Results 7,741-7,760 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Under the current level 5 of the plan for living with Covid, people are asked to stay at home. If people can work from home, they should do so. They should only enter their workplace if they are providing an essential service for which their physical presence is required. While we all look forward to the day when we are free to return to our workplaces, the Government wants remote working...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is true that anyone can request of his or her employer the option of working at home but it is not a legal right in the sense that I mean it. At the moment, people can request term time or flexible hours, which is kind of what I have in mind in setting out a legal framework whereby people could request remote working of their employer and the employer would have to consider it properly...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Safety (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. Content moderators working for social media platforms play an important role in preventing the wider distribution of explicit content on these platforms. Social media content moderators should be treated by an employer in the same way as any other worker exposed to a potential harm. The employer must ensure that the employee has...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Safety (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am familiar with the work. It must be very difficult work to do to have to sit for hours on end watching explicit, violent or deeply offensive content. Some of it can be done by artificial intelligence but we know that that is not good enough. That is why one needs a human being to do much of that work. Somebody needs to do it. If they do not do that job the content gets online and...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Workplace Safety (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I certainly would be happy to do that. As I say, it must be extraordinarily difficult work to do but it is work that somebody has to do to protect the rest of us. It is important that those staff who agree to do that job have their well-being protected. I meet representatives of Facebook and other digital platforms maybe once a year. I will certainly make it part of the agenda or if...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Job Losses (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his interest in this issue. He raised it with me previously, as have Deputy Fitzmaurice and Senators Dolan and Murphy. I was disappointed to learn of the decision by Aptar to close its facility in Ballinasloe. My primary concern, as I said previously, is for the workers and families who have been impacted by this decision in losing their jobs at a very difficult...

Confidence in Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Motion (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Taoiseach, the leader of the Green Party, my party colleagues, colleagues in Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies for their words of support. First of all, I wish to restate my apology to the House. I am sorry for my actions that gave rise to tonight's motion and I accept sole responsibility for them. While my motivations were sound, the manner in which I conducted...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Foreign Direct Investment (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, my focus is to lead our country through the economic crisis that has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. My Department, and the enterprise agencies under my remit, are doing everything possible to sustain businesses and get our people safely back to work in all parts of our country. I believe the best way to attract...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Data Centres (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Data centres are an increasingly important part of the digital and communications sectors and a core infrastructure for remote working.  Since the publication of the ‘Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Policy’, in June 2018, IDA Ireland has been promoting regional options for data centre investments. It has identified...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Programme for Government (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Delivering balanced regional growth through a coherent policy approach to the enterprise needs of every part of Ireland is a stated objective within the Programme for Government. My Department’s Regional Enterprise Plans are focused on region-specific enterprise development challenges and opportunities and provide a mechanism for joined up responses at the regional level, involving the...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of electronic communications to the success of many businesses and organisations. The use of mobile technology has enabled many workers to remain connected and in employment, and those who can work from home have been encouraged to do so. However, a long-acknowledged, potential downside to the use of mobile and other electronic...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has invested in the development of enterprise/co-working hubs in every region through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and the recent Border Fund. Based on Enterprise Ireland’s analysis, approximately 3,200 co-working/enterprise spaces are being developed across 45 of the 117 projects supported under these Funds. In August this year I announced a €12...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Brexit Preparations (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s Brexit Readiness Action Plan sets out a broad range of changes that will occur from 31 December 2020, regardless of the outcome of ongoing EU-UK negotiations. It provides clear and concise advice on steps to be taken now by businesses and individuals in order to prepare for the end of the Transition Period. Enterprise measures in place include a €20 million...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As part of Budget 2021, my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and Transport Eamon Ryan TD is introducing specific measures for taxi and hackney businesses. The Minister is providing funding to the National Transport Authority to enable it to waive annual vehicle licence renewal fees for 2021. In addition, Minister Ryan is allocating €15 million...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 87 together. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on businesses across the economy although it is evident that the impacts have not been felt uniformly across all sectors or cohorts. The PUP data which is released on a weekly basis can assist in analysing the impact of restrictions on employment and, by proxy, business. A...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Data Centres (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Officials in my Department liaise regularly with IDA Ireland in relation to enterprise policy, including data centres. Since the publication of the ‘Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Policy’, in June 2018, IDA Ireland has been promoting regional options for data centre investments. It has identified sites throughout Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: 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 critical work of those Irish-based companies, in early October I convened a series of short meetings with several of IDA Ireland’s biopharmaceutical client companies to hear about the crucial role they are...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: IDA Ireland (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 76 together. Counties Meath and Westmeath continue to be strong performers in terms of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). From 2015 to 2019, the number of IDA client companies based in County Meath increased from 16 to 19 with over 350 net new jobs added during this period. In County Westmeath, the number of multinational firms increased from...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Details of the enterprise measure approvals made as part of the COVID -19 and Brexit supports available are updated weekly on my Department’s website at Budget 2021 provides 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...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Job Creation (10 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am acutely aware of the loss and uncertainty that is felt by individuals, their families, and whole communities associated with business closure, downsizing and job losses.  In the case of Roche, the remaining 125 employees departed the site in Clarecastle in March 2020. The company provided significant assistance to employees in respect tosourcing alternative employment and many have...