Results 1,661-1,680 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (5 May 2021)

Damien English: The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. In order to ensure that the employment permits...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (29 Apr 2021)

Damien English: The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. In order to ensure that the employment permits...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (29 Apr 2021)

Damien English: I am keenly aware that businesses are continuing to make massive sacrifices to protect their communities. Following the advice of NPHET, the Government made the decision to move the entire country to Level 5 of the Framework for Living with COVID-19 (COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021: The Path Ahead) and for essential retail and services (including childcare) to remain open. This has...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Community Employment Schemes (29 Apr 2021)

Damien English: The Government has worked to support businesses with a comprehensive range of measures for firms of all sizes. Details of the wide range of COVID-19 schemes and measures for businesses are available on my Department’s website at . In relation to supports for employers temporarily employing people through the community employment scheme I refer you to my colleague Heather Humphreys TD,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (29 Apr 2021)

Damien English: Since the onset of the pandemic, my Department has worked to ensure that there are measures in place to help businesses to access appropriate financing in response to the challenges of trading in the environment brought about by COVID-19. Initially, this meant the adaptation or expansion of existing schemes to ensure support could be in place as quickly as possible. The first two such schemes...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: S.I. No. 168 of 2021 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) Regulations 2021 () clearly sets out the temporary restrictions under Level 5. A list of essential services can be found at and the list of essential retail outlets at Level 5 can be found at Under Level 5, in line with public health guidelines, only essential retail outlets will remain open and the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: As you are aware, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), low-cost loans, the deferral and warehousing of tax liabilities and the waiver of commercial rates. You will also know...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: S.I. No. 168 of 2021 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) Regulations 2021 () clearly sets out the temporary restrictions under Level 5. A list of essential services can be found at and the list of essential retail outlets at Level 5 can be found at Under Level 5, in line with public health guidelines, only essential retail outlets will remain open and the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: As you are aware, following the advice of NPHET, the Government made the decision to move the entire country to Level 5 of the Framework for Living with COVID-19 (COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021: The Path Ahead) and for essential retail and services (including childcare) to remain open. This has been followed by the recent Government announcement of a phased easing of public health...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: The closing date for receipt of applications by Local Authorities for the first phase of the Small Business Assistance scheme for COVID (SBASC) has now passed.  This scheme is designed to support those businesses who are ineligible for CRSS and other sectoral schemes. Please note that phase two of this scheme is due to be announced in the coming weeks.  Businesses who meet the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: As you know, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID (SBASC), low-cost loans, the deferral and warehousing of tax liabilities and the waiver...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: My Department, through Enterprise Ireland (EI), is helping Irish businesses to rebuild after the impact of Covid-19.  EI administers the Sustaining Enterprise Fund whose objectives include: - Ensure eligible companies have access to the necessary liquidity - Sustain business so that companies can return to viability and contribute to the recovery of the Irish economy. - Ensure eligible...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme is the largest loan guarantee scheme in the history of the State.The Scheme provides €2 billion in lending, for terms up to five-and-a-half years and offers a range of lending products between €10,000 and €1 million at interest rates below market rates for similar type loans.  It is available to SMEs and small mid-caps (business...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: The Local Enterprise Offices’ Business Continuity Voucher scheme was introduced in March 2020 as a scheme to provide expert guidance and advice to SMEs employing up 50 people and to enable business owners make informed decisions about what immediate measures and remedial actions could be taken at the outset of COVID pandemic, to protect staff and sales and eventually help the business...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (28 Apr 2021)

Damien English: As you know, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID (SBASC), low-cost loans, the deferral and warehousing of tax liabilities and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) Regulations 2021 (27 Apr 2021)

Damien English: I thank the Chairman and members for giving me the opportunity to address them on the draft Regulations on the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) 2021. The draft regulations are before the committee by virtue of the procedural requirements of section 28 of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996. This provides...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) Regulations 2021 (27 Apr 2021)

Damien English: I thank Deputy Louise O'Reilly for her questions. I agree with her in that we hope it is not overly common that young people are working in this sector. I do not have the number but I will try to get the Deputy some figures. We believe there are very few involved but it is important that the legislation be in place and very clear. We can communicate that. The directive is from the EU, so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) Regulations 2021 (27 Apr 2021)

Damien English: They have that right and they carry out a high number of inspections in this area, some being targeted and some not necessarily based on information. We reckon that more than 98% of the ships and boats involved in the sector are checked regularly through our various agencies. The definition of light work is in the regulation but we will make every effort to make sure it is communicated...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) Regulations 2021 (27 Apr 2021)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy. I agree the majority that we are aware of are Irish. Again, I do not have the numbers in the sector but I can discuss it with the lead Minister. It generally reflects family situations and people working for families but it is still important that we have a very clear directive. People might want to bring forward cases to us and this will strengthen the national law to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Protection of Young Persons (Employment) (Exclusion of Workers in the Fishing and Shipping Sectors) Regulations 2021 (27 Apr 2021)

Damien English: It is not my area of expertise but one of our officials states people can build up credentials in the sector linked to the Departments of Transport and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Work at night-time has been on very rare occasions. Some part of the training might involve night-time activity but we believe it should be extremely limited. Again, this is dealt with in the regulations. ...