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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have no doubt that there is very serious exploitation in the fishing industry. It is mainly non-citizens who are being mistreated in the way described. It needs to be stamped out. Since it involves an area not directly under my remit, I would like to confer with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and the section and maybe revert to the Senator in writing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It was a commitment made by the Minister of State, Deputy English, who is not here. I do not want to respond on his behalf but I will confer with him and the section, and we will respond in writing-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for mentioning the regional enterprise plans, which I neglected to mention in response to Deputy Shanahan. The south-east local authorities, in particular, really embraced the most recent regional enterprise plan. They appointed a programme manager and helped to make it happen. A new plan has been agreed and they are going to be funded. We have €180 million in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The tips law will take effect on 1 December, while the sick pay scheme will begin on 1 January. We hope to have all the regulations signed off within the coming weeks but we have to give a notice period. It is not good practice to sign the regulations and apply them the next day. That is the plan at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The timeline will be determined by the EU directive on minimum wages and collective bargaining. I think it is two years we are being given, so we have two years to transpose the directive. We will set the internal Department target to have it completed by the end of next year-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: -----but that still leaves us some space.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy and I agree that people can be forced to meet but not to engage in good faith or to agree, and I do not think they should be forced to do that in a democracy. Incentives and disincentives can be created, however, and I think that is what the report suggests, whereby the environment would incentivise people to engage in good faith, with disincentives where they do not. As the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We support it. We are the lead Department on following the file through the European process. It is done through the European Competitiveness Council, COMPET, so the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, attends that rather than I. We do want to get it right. Companies that use child labour or destroy the environment need to be called out for doing so, and consumers have a right to know...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It will apply to any business that had an electricity or gas bill last year and can show that the unit cost us gone up by 50% or more. We are looking at the issue of businesses that use oil rather than gas or electricity, and that is particularly the case in businesses in some parts of rural Ireland. Oil has not gone up by as much but it has gone up, so we may need to do something in that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is the Limerick to Waterford road.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is on the national development plan and we are trying to secure funding on an annual basis to make sure it continues to get through planning. It is a longer term project, to be frank.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have gone from at one point a 19-week turnaround time to somewhere between two and four weeks, which is where we plan to maintain it. We have gone from a backlog of 10,000 files to about 2,000 files on file, so it is not really a backlog and we are getting through it in two to four weeks. I offer my particular thanks to all of the staff in the section. We had to increase the staffing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thought the Deputy would bring that up. That is in Carrigtwohill.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I know from my trips to Midleton that the former Amgen site is a great site, and I am sure we will get an investor into it at some point in the not-too-distant future. I agree with the Deputy on the road issue, which we are working on. My Department and IDA Ireland are engaging with the Department of Transport and I hope funding will be available in 2023 to bring it to the next stage. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: In regard to the N24 and N25 we will seek a clear reply from the Department of Transport for Deputy Shanahan on that. Thankfully, debt levels for Irish SMEs are quite low. Most Irish businesses have no debt which is unusual for a developed country. I will check into the issue raised on warehoused tax liabilities because that could be an emerging issue given that we are heading into another...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: When it comes to the TBESS, our intention is not to exclude companies that have warehoused tax debts. It is to exclude companies that have not paid their taxes. It would not be the intention to exclude them but I thank the Deputy for flagging the issue. I will make sure it is on my list of matters to discuss with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, so that when we design the scheme...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is the role the food ombudsman will take on. We will see whether primary producers are getting prices similar to what they get in other jurisdictions. That office will be of great help. In regard to the LEEF, as I mentioned earlier, there is a long list of organisations that would like to be on the LEEF. For example, from the union side, only ICTU is on it, and there might be many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I think the Small Firms Association and Chambers Ireland would disagree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I would not say I am comfortable but it is important to understand what businesses are facing. Even with the support we are going to provide in helping to subsidise their energy bills, there will still be companies facing losses which may have to lay off staff or reduce hours. The subsidy is not so huge that it will make businesses phenomenally wealthy. Businesses face massive increases in...