Results 3,421-3,440 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Putin’s war on Ukraine has highlighted the vulnerability of becoming too reliant on finite resources controlled by other states. While weaning ourselves off coal, oil and gas is a global challenge, it also presents incredible opportunities for Ireland, specifically electricity generated by offshore wind, backed up by battery storage and interconnection, and of course, green hydrogen. ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It's important that businesses, no matter their size, put cybersecurity at the heart of their approach to the digital transition. We would advise that individual SMEs always engage with trusted software and cloud providers and promote awareness of cybersecurity issues among staff on an ongoing basis. The need for robust cybersecurity is highlighted in the cross-government National...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Renewable Energy Generation (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Putin’s war on Ukraine has highlighted the vulnerability of becoming too reliant on finite resources controlled by other states. While weaning ourselves off coal, oil and gas is a global challenge, it also presents incredible opportunities for Ireland, specifically electricity generated by offshore wind, backed up by battery storage and interconnection, and of course, green...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Job Creation (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We’ve worked hard to create a welcoming environment for FDI in all parts of the country and the strong regional spread of jobs and investment in the latest IDA results demonstrates government policy. Over half of investments in 2021 went to regional locations. With inflation, Putin’s war on Ukraine, increased international competition for FDI and climate change and digital...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Agreements (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the EU reached political agreement in their trade negotiations with the Mercosur region in June 2019. The Agreement is designed to cement the close political and economic relations between the EU and Mercosur countries and represents a commitment from both regions to rules-based international trade. The independent impact assessment commissioned by my...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: WRB03700 type: 7 --> The IDA’s property investment in the regions is aimed at supporting economic development and job creation across IDA’s, Enterprise Ireland and local LEO’s respective client base. It is crucial that the South-West region has a competitive, sustainable property offering to enable the attraction and retention of investment and jobs. IDA Ireland is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department, in conjunction with other Departments and state bodies, monitors sectors to anticipate needs and realise emerging opportunities. The latest series of sectoral reports, "Focus on Sectors 2020", was published in August 2020, which presented concise overviews of 16 key sectors of the economy, encompassing both exporting and locally trading activities, and outlined some initial...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The IDA Ireland has frequent engagement with client companies and stakeholders in County Mayo, with regular interaction, including in person when beneficial. IDA Ireland continues to market Mayo as part of the West Region for investment from both the existing base of client companies and potential new name investments. In 2021 the West Region was home to 120 IDA supported companies, employing...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Transport Policy (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Sustainable growth is at the centre of IDA Ireland's current strategy “Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024”, in line with Government policy, international consensus, the vision of IDA client companies, and the demands of citizens. This strategy is framed through five interlinked pillars of Growth, Transformation, Regions, Sustainability, and Impact. To...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department and its agencies are actively pursuing opportunities for decarbonisation across the enterprise base. We aim to foster strong, resilient businesses, that are successful and sustainable, while meeting our sector’s climate targets. The Green Transition Fund, which I launched in June 2022, is designed very specifically to reduce manufacturing combustion emissions, a core...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: State Bodies (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy may be aware, in June 2022 I brought a Memo to Government to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to participating in the Unitary Patent and the Unitary Patent Court (UPC) and to raise awareness of the Government decision of 2014. Subsequently I issued a press release reaffirming the Government’s commitment to participate in both the Unitary Patent and UPC, and to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Official Engagements (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Recently I attended a photocall with President of Huawei Cloud Western Europe, Mr. Tim Tao and CEO of Huawei Ireland, Mr. Tony Yangxu. The purpose of this engagement was to mark the announcement of a €150m investment in a European cloud hub which is to create 200 new jobs over 5 years at Huawei. Over the next two years, 60 technology-focused roles in sales, research and support will be...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: IDA Ireland has a number of strategic land holdings within the Strategic Economic Corridor as identified in the Galway County Development Plan. These lands include the Oranmore Strategic Site and the Athenry Strategic Site. IDA Ireland has delivered significant infrastructure upgrades to these lands in recent years in order to ensure the lands are serviced for potential investments of scale....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Programme for Government contains the commitment to “progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government”. In January 2021, I requested the Low Pay Commission to report on how best the Government could progress to a living wage. Following commissioned research from Maynooth University and engagement with unions and representative groups, the Commission...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We want to reward work and ensure that work pays more. Minimum wage workers are among the hardest working people in Ireland and deserve to paid more particularly at a time of rising prices. In September, the Government agreed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the National Minimum Wage by 80 cent to €11.30 from the 1st of January 2023. At least...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 149 together. When we launched the Economic Recovery Planlast year, we set a goal of achieving 2.5 million people in employment by 2024. The Plan not only aimed to recover employment lost during the pandemic but to promote new employment opportunities through increased labour market activation and by accelerating the provision of training, reskilling...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The (EU) Proposal for a Directive on improving working conditions in platform work was published in December 2021 and is currently being negotiated in the Council of the European Union. The Directive increases transparency in the use of algorithms by digital labour platforms, ensures human monitoring on their respect of working conditions and gives the right to contest automated decisions....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Programme for Government contains the commitment to “progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government”. There is currently no statutory living wage in Ireland. In January 2021, I requested the Low Pay Commission to report on how best the Government could progress to a living wage. Following commissioned research from Maynooth University and engagement with...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Legislative Measures (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 142 together. The Right to Request Remote Working Bill is part of a broader Government vision to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all – economically, socially and environmentally. The proposed legislation will provide employees with a right to request remote work and will...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Job Creation (27 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: 2021 was a record-breaking year for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) employment, with total employment in IDA client companies now standing at 275,384, up over 29,000 on 2020. Growth in the regions was particularly buoyant, with 53% or 133 projects of the 249 investments won by IDA going to regional locations. Employment growth was recorded in every region of the country. Monaghan is...