Results 1,261-1,280 of 4,866 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The table below shows the number of Critical Skills Employment Permits that were granted by my Department under the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code 2211 in the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and to-date in 2023. These figures include the number of Critical Skills Employment Permits that were granted in respect of General Practitioners during the same period. All doctor...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The current Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) for the Construction Sector came into effect on 1 February 2022. The Order fixes the statutory minimum rates of pay and other conditions for example, sick pay and pension entitlements for craftspeople, construction operatives and apprentices employed in the construction sector. Any employer in that sector has a legal duty to comply, at minimum,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Relations (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: Since the enactment of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, 11 applications were made to the Labour Court under Section 2(1) of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 as amended. A recommendation issued in respect of 7 of these applications and 4 were withdrawn by the requesting party. The details of the recommendations which issued are provided below and the decisions are...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (26 Apr 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices are a ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports to those wishing to start or grow their own business and act as a ‘signposting’ service for all government supports available to the SME sector and can provide information/referrals to other relevant bodies under agreed protocols e.g....

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 am delighted to join members for my first time before the committee and pleased to present to the committee a draft SEO for the construction sector. The draft order is proposing to amend the previous SEO made in 2021, which in turn amended the SEO made in 2019, by confirming new minimum rates of pay, pension and sick pay entitlements for workers in the construction sector. This order, if...

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 am heartened to hear that the Deputy not only thinks this is a nice committee to come to but, crucially, I am heartened to hear her broad support and welcome for this SEO. That is the most important thing to put on record. We have had a couple of discussions in the Chamber so far on issues similar to this, be they through oral parliamentary questions or Topical Issues, and I apologise for...

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: Absolutely. The strength of this sectoral employment order, SEO, is that it has the agreement of employers and employees alike. They recognise that this is the bare minimum. Employers know this is the bare minimum they need to attract people into professions that are grossly understaffed at the moment, both domestically and from elsewhere. However, they only work if they are fully and...

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 the Deputy very much. I will try to address each of the points raised. The Deputy's first and last points come to the same conclusion, that is, how we attract people into the construction sector to build the homes we so desperately need, the roads, such as the one in Mallow, we so desperately need and so much else beyond. With regard to apprenticeships more specifically, the...

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 Stanton and I appreciate his comments about mechanics. They are well received and will be actioned. Regarding travel, provisions for travel time were requested by some parties. The Labour Court has declined to provide it in the SEO. Unfortunately, this is not a matter for me but it is for the Labour Court and its justification is in its own hands; we will have to go by its...

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 Bruton and I appreciate that. It is heartening to see the increase in numbers of people opting to work in the construction sector. There are still a number of concerns. Only 9% of people working in the sector are women and we can do a lot more than that, if we look at other countries beyond the EU who have done so much to incentivise women into the trades and onto building...

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 Barry, as ever, for his intervention. There are a couple of points I will address because, respectfully, I think he is cherry-picking much of what we are trying to do here this morning. Let us be fair; these are about minimum rates. This is not setting salaries within the construction sector; these are very basic and minimum rates. If he goes through the categories,...

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...