Results 1,341-1,360 of 4,783 for speaker:Neale Richmond

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...

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

Neale Richmond: The Employment Permits Section of the Department informs me that, on 30thSeptember 2022, a General Employment Permit application for the person concerned (in the details supplied) was received. On 23rdNovember 2022 the application was refused for several reasons. The applicant was informed of the refusal reasons and of their right to request a review of the refusal decision within 28 days...

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

Neale Richmond: The latest job figures show employment increased across all economic sectors for Enterprise Ireland  supported companies. In total, 19,660 new jobs were created in 2022 by companies assisted by EI. Total employment by companies assisted by Enterprise Ireland in 2022 was 218,178, an increase of 5% on the 2021 outturn and 68% of these jobs are outside Dublin. Balanced regional development...

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

Neale Richmond: The Local Enterprise Offices' (LEO) most recent Annual Employment Survey for 2022 was published on 17th January.  These results show the significant role the LEOs are playing in not only creating new businesses and jobs but also in sustaining them.  LEO client companies created 7,870 new jobs in 2022 and is the third highest year of job creation by the LEOs since 2014. The results...

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

Neale Richmond: The purpose of the A7 subhead is to provide funding to Enterprise Ireland to enable them to deliver a range of programmes and services which contribute to enterprise development and job creation across the regions.  I can confirm that the funding in the Budget 2023 Expenditure Report is allocated solely to capital expenditure.  The monies provided under this subhead relate to...

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

Neale Richmond: The A.8 subhead which comprises the current (non-pay) and capital funding for the Local Enterprise Offices has 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...