Results 6,101-6,120 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (25 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My Department adopts a defence in depth approach to cyber security. This approach uses multiple layers and disparate systems to deliver security which is not dependent on any single component. Given the heightened level of risk which currently exists, our technical staff has adopted a posture of increased vigilance and oversight of systems. My Department is taking advice from our own...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: EU Directives (20 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 and 163 together. I am aware of the two pieces European legislation to which the Deputy refers and would advise him that these are in fact proposals for Regulations rather than Directives. In both cases the regulations propose general frameworks for systemic obligations which would be placed upon the providers of respectively artificial intelligence...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Protection (20 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 160, 164 and 165 together. My attention has been drawn to the fact that the US Senate is considering a draft Bill that targets jurisdictions with inadequate enforcement of data protection law. Based on contact with officials in the Department of Justice, the sense appears to be that this is squarely focused on China and it is unlikely that Ireland would end up...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (20 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My Department adopts a defence in depth approach to cyber security. This approach uses multiple layers and disparate systems to deliver security which is not dependent on any single component. Given the heightened level of risk which currently exists, our technical staff has adopted a posture of increased vigilance and oversight of systems. My Department is taking advice from our own...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Protection (20 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Compliance with GDPR EU requirements is an ongoing process that changes over time in line with new and emerging data protection requirements. My Department and the Offices under its aegis have a number of comprehensive processes in place to meet the compliance requirements of the GDPR and data protection laws. This includes a full-time dedicated Data Protection Officer, general and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Protection (20 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have asked the state agencies under the remit of my Department to provide the requested information to me and I will forward this to the Deputy once received.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Schemes (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Since the onset of the pandemic, my Department has worked to ensure that measures are in place to help businesses seeking appropriate financing in response to the impacts of COVID-19. These schemes make financing more accessible to eligible businesses at lower interest rates than would otherwise be available. The Future Growth Loan Scheme was introduced in 2019 to make lending available...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I'm informed that the individual in question made a protected disclosure to my Department related to alleged wrongdoing in the Labour Inspection services of the WRC. The matter raised was investigated using an external professional company in the succeeding months. This investigation concluded that there was no systemic wrongdoing in the work of the Labour Inspectorate. This conclusion was...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Tax Reliefs (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The responsibility for tax policy lies with my colleague the Minister for Finance. In his Budget speech in October 2020, Minister Donohoe announced his intention to commence work on developing a tax credit for the digital gaming sector with a view to supporting qualifying activity from January 2022 onwards. The ultimate design of the tax credit, the expenditures which will qualify for the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Chairman and committee members for the invitation to discuss the employment of content moderators and the reactivation of the economy in the context of Covid-19. As the two issues are quite different, I will speak initially about content moderators and then move on to economic issues more generally. Although it is a new form of work, we can all agree that content moderation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for her question and for introducing the content moderators to me because it was very interesting to hear what they had to say. I think we all agree that they do a very difficult job. Some of the work they do can be done through artificial intelligence and algorithms but only a small amount of it. I am not a tech person but I suspect that for the foreseeable future we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I definitely do not think the solution to these problems is to close off public areas. I appreciate that the city council had to make the decision it made and I really sympathise with the residents. The Deputy can imagine what they have experienced. This was not just outdoor drinking; it was people urinating and defecating near their homes, and I do not think any of us can condone that. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the decision to open hotels before restaurants was based on public health advice and was in line with the advice from NPHET. We are often criticised for not following that advice and this is one occasion on which we did so to the letter, except for the fact that hotels are opening a few days earlier than NPHET suggested. It is for a practical reason, not a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Of course it is possible but it would be going against the advice of NPHET. My priority now, rather than having a complicated set of criteria for a two or three-week period, is to get the decision to allow restaurants and pubs to open indoors. If they knew they were going to able to do that in the first week or so of July, that two or three-week period might be more acceptable. I would be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have a date in my diary to meet representatives of Facebook again any time soon. I usually meet them at intervals of six months to a year, as Facebook is a major employer and taxpayer in Ireland. I am sure a meeting will happen in the next few months. On tax warehousing, I hear what Senator Crowe is saying. It would be strange if we were telling businesses to get Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Stanton makes a good point about the content that is posted online. There is a criminal justice element to this. I do not know whether there are protocols that Internet platforms follow and whether they simply take this content down or report it to the authorities in the relevant country. I will check that because one would think they would have a responsibility in that regard. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: On antigen testing for international travel, we all know there are different views. NPHET and the Chief Medical Officer do not like it, while the chief scientific officer, Professor Ferguson, is a big fan. The Government is not ruling it out but for now, we have PCR testing for international travel. We are not ruling out a move to antigen testing but, without rehearsing the arguments,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Senator is absolutely right about the content moderators. Whoever the employer is they have a duty of care whether it is Covalen, Facebook or anyone else. Under the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012, if one is taking on agency workers, one has to give them the same protections as the people who are directly employed by one. The same basic working conditions...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As regards non-disclosure agreements, I am strongly of the view that anyone who signs a non-disclosure agreement should be allowed to keep a copy of the agreement. I cannot imagine why anyone would be expected to sign any sort of agreement yet not have it. How do you know you are actually adhering to the agreement yourself if you only get to read the thing once? If they are not giving a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Let us see if they cannot get staff. We are in a very different place now than we were when we did the reopening last summer. I remember hearing last summer lots of anecdotal evidence from employers saying they could not get people back to work because the difference in what they were getting from the pandemic unemployment payment and what they would get for working 30 or 40 hours a week....