Results 1,321-1,340 of 4,792 for speaker:Neale Richmond

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 ...

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

Neale Richmond: Under Stream 2 of the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme which was launched in October 2022, of the total number of 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 to companies...

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

Neale Richmond: The Table below provides the relevant data sought on the number of senior principal scientific officers and senior executives in global procurement working for Enterprise Ireland in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023 - As at 1st July 2021 As at 1st July 2022 Current Senior Principal Scientific Officers 0 0 0 ...

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

Neale Richmond: Where Enterprise Ireland's assessment of the value of investments is nil, due to insolvency or otherwise, those investments are written off. Over the last five years Enterprise Ireland has had to write off €47,013,327.16 of equity investments in 257 of their clients due to those businesses being dissolved, entering receivership or being liquidated. The following Table provides the...

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

Neale Richmond: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together. I have not had any engagement or received any correspondence on this matter, but I appreciate that this is a difficult situation for those workers affected. Statutory and contractual employment terms apply in relation to the payment of wages. Failure to pay all or part of the wages due to an employee is considered an unlawful deduction...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (15 Feb 2023)

Neale Richmond: The applications submitted in respect of the Employment Permits in the details supplied were returned to the applicant following an initial pre-check, as discrepancies were identified in the Labour Market Needs Test and the application form. As the applications concerned were not formally accepted for processing, the returns are not considered to be refusals. The applicant has been advised to...