Results 6,701-6,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, might come in on the .ie domain names as he has responsibility for digital and company regulation but I think that is owned by University College Dublin. It is not Government controlled but I will come back to the Deputy on that. I am always afraid to speculate about the future when it comes to what might or might not be possible this summer but I hope...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: With regard to the redundancies at Rehab Enterprises Limited, the total number of people employed in Rehab Logistics Limerick is 37, 36 of whom are currently supported under the wage subsidy scheme for people with disabilities. It has now been proposed that the company will make 37 positions redundant. Over time, Rehab Logistics in Limerick has attempted to maintain its business. This has...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will make sure those notes to which Deputy Ó Murchú referred are brought to my attention. I am genuine in what I say about wanting to help out firms that are, perhaps, falling between the cracks and not receiving any help with fixed costs. It is always hard to design a scheme that works for everyone but we will do our best to design future schemes. The note the Deputy is going...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Kerry Group has been in contact with the Department. We are aware that 150 job losses are planned. They will not all take place in Naas but we will obviously be working to ensure redeployment is an option and that the number of compulsory redundancies will be minimised, if there are any at all. I had not heard the idea of Ireland becoming an EU hub for live events. It sounds like a...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: On the rates waiver issue, the Government is considering whether to extend the rates holiday into quarter 2. We will give businesses notice of that long before the Bill might arrive.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We have only had initial contact with Kerry Group but my understanding is that what is proposed is a consolidation of services across two of its sites. The group has more staff than work that needs to be done so I am not sure that saving the jobs, as such, is a possibility. Perhaps redeployment, early retirement and voluntary redundancy are possible. The objective is always to avoid...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is fair enough to state that the stay and spend scheme has not cost very much. It has not cost as much as we had believed because people have been confined to their counties or to within a radius of 5 km. The same applies to the 9% VAT rate. The hospitality sector did not benefit from that in the way we had intended. When we get to the point where hospitality businesses can reopen,...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Could the Deputy give me the name of the scheme again?

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to check up on that and revert to the Deputy. I am not familiar with that one. I dare say it does not fall under the remit of my Department but I might find that it does so I will check.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: That is a scheme under the remit of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Finance is heading up that. He has made the application for funding under the SURE scheme. As I understand it, it involves borrowed money. It is an EU fund from which we can borrow money for schemes such as the EWSS, but it is at a blended rate. We can actually borrow more cheaply from the markets than from EU funds. It is more expensive to borrow through the SURE scheme...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: When I say we will not let Aer Lingus fail, I do not want to create the impression that it is in any way about to fail or anything like that, just in case I am misunderstood. What I am saying is that we are providing a lot of financial support already through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and the EWSS. We will provide more to enable us to retain essential connectivity with Heathrow,...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies. I recognise Deputy Farrell's ongoing interest in Aer Lingus, Dublin Airport and aviation workers in particular. As I said earlier, we are in discussions with Aer Lingus to see what we can do to make sure the airline survives the pandemic and is there to enable connectivity whenever we can get flying again. In regard to the hospitality sector, it benefits from both...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will come back to the Deputies' other points later, if I can, or in writing.

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: They are all very reasonable questions. Unfortunately, I cannot write as quickly as the Deputy can speak, so I may have missed a few of them. I will do my best to answer those I can remember. It is the case that the average interest rates on mortgages and loans in Ireland are too high, and higher than the EU average. However, they have been falling, and falling substantially in recent...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The aviation task force report is probably pretty out of date at this stage. It involves reopening our skies and allowing people to fly again but the country has moved on from that process, which was to rely on testing. We are not relying solely on such testing any more. I say very clearly that Aer Lingus will not be allowed to fail. It is already receiving substantial financial...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy states, the future growth loan scheme is working very well. It is long-term money but it is for a particular purpose where companies want to and can expand, so they would already be doing quite well. The microfinance loan for very small businesses is also going very well. The credit guarantee scheme was not doing so well but there has been a big pick-up in the past month or...

Covid-19 (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The Minister for Finance is leading on this issue on behalf of the Government. He has been in touch, as recently as yesterday, with Ulster Bank and its parent, NatWest. He has also met with the FSU. He is keeping me, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, informed of the situation but he is the lead person for the Government on all aspects relating...