Results 1,261-1,280 of 4,708 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Arts Policy (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am taken by some of the Deputy's comments. It is important to assure the House that the Government is committed to youth arts, particularly in the context of Creative Youth, which is one of five pillars of the Creative Ireland programme. Creative Youth is being implemented by, and is focused through, the Department of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. She is the Minister putting her...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Arts Policy (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am responding on behalf of his party colleague and my constituency colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. I was very touched by the Deputy's contribution and I am very well aware that this is a personal passion of his as well as something he is bringing forward on behalf of his...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Social Welfare Payments (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister. I genuinely thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset, I will take the opportunity to set out the context for what is an extremely important issue which many people have become familiar with over recent days and weeks. The disabled persons maintenance allowance constituted a weekly allowance paid by health boards to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Social Welfare Payments (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I go back to the Deputy's initial contribution. It is important to note, as the Attorney General points out in his report, that it is sometimes tempting to resort to generic stereotypes about the State being in some way unfair to its citizens when they are deprived of a benefit and bring legal proceedings challenging this deprivation, and that the logic behind such a perspective suggests...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Defence Forces (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I thank both Senator Joe O'Reilly and the Acting Chair for their welcome. This is the fourth or fifth time I have been back in the Seanad in recent weeks, but it is always a pleasure and I hope to be here many more times to engage with Senator Joe O'Reilly and the Acting Chair, and Senator Gavan, who is awaiting the next Commencement matter. We all soldiered here together for a good four...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Defence Forces (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I assure the Senator that he will have those figures as soon as is humanly possible, but that does not take away from the overall response. There are two other areas to underline our agreed position on this. A high-level action plan setting out the Government's response to the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces was approved and a high-level steering board, chaired by the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Sick Leave Act 2022 commenced on 1st January 2023, and introduced a new statutory right to employer-paid sick leave. This Act will provide protection to employees who do not currently have employer-paid sick pay schemes, many of whom are low-paid and cannot afford to miss work. As a starting point, this scheme will cover the three waiting days before eligibility for Illness Benefit from the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Ambulance Service (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Organisation of Working Time Act (OWTA) 1997 transposed the original EU Working Time Directive (Directive 93/104/EC) – now consolidated by EU Directive 2003/88/EC – into Irish law. The EU Working Time Directive is primarily a health and safety directive and its purpose is to lay down common minimum safety and health requirements for organising the working time of employees...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit is designed to facilitate the transfer of senior management, key personnel or trainees who are non-EEA nationals from an overseas branch of a multinational corporation to its Irish branch. The main attraction of this permit is that it facilitates the temporary injection of corporate personnel and also provides for such employees to stay on the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Healthcare Policy (8 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I can confirm that my Departmental colleague, Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, recently received correspondence from the Minister for Social Protection concerning the communication from the EU Commission about the addition of COVID-19 to the list of reportable occupational diseases. A reply has issued to the Minister for Social Protection outlining that the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Pension Provisions (2 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: There is no statutory retirement age for employees in Irish legislation, apart from for certain public sector employees where statutory retirement ages may apply. A contract of employment will generally contain a retirement age, but this is a matter of contract between the parties. Under Irish legislation an employer is permitted to set a retirement age as long as it is objectively and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Ukraine War (2 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Funding of €4.5 million has been allocated from the capital carryover allocation of €24 million  for Enterprise Ireland subhead A7 in REV 2023 by way of initial support for the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme this year. As agreed by Government, my Department will engage with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to secure additional substantial funding for the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (2 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The overall capital funding allocation for Local Enterprise Office (LEO) programmes in 2023 is €35.8m. The allocation to individual LEO programmes is yet to be finalised and is subject to approval of the Enterprise Ireland board. The Lean for Micro programme supports clients to adopt lean business principles in their organisation to increase performance and competitiveness. Lean is...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Funding (2 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I can confirm that the €6 million in respect of the  Digital Transition Funds referred to in the Budget 2023 Expenditure Report is allocated solely to capital expenditure.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (2 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The Crisis Response Business Financial Planning Grant funded through Enterprise Ireland is a strategic intervention to assist companies to prepare a detailed financial plan and to assess the impact of currently emerging impacts on their business. The grant offers up to €5,000 (100% of expenditure) for an engagement with an approved external consultant to: - understanding the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Prices (1 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to the Senator for bringing this matter to the floor of the Seanad. I agree with her that it is very welcome €50 is being refunded into many people's electricity bills this month. However, I am under no illusion about this being a tiny amount compared with the substantial rise in costs that individual and businesses of all sizes have been faced with when it comes to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Prices (1 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: It would be very easy to try to put the reply in a simplistic manner of "Yes" or "No". The Senator has been around politics in this House and beyond far too long not to know this is an extremely complex matter that involves a number of strategies. It is important to put to the House the fact that the Department has a keen interest in energy prices, not only for businesses and the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (1 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 was 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. ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (1 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: Under Stream 2 of the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme which was launched in October 2022, of the total number of the 76 application packs issued by Enterprise Ireland, to date one application has been returned.  The response to Stream 2 reflects that a significant number of companies requested application packs, but they have not yet been converted into application forms mainly due...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (1 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: 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 costs by accelerating the adoption of low carbon technologies...