its failed business support schemes. When the ICOB scheme first closed, less than half of qualifying businesses had applied. I appreciate that figure is slightly higher now, but as of last Wednesday, only 10.7 % of applicants have had grant money paid to them. This is a shocking situation....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Emer Higgins: Absolutely not. We are supporting both workers and businesses. We have a legal requirement to have regard to the potential impact of making an order to vary the number of sick days. For that reason, the Minister, Peter Burke, the Minister of State, Dara Calleary, and I have asked the ESRI to provide data so we can make an evidence-based, informed decision because that is what responsible...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Business Supports

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Mattie McGrath: 53. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will reconsider the qualifying criteria of the ICOB grant to allow tenants qualify as it is tenants who are struggling with the increased cost of business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23168/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I thank Deputy Verona Murphy for allowing me to go first as I have a Business Committee meeting. I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their new roles. I appeal to the Minister to re-examine the ICOB supports. It is a good scheme. Council officials and everyone worked hard on it, but it disqualifies people who rent a business premises. The owner pays the rates and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: As the Deputy will be aware, I announced the reopening of the ICOB grant scheme from 15 May to 29 May. This is to ensure those business owners who missed the deadline can now register. They should do so without delay, and the sooner they register, the sooner the local authority can verify the information and make a payment to the businesses. I have also made a change to the scheme that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Minister for his reply and the officials in Tipperary County Council and the Department who are dealing with the scheme. The Minister gave the reasons he cannot. He wants to spend the money and get it into the pockets of businesspeople who are struggling to keep the doors open. However, there is a considerable cohort that have an arrangement to pay rates as part of their rent....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: We all know commercial arrangements in how businesses operate with their landlords are different from business to business. It is difficult to put conditions in place to assess every single one. The best metric I have at the moment to get money out to vulnerable businesses as quickly as possible is linked directly to their rates. If I put more conditions in place right now or try to pave...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I do not know if the Minister does value them. He says that, but the scheme has to be tweaked because there is a big cohort of people in this situation. The Minister said it takes time from an announcement made in the budget. The budget speech is hardly over before his colleagues go around the country saying this or that scheme has been announced before any legislation is in place to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I welcome the extension of the increased cost of business, ICOB, scheme and the changes to the PRSI and VAT thresholds, which is something I and my colleagues in the Regional Group brought to Government some weeks back in a Private Member's motion. I wish to ask about the participation rate. How many businesses are accessing ICOB? What consideration has been given to those businesses that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: When the scheme closed a week ago, we had about 76,000 registrations. That was roughly 60% of all businesses that qualified for the increased cost of business grant. A decision was then taken to open the scheme for a further two weeks and to run a very strong and robust advertising campaign, which we hope will encourage additional uptake in the run down to next Wednesday. I appeal to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: As the Minister knows, some of the burden in costs is due to the environment of increased costs inflation, but a large part has been brought about by the progressive costs introduced by the Government. I have advocated for quite some time to Deputy Varadkar, when he was Taoiseach, and to Deputy Coveney, when he was Minister, and now I am saying it to Deputy Burke as Minister, as I have said...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: Again, I thank the Deputy for his question. We have worked with all sectors. I met ISME yesterday, along with another number of business sectoral groups. We are working with them to progressively keep improving the business environment in which they operate. I point out that inflation has halved since November 2022. That demonstrates that Government policies are working. We really did...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Employment Rights

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: 51. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he will have conducted his review of the ESRI research on the impact of statutory sick leave; the reasons he has taken this approach; and the reason he is deviating from the Government's initial timeline. [23125/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: My question relates to the review of the ESRI research into the impact of statutory sick leave. I want to understand why the Government is taking its current approach and why it is deviating from its own initial timeline. When will the review be concluded?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Emer Higgins: As the Deputy is aware, the Sick Leave Act 2022 introduced employer-paid, medically certified, statutory sick leave for the first time in Ireland. From 1 January 2023, the initial statutory entitlement was up to thee days' sick leave, which increased to five days on 1 January 2024. As the Deputy will be aware, statutory sick leave, and its phased roll-out, was designed in consultation with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Is the Minister of State saying the report will be published before the end of the year? Will we have a chance to debate it here on the floor of the Dáil? I hope we will and I can tell the Minister of State that I will definitely be looking for that debate if it is not offered by the Government because it is important. I saw the Minister of State's little video. I do not follow her...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (23 May 2024)

Seán Canney: I thank the Minister. I take solace from the fact he spoke about regional development. It is important we are all singing off the same hymn sheet. It is also important for colleges to have a decision as soon as possible. Many pieces of the jigsaw need to be put together, but I believe the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is on board. I look forward to an announcement at the...