Results 6,441-6,460 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I answered the Deputy's question. I said we had increased border security to have the strictest biosecurity in the European Union, introduced walk-in PCR testing for people with no symptoms in five parts of the country and accelerated the vaccine roll-out. Antigen testing will be coming into play and we are increasing our tracing capacity. What the Deputy said about the B.1.1.7. variant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I read about this morning on the RTÉ news website. What is recounted on the website this morning is worrying and, as the Deputy notes, it relates to very sensitive and private matters affecting individuals with disabilities and their families. I do not know all the facts but I will watch the "RTÉ Investigates" programme tonight. I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I accept what the Deputy says; my response is inadequate, because I do not know the facts of this. Like I say, I became aware of the matter by reading about it on the RTÉ website this morning. It appears to be a serious matter and questions will be asked and answered. I am not aware of the facts at this stage and it would be inappropriate for me to offer further comment, having not...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland operates several loan guarantee schemes on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. These include three schemes with particular relevance to businesses that have been negatively impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Communications (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The table below lists the email addresses at which members of the Oireachtas can contact the state bodies under the aegis of my Department, as required by circular 25/2016. State Body Email address Personal Injuries Assessment Board oireachtas@injuriesboard.ie Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Protected Disclosures (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together. I'm informed that my Department received three matters raised as protected disclosures and was copied on a fourth in 2017; one in 2018; two in 2019; two in 2020 and none to date in 2021. Following preliminary examination, six of these matters were considered protected disclosures. None of these six were raised by officials from the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am keenly aware that businesses are continuing to make massive sacrifices to protect their communities. Budget 2021 provided a significant package of tax and expenditure measures to build the resilience of the economy and to help vulnerable but viable businesses across all sectors. The measures in the Budget are in addition to those announced in the July Stimulus and include the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: On 15 January 2021 last I published Ireland’s first ‘National Remote Work Strategy’ to make remote working a permanent option for life after the pandemic. A key action within the National Remote Work Strategy is to extend the mapping and classifications of hubs - as completed by Western Development Commission on the Atlantic Economic Corridor - across the country to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Job Creation (25 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The job losses at Aptar were deeply disappointing and I once again express my sympathy and concern for the workers and families impacted by this decision and acknowledge the impact that this has had on Ballinasloe and the surrounding area. IDA Ireland is working closely with the company to market the plant to potential investors, using the employee skills audit in their efforts to attract...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Intellectual Property (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: International Trade is a competence of the EU under the Treaties.  In exercising that competence at the WTO, the European Commission engages with Member States, including Ireland, through a variety of Committee and Working Parties/Groups, including on intellectual property.  The EU’s current position on the proposed waiver is that the WTO international agreement on Trade...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am acutely aware of the difficulties that these necessary ongoing Covid-19 restrictions are putting on all businesses right across the country.  Business owners are making sacrifices in order to protect their communities. With that in mind, I recently announced the new Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID.  This scheme is now open for applications through Local...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: From the outset of Covid-19, many employers have taken the initiative, in line with subsequent requests from the Government, to be as flexible as possible in allowing staff time off to look after their children who are not attending school or crèche. Some of the options to be considered for workers with caring responsibilities may include - - Allowing employees to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: One of the primary functions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (‘CCPC’) is to enforce consumer protection law in Ireland. For cross border consumer protection issues, the CCPC is part of the European Consumer Protection Co-operation (CPC) Network, which is comprised of national authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer protection laws. This...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am acutely aware of the difficulties that the necessary ongoing Covid-19 restrictions are putting on businesses and employment right across the country.  The Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Labour Market (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As part of its 2020 work programme, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, the independent body that advises the Government on the current and future skills needs of the Irish economy, developed and published Building Future Skills- The Demand for Skills in Ireland’s Built Environment Sector to 2030. The aim of this study was to identify the nature and quantity of the scale of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme is the largest loan guarantee scheme in the history of the State.The Scheme provides €2 billion in lending, for terms up to five-and-a-half years and offers a range of lending products between €10,000 and €1 million.  It is available to SMEs and small mid-caps (business with less than 500 employees), including primary producers...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of the difficulties that business owners continue to face and with that in mind the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID (SBASC),...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Pharmaceutical Sector (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 146 and 149 together. It is well known that Ireland is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in the pharmaceutical sector and in the broader life sciences sector. In recognition of the critical work of those Irish-based companies, last October I convened a series of short meetings with several of IDA Ireland’s biopharmaceutical client...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (24 Mar 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. Earlier this year, Minister of State...