Results 1,241-1,260 of 4,717 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: At the outset, I must emphasise that Ireland’s system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and that responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers rests in the first instance with the employer, the workers and their representatives. I would encourage both sides to engage constructively with each other and to make every...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Development (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The regional business innovation centres (BICs) which are part-funded through Enterprise Ireland, provide tailored, high level supports to entrepreneurs to convert their innovative ideas into a commercial reality and are helping start-up enterprises to become investor ready. I understand that the Cork BIC services both the South and Mid-West regions including the Halo Business Angel Network...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: My Department, through the enterprise development agencies, provides a range of tailored supports for enterprises of all sizes in Ireland and provided emergency funding during the COVID crisis and now the energy crisis. Supports include grants and softer supports such as access to finance, management development, mentoring supports, business development programmes, market supports and trade...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: As of 20th February 2023, there are 928 Employment Permit applications in the processing queue. There are 218 awaiting information from the applicant and 6 are ready to issue. The current waiting time in respect of standard new employment permits is seven business days and for trusted partner applications the current waiting time is 4 business days. Following the implementation of an...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Ireland’s employment permits system is designed to accommodate the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill skills and labour gaps for the benefit of our economy, in the short to medium term, but this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Policy (23 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 160 and 163 together. Government has put in place a range of measures in Budget 2023 to assist companies in facing the ongoing effects of Covid, Brexit and the illegal war in Ukraine. Building on the recently published White Paper on Enterprise, my Department working with our agencies and stakeholders will continue to monitor potential threats and identify...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I sincerely thank Senator Byrne for raising this really important issue. It is particularly pertinent given the Senator's personal experience as a businesswoman in Limerick for many years as well as her parallel political career that is continuing to thrive. I think we can all agree in this House today that we all want to see SMEs succeed. SMEs are the backbone of our economy. Small...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: In conclusion, my Department, the Minister, Deputy Coveney and myself are committed to supporting businesses of all sizes throughout Ireland, but we are acutely aware of the impacts on smaller businesses. As I have mentioned, we have done a lot of work in this regard and we have made much progress, but there is always room for more. Crucial to that is the ongoing level of engagement and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Agreements (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Since the Ministerial Conference in June 2022, the WTO TRIPS Council held discussions on whether to extend the ‘Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement’ to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. However, no consensus could be reached by WTO Member States by the mandated deadline of the 17th December 2022. Acting on a request from Member...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices have an allocation of €47.78m for 2023. This represents the same core allocation as the 2022 budget but provides an additional €4m in capital funding to pilot both the extension of the LEOs mandate to grant-aid firms with over 10 employees in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors and the introduction of the Small Firms'...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications. Any planned or future schemes are a matter for the SEAI and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. The SEAI schemes currently operational are in the table below. SEAI Scheme Description Budget 2023 ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 57 together. The Small Firms Investment in Energy Efficiency scheme was announced in Budget 2023. The objective of the scheme is to support capital investment by businesses to reduce carbon emissions based on energy efficiency projects. The rationale of the scheme would be to support companies to reduce their carbon emissions and overall energy...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices' (LEO) Lean for Micro is available to help build resilience within small companies. Under this programme, clients can avail of consultancy support with a LEAN Expert (a qualified practitioner), who will work with the company to introduce lean principles, undertake a specific cost savings project and assist the company in benchmarking its performance. The...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices' (LEO) Green for Micro is open to all micro enterprises with fewer than ten employees. Qualifying businesses will access two days of intensive mentoring including a sustainability audit and action plan, designed to help "green" their business. This programme offers free advice and technical support on resource efficiency, how to better understand their carbon...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: In November 2022 the Government agreed to extend the mandate of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) to provide grant aid to firms in manufacturing and internationally traded services employing more than 10 but no more than 50 full time employees. The extension of the mandate will ensure a continuation of support for enterprises that have grown to ten or more employees, as appropriate to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Both the Business Continuity Voucher and the Micro Enterprise Assistance Fund were introduced as temporary emergency supports in 2020 to help businesses in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 and therefore only received a budget allocation in 2020. The primary aim of the Business Continuity Voucher scheme was to support companies to make informed decisions on the immediate measures...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Funding (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Ireland has significantly grown its investment in the European Space Agency (ESA) in recent years in line with the National Strategy for Space Enterprise 2019 – 2025, which seeks to build an economically sustainable and expanding space-active industry, delivering quality jobs for the economy of tomorrow. The supplementary estimate referred to in the Deputy’s question is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (22 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Restart Grant Scheme and its successor Restart Grant Plus Scheme were operational in 2020. It was launched in May 2020 and closed for applications on 31stOctober 2020. The 31 local authorities who operated the scheme received a total of 123,185 applications, of which 108,489 were successful. Overall Scheme cost was €632.4m, provided from the Department’s 2020 Vote. Of this...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Health and Safety (21 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The availability of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas throughout the Country has increased in recent years with many local authorities and sports facilities taking the lead in installing these potentially life saving pieces of equipment. The provision of such equipment on a construction site, or any other place of work, would be categorised under the provision of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (21 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Under the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme which was launched in October 2022, the total number of completed applications received to date is nineteen. Fourteen of those applications were approved by Enterprise Ireland's Investment Committee. The following table provides data on numbers of approved applications per County and the value of funding approved per County. County ...