Results 761-780 of 4,715 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Financial Services (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I share Deputy Durkan's frustration about the removal of the ATM from this campus. We both brought it up at a finance committee meeting over MS Teams when that was how we did committee meetings. Thankfully, those days are gone.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Financial Services (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: Regarding the matter raised by the Deputy, first and foremost the Government would encourage any person who has experienced a repayment difficulty or has any other genuine concern about their mortgage to contact their mortgage creditor to discuss the matter in the first instance. Of course, it is also essential that the Central Bank-regulated entities, irrespective of whether they are banks,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water Quality (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: Yes.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Business Supports (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Deputy for the tone of the debate and indeed for the constructive proposal. It is constructive, but it will require quite a bit of reflection from the Government in relation to the abolition of PRSI for lower-paid workers. It would come at a cost, today as well as in the future, and we have to bear that in mind. I will bring it to the attention of both the Minister for Social...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Business Supports (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this important matter and for his consistent advocacy on behalf of businesses throughout Ireland, but particularly in his home town and his home county of Longford. I empathise with many of the points he has made on behalf of the local business person in Longford. There are a few points to address. The first relates specifically to the increased cost...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Business Supports (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter in the House. It is always a pleasure to come back. As the Senator will be aware, the increased cost of business scheme is worth €250 million. Not a single cent will be required from local authorities, or indeed the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to administer it. The fund has been generated by the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Business Supports (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: We have looked at the data and the vast majority of the 13% of businesses are large multinationals making large profits. The scheme is targeted at small and medium enterprises, most of which have greater exposure for a number of reasons. These include the fact that they are commercial ratepayers and there has been a rate revaluation in the past couple of years in pretty much every local...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I appreciate the Senator raising this topic. It is an issue in an area that the Senator has been such a passionate advocate for, not just in this House, but previously on Dublin City Council as well. That deserves recognition. Dublin City Council has advised the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that it is currently preparing a stage 1 capital appraisal application for...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I share the Senator's disappointment to some extent. I will undertake to ask my colleague in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to write to Dublin City Council. Realistically, it is appropriate for him to write than me. I will act as a conduit because I share the Senator's ambition for this part of the city. The capital is my home too and I know how dedicated she has...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Senator for submitting this Commencement matter and giving me the opportunity to update the House on the progress of the new building for Summercove National School in the beautiful town of Kinsale. One does not need to rely on Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures; one can see the sheer activity around Kinsale. We know the population has gone up but the future population will...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Department and project manager will keep school authorities and all relevant bodies informed of further development regarding the completion of stage one and the progression of the major building project. Until the project is at a point at which all statutory approvals have been granted, however, it is not possible to provide an update on the expected on-site date. I will undertake to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Overcrowding (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I greatly appreciate the opportunity to reply to Senator's matter. It is always good to see the Senator, regardless of the seriousness of the nature of the debate. This should be reflected. As the Senator alluded to, the Minister for Health has been concerned for some time about the congestion experienced in the emergency department at UHL, leading to long patient experience times and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Overcrowding (26 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: As I mentioned, significant resources have been invested in UHL in recent years. I want to outline some of what has been invested in and is onstream. We saw an increase in the workforce in UHL of 36%, or 966 whole-time staff, at the end of 2019. Recently the Minister opened new theatre wards in clinical areas in Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. This includes the development of an ambulatory...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (25 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Government is committed to supporting workers and has a strong record on strengthening and introducing new workers’ rights. As the Deputy is aware, the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018, came into force on 4 March 2019. This Act introduced a number of measures to strengthen employee rights and to address the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (25 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: Delivering balanced regional enterprise growth and sustainable local job creation is a core objective of this Government and is a key component of my Department’s White Paper on Enterprise. To this end, my Department through its Enterprise Agencies, and together with the Local Enterprise Offices, continues to focus on supporting businesses across the country, including in south...

Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions: Motion (24 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 29th March, 2023, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer, following those set down to the Minister for Defence shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister for Finance...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Low Pay Commission (24 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to Senator Warfield for submitting this timely and important Commencement matter. Before I get into the specifics of the sub-minimum wage rate, it is important to lay out the context in which we are discussing it, with regard to the national minimum wage. We all know it has increased as part of the budget to €12.70 per hour. That will come into effect from 1 January....

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Low Pay Commission (24 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Senator briefly on a couple of issues that I could speak for much longer than a minute about. I would appreciate the chance to come back into the House to perhaps have a wider discussion. One thing I would be heartened about, parallel to this, is that in second quarter of this year, we recognised the job rates and decrease in unemployment, and 75% of people returning to work were women....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (24 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 216 and 217 together. The Employment Permits Section of the Department informs me that they have no record of new employment permit applications having been received in respect of the persons concerned in the details supplied. They also inform me that both of the persons concerned are current holders of general employment permits that are currently valid until...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (24 Oct 2023)

Neale Richmond: Organisations may choose to outsource activities for a number of different reasons. In the recently published Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2023 Report, the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council found that the Irish jobs market remains particularly strong. For employers, the challenge to attract and retain the right people is growing in a digitally transforming world....