Results 4,201-4,220 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Environmental sustainability is a strategic imperative for IDA Ireland and the agency has set several sustainability objectives, which include promoting a sustainable approach to all investment, supporting decarbonisation and responsible production, and winning sustainability investments to drive a green recovery. To enable the achievement of these objectives IDA Ireland has established a...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: In Ireland, the IDA has 10 offices in Dublin, Dundalk, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Athlone, Waterford, Letterkenny and Cavan. IDA Ireland has 20 overseas offices. In Europe IDA has offices in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In North America, IDA has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Northern California, Seattle, Southern California, Texas, and Toronto. In Asia...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Low Pay (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have spoken previously about how the pandemic has caused many of us to reconsider and re-evaluate what an essential worker is. We now understand it is a much broader group of workers than people would have originally described, many of whom are on low pay and in the private sector. The Government has been clear that a legacy of the pandemic should be better pay, terms and conditions for...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Low Pay (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have spoken previously about how the pandemic has caused many of us to reconsider and re-evaluate what an essential worker is. We now understand it is a much broader group of workers than people would have originally described, many of whom are on low pay and in the private sector. The Government has been clear that a legacy of the pandemic should be better pay, terms and conditions for...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: heading (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: 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 the West Region there are 120 IDA supported companies, employing 29,419...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Small and Medium Enterprises (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: One of the main competitiveness challenges facing small businesses today is the high inflation environment and rising input prices. This is damaging to the enterprise sector as the costs of doing business may rise too quickly for some firms to absorb, resulting in the closure of otherwise viable enterprises. Small, domestically-focused firms can also be negatively impacted by lower...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 76 together. On February 9th, the Minister for Finance and I announced the launch of the Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme which has a strategic emphasis on attracting new fund managers to the Irish equity ecosystem and opening new pipelines for finance. This programme is a fund of funds, which is an indirect form of equity financing for SMEs....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Government has been clear that a legacy of the pandemic should be better pay, terms and conditions for everyone, but particularly those currently on low pay. We are committed, therefore, to honouring the programme for Government commitment to progressing a living wage over the lifetime of this Government. In 2021, I asked the Low Pay Commission to examine the programme for Government...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Centres (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: A review of the Government Statement on the role of Data Centres in Enterprise Strategy is one of the actions for my Department under the Climate Action Plan 2021 as part of our commitment to reach a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. I intend to publish the revised statement by the end of Q2 this year. There has been ongoing and regular engagement with many stakeholders including the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Retaining and strengthening Ireland’s reputation as a destination of choice for foreign direct investment remains fundamentally important to our economic model. Efforts in this area are guided by IDA Ireland’s Strategy, Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth, which is framed through five interlinked pillars – Growth, Regions, Transformation, Sustainability, and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Human Rights (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: During my recent visit to Colombia, human rights was discussed as part of a programme designed to explore all aspects of our bilateral relationship, including regional issues, trade relations and peace process implementation. I raised the issues around human rights in Colombia throughout my visit with various stakeholders, including in meetings with President Duque and Vice President Ramirez....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Low Pay (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: A priority for the Government is that work should always pay and that there should not be any disincentive to work. The Government has taken many steps to achieve this aim while also addressing the challenges that have arisen in relation to the cost of living. Ireland currently has one of the highest minimum wage rates in the EU. Of the 21 EU Member States that have national minimum...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Living Wage (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have spoken previously about how the pandemic has caused many of us to reconsider and re-evaluate what an essential worker is. We now understand it is a much broader group of workers than people would have originally described, many of whom are on low pay and in the private sector. The Government has been clear that a legacy of the pandemic should be better pay, terms and conditions for...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Support Services (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Under pillar 2 of the Economic Recovery Plan, the Government has committed to helping people back to work as the pandemic unemployment payment is phased out, and to reducing the risk of labour market scarring and entrenched long-term unemployment. This is in the context of the plan’s overarching objective of having 2.5 million in employment by 2024, a target in fact met by the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: IDA Ireland is committed to building a new (second) Advanced Technology Building in Tralee. I am advised that the site selection process for this proposed building is still underway. Securing planning permission and the construction of the building will take time, but it is intended that the building will be delivered during the life of the current IDA Strategy to 2024. The advanced...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Regional Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Regional development is at the centre of IDA Ireland's current strategy “Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024”. Of the target 800 investments in the Strategy, half are targeted at regional locations. As the Deputy may be aware, IDA Ireland announces mid and end year results. The latest results, released in December last year, show a very strong first year of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: IDA Ireland markets Ballinasloe as part of the West Region. There are 120 IDA supported companies in the Region employing 27,695 people in total. Between Galway City and County, there are 93 IDA supported companies employing 21,428 people, which represents an increase of 3% on the 2020 figures. Marketing Ballinasloe as part of the West Region provides scale and scope, giving confidence to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Regional Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Regional development is at the centre of IDA Ireland's current strategy “Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024”. Of the target 800 investments in the Strategy, half are targeted at regional locations. As the Deputy may be aware, IDA Ireland announces mid and end year results. The latest results, released last December, show a very strong first year of this...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Prices (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the inflationary pressures that Ireland and other economies were already experiencing in the wake of the supply chain disruptions brought by the pandemic. The war, and the necessary introduction of sanctions against Russia, is also disrupting supply chains and leading to large rises in international prices for energy, food and other commodities. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (19 May 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The timely provision of appropriate, innovative, and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions that meet the needs of Multi-National Companies remains essential to winning Foreign Direct Investment. In a competitive and uncertain global environment IDA’s regional property programme, supported by my Department, ensures the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in...