Results 1,121-1,140 of 4,715 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: Definitely within the construction sector and more widely, the Senator is right that pay is not the immediate concern. We are setting minimum rights at a time that is very different perhaps from before. It is a time when the economy is going very well. Activity in the construction sector is as high as can be but it can and needs to be a lot more. When we are putting these thresholds or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: With the Chair's indulgence, we are seeing an increasing amount of certainty in the construction sector. People are going into work on jobs that are two, three or four years in duration on site. There are individual contractors, subcontractors and people working directly for developers and in-house. We see this not only in housing but in the commercial sector with large-scale building. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Deputy may be aware that I was in Limerick on Monday. I had meetings in the city with the Local Enterprise Office, LEO, and a number of business representative groups including the Limerick Chamber of Commerce, the Small Firms Association, SFA , and others. In 2022, more than 2,000 new jobs were created in Limerick city and county, supported by various State agencies including...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank Deputy Flaherty. The first response I will give is on my specific responsibilities and the terms of this sectoral employment order, which sets increases on the hourly rate for apprentices. It provides a very clear indication, as I referred to when responding to Deputy Stanton, that those choosing a career in any of these crafts or trades can rely on to have a very decent and good...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Road Projects (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I greatly appreciate Deputy Stanton’s indulgence that I am giving the reply. I will give the best response I can. From the outset, I want to underline that I completely acknowledge his commitment to the project and his advocacy that has been ongoing for it, as well as acknowledging that of the Acting Chair. His passion for it will be familiar to many of us here. I agree that Mallow...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Road Projects (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I empathise completely with the Deputy’s frustration. I will take this back to the Minister first thing tomorrow morning. He is right that it is not acceptable that budgetary constraints have been cited for 2023. Two Deputies for Cork East are in the Chamber. It is my job as the Minister of State who is taking this question to go back and look at the funding envelope or whatever...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Job Losses (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am extremely aware of the importance of this industry to a county the Deputy and his family have represented with such distinction for decades. The suggestions he made are commonsensical and worthwhile. It behoves me to have great responsibility not just to bring them back to ministerial colleagues in Government, which I undertake to do, but take it further and engage on my behalf and on...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Job Losses (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I apologise to the Chair and, more important, Deputy Cowen for the logistical mess-up at the start. I was moving over from dealing with oral parliamentary questions. To provide context to my reply, the Department has not received a formal redundancy notification in regard to the company just yet. That covers an awful lot of what the response can be at this stage, but I will try as best...

Re-introduction of Mortgage Interest Relief: Motion [Private Members] (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I appreciate the opportunity to speak in this lengthy, wide-ranging debate, which has covered a topic that has been a subject of previous Private Members' business. It was a familiar topic to me and Deputy Durkan at meetings of the finance committee over recent years. Unfortunately, Deputy Conway-Walsh and I were not members of the committee at the same time but I appreciate that the...

Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Referral to Joint Committee (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 5th April, 2023, be referred to the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in accordance with Standing Order 95(5), which, not later than 27th April,...

Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Referral to Joint Committee (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: We can debate it tomorrow morning at the committee.

Appointment to the Policing Authority: Motion (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I move: That Dáil Éireann recommends, pursuant to section 62C(7) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, that Anthony Harbinson be appointed by the Government to be a member of the Policing Authority.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Services (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am extremely grateful to Senator Martin for raising this issue and giving me this opportunity to speak on it in the Seanad on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The Senator will know from my long time in the Seanad and previously as a backbencher that this is an issue very close to my heart. It is one I have spoken on at great length more generally when it comes...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Services (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am disappointed that the Senator finds little comfort in this reply because what we have here is a very clear determination from the Department and the hospital group to work to find those new facilities that the Senator rightly says are desperately needed for the people of Kildare and the wider midlands region. I disagree. Fundamentally, the clinic is staffed by brilliant people in...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Monuments (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to the Senator for raising this issue and for putting up with me responding to it. I do so enthusiastically, not just on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, but as someone who, like the Senator, is a true-blue Dub and is proud of our nation's history and who, like the Acting Chairman, is an historian by background and has spoken on this matter as a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Monuments (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: I assure the Senator that what I have laid out is a detailed process that has to be and will be followed by the Government and all the various stakeholders to realise this crucial project. While it does not include specific dates, it includes clear objectives that need to be met. If we were dealing with an ordinary construction project or restoration, we would have a clear timeline, but we...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. 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. The WRC has statutory responsibility for investigation and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Health and Safety (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The regulatory agency with responsibility for batteries regulations in Ireland is the Environmental Protection Agency, which falls under the remit of my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Neither the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, or the Health and Safety Authority, has a statutory role for regulating the safety of batteries themselves. In...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Prices (25 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) was introduced to provide financial support to companies that have experienced significant increases in energy costs. The scheme was designed by the Department of Finance and is being administered by the Revenue Commissioners, with funding coming from my Department. Government was concerned at the low uptake of the scheme and want more...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health and Safety (20 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. I really appreciate Deputy Buckley bringing forward this matter and for the contributions he has made before the House this evening, which are timely, appropriate and stark. First, my thoughts are with the workers who were seriously injured at the Stryker plant in Cork earlier this week, with their families, with their co-workers and with all those...