Results 7,621-7,640 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I would be happy to see that. I am doing that myself, and trying to collect examples of companies that have fallen between schemes.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy should bear in mind that the EWSS is there to help with wages, whereas the CRSS is there to help with the fixed cost where a premises is closed.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It would have to be a very different scheme to help those firms without a premises. We still want them to survive, obviously.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The disruptive technologies innovation fund that was launched as part of Project Ireland 2040 is, essentially, a competitive fund like the urban fund, the rural fund, and the climate action fund. Businesses and higher education institutes get together and bid for funding for a particular project they may have. It is the Government taking a punt and supporting a project that might turn out...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to get some information on it. I am not an expert on it. I know it exists as one of the Enterprise Ireland schemes. It allows business to tap into the lean six sigma concept and have somebody review their systems and procedures with a view to becoming more efficient and more productive. It is very much in the management consultancy world that I read about but do not fully...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the restrictions and moving out of level 5, the Government should be in a position towards the end of next week to tell the country where we are going to be on 1 December. There will be a meeting of the Cabinet Covid sub-committee and a Cabinet meeting and we will have advice and up-to-date data from NPHET. We will be giving Ireland a few days notice as to what 1 December is going to...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: What is the name of the facility?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to come back to the Deputy on the matter. I am aware of the facility but I do not have any information on it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The funding is for additional inspectors in the main so that the HSA can step up its existing work around health and safety, which it has been doing for a long time, and its Covid-related inspections as well to make sure that workplaces are up to code when it comes to the Return to Work Safely Protocol, which we will be updating in the next couple of days. In terms of the numbers, I do not...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am told there are 116 inspectors in place already so there will be an increase on that number.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I have had a good engagement with the HSA and the Workplace Relations Commission on meat plants to find out how many complaints were made, how many inspections were carried out and what the outcome of those inspections was. By and large, the outcome of the inspections has been that businesses, including meat plants, have been broadly compliant. The impression may exist that all or most meat...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the broader picture, the HSA does announced and unannounced inspections and most of its inspections are either unannounced or at short notice. Sometimes it has to give short notice because it is going into a particular workplace where it is not possible to just arrive with a bunch of health and safety inspectors because that would create safety issues in itself. Most of the inspections...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is well resourced but we should think about the different sides of our economy and the number of people at work. There are 2 million people at work in tens of thousands of workplaces across the country. Any agency can only be so well resourced. In a perfect world, it would carry out an inspection of every workplace every week but the Deputy and I both know that would not be practical to...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It might take a couple of weeks to find a date in the diary that suits all sides but Deputy O'Reilly raised this already and I said I would be willing to meet a delegation of them or their representatives. It is tough work and somebody has to do it. Artificial intelligence can only do so much and I would be interested to hear from them about their experiences. One of the issues was that...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think we can do that. We can do it to an extent but there are issues of privacy and data protection. It is public money and there is a difference between grants and loans but I am not sure it is as straightforward as us just being able to publish the details of every company and how much they got. It is much more straightforward if it is a grant-----

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Enterprise Ireland publishes a list of the grants. When it comes to loans it is different. They are done through banks and they are commercial arrangements rather than taxpayers' money being given to a business. People have a right to know how that is spent.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Not at the moment. There has been great uptake on that. There has not been a huge uptake on all of the loan schemes but that has been one of the better ones.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: More funds will be made available but I do not know to which bank. I am not sure I am at liberty to say either but it is a good scheme. It is one of the schemes that has had the best uptake and we are keen to continue it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: There are definitely more people going to work now than in the original lockdown of March and April but there are many different reasons for that. First, there is a wider definition of "essential work" and we now include construction, manufacturing, international trade and services and supply chains. Hundreds of thousands more people are deemed essential, including those in childcare and...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (18 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think we have a specific budget for it but, as the Deputy will be aware, businesses, through the EWSS, TWSS and other grants, have received €5 billion or €6 billion worth of taxpayers' money and we have terms and conditions around that. One relates to tax compliance, whereby we are not going to give large amounts of public money to companies that have not paid or do...