Results 1,421-1,440 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: There is nothing hidden here.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am being told they are additional. I presume they are large-scale energy efficiency projects. They are companies that are specifically investing in projects that are primarily about energy efficiency. We will see a lot more of that in the years ahead, by the way. It reflects the fact that Ireland is now starting to be seen as a country where climate and environmental technologies are...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Is there ever a contribution Deputy Shanahan makes that does not involve 24-7 cardiac care in Waterford?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Fair play to the Deputy. I take it that is the road from Waterford to Cork on the way to the hospital where the Amgen site is. It is not that it is State policy to fill the Amgen site. It is an IDA Ireland-owned site. Like all the IDA Ireland-owned strategic sites, we are trying to get commerce on them and to get multinationals to move in. That is a particularly strategic site because of...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I also want to keep the LEEF manageable in respect of the number of bodies there interacting with one another. I will take the Deputy’s comments on board and will take a look at it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Excuse me, Chairman, but what is he saying the authority is short of, please?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chair for his questions. I do not want to get into the northern distributor road debate. I take the point, as there is a similar debate in Galway in respect of ensuring that there are traffic flows that are manageable in and out of the city, and that does impact on the appetite for investment in cities. We need public transport networks which are efficient and work but we also...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: It has had many visits from the IDA in the past 12 months and the economic story in Limerick is strong at the moment.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I hear that. On the Corporate Enforcement Authority, its budget is increasing by a quarter. This is not a small increase. A 25% increase is fairly significant. It may have asked for a little bit more but there is not any organisation which receives 100% of what it asks for. I do not believe there is any danger of the Government being seen as skimping on money for the Corporate...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: We will continue to stay close to them and support them financially as best we can. On the Design & Crafts Council, there was a funding increase in the budget in the past year of €1 million and, in 2023, there was a €500,000 increase from the capital carryover. The budget for the council has almost doubled in the past four years. I attended the trade and craft fair...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----quarter of this year. I think we will be able to follow this closely, because from my perspective I want to ensure we are spending everything we have budgeted for. This is why TBESS is such an outlier that has skewed all the numbers, last year and this year. We will, though, try to address this during the year. In the other areas, however, when we add up the number of schemes that...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: We have had this debate on the role of data centres in the economy. They are an important part of the future of the economy, including how we manage data in a way that can reduce our carbon footprint to ensure the economy is as efficient as possible. The challenge for us is to power data centres with clean energy in the future. That is why we are investing so heavily in offshore wind and...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I do not think it is directly linked to the Estimates anyway.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: First, the job losses that we are seeing across the technology sector are in companies that in most cases, certainly those I have spoken to, will be supporting those who are losing their jobs way beyond their statutory obligations in terms of financial support. That is a good thing. By and large, these are companies that can afford to do that. They should be looking after their workers in...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Revised) (9 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chair. It is good to get the opportunity to sit before the committee for the first time in this brief. I look forward to working with everybody. I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss my Department’s 2023 Estimate with the committee this evening. I am grateful to the committee for facilitating the change in the time for today's meeting. My officials have...

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

Simon Coveney: The Low Pay Commission submitted its report on piloting Universal Basic Income during 2022. The report was accompanied by a report, authored by ESRI under the terms of the Low Pay Commission / ESRI Research Partnership Agreement, titled ‘A universal basic income for Ireland: Lessons from the international literature’. It should be noted that the ‘Basic Income for the...

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

Simon Coveney: My department and its offices subtitled 93 percent of its social media video content during 2022. There were no videos posted during 2022 that included Irish Sign Language. Separately, I have requested that the state agencies under the remit of my department provide the information requested and I will forward this to the Deputy once received.

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

Simon Coveney: The Deputy will understand that the allocation of grid costs to energy customers is a matter for the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU); I do not as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment have a statutory role in that regard. The CRU is the appropriate regulator, and it is empowered and required to ensure that grid tariffs appropriately reflect the cost of providing grid...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am happy to take this question, if that is okay. I reassure the Deputy that we are following what is happening at the moment very closely. We are speaking to many tech companies at a senior level to understand what is likely to unfold in the coming months. It is important to say that the tech sector is extremely strong in Ireland right now. Many of the global decisions that have been...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----broader implications of these decisions for many Irish service companies as well.