Results 1-20 of 2,796 for speaker:Neale Richmond in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (9 Apr 2024)

Neale Richmond: The Employment Permits Section of the Department has informed me that there are approximately 66,500 active employment permits in the state. This is an approximate figure, based on a data set extracted on the 26 March. The precise figure will fluctuate daily. The requested breakdown (permit type, soc code) is set out in the attached documents.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Small and Medium Enterprises (9 Apr 2024)

Neale Richmond: Local Enterprise Offices provide a range of complementary supports to support people who want to start up or grow a business. The 31 LEOs across the country act as the "first stop shop" for businesses and entrepreneurs in Ireland and operate in each Local Authority area. Businesses operating in the domestic market (regardless of numbers employed) such as sole traders, micro businesses...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Policies (9 Apr 2024)

Neale Richmond: My Department received a collective redundancy notification from the company concerned on 2 April 2024. The rules governing collective redundancies are set out in the Protection of Employment Act 1977, as amended. Collective redundancies arise where, during any period of 30 consecutive days, the employees being made redundant are: 5 employees where 21-49 are employed, 10 employees where...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Priorities (9 Apr 2024)

Neale Richmond: Balanced regional enterprise development is a key policy of mine and is reaffirmed in the Government’s White Paper on Enterprise. My Department contributes to this agenda in several ways, including through the development, implementation and oversight of nine Regional Enterprise Plans. The Regional Enterprise Plans are driven by regional stakeholders and focus on undertaking...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (21 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: Ireland has a robust suite of employment rights legislation in place to protect and support workers. 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 and a complaint can be made under the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. The Payment of Wages Act 1991...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (21 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: While immigration and visa policy falls under the remit of the Department of Justice, my Department has responsibility for economic migration policy and the employment permits regime. Non-EEA nationals seeking permission to arrive in the State must interact with the Department of Justice for entry and residence permission, and, depending on their nationality, visa requirements. The 2023...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (21 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: Achieving balanced regional enterprise development, as reflected in the White Paper on Enterprise, remains a priority for this Government. I am very aware of the contribution made by enterprise hubs and remote working spaces across the country; these facilities provide services to support entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and they also allow people to live and work in their local...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Schemes (21 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: Since the last update provided on 28 November 2023, work has progressed significantly on drafting the General Scheme of a Bill to amend the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984. The primary purpose of that Bill will be to allow employees of companies that cease trading without engaging in any formal wind-up process to access the Insolvency Payments Scheme. The drafting...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Policies (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The Sick Leave Act 2022 commenced on 1 January 2023 and introduced a new statutory right to employer-paid sick leave. This Act provides a minimum protection to employees who do not have access to a more favourable employer sick leave scheme, many of whom are low-paid and cannot afford to miss work. As you are aware, the minimum days were initially set at 3 days for 2023 and this was...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: EU Directives (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages includes two key areas: Minimum Wages, and Collective Bargaining. The Directive requires Ireland to develop an action plan to enhance collective bargaining coverage by the end of 2025. The Final Report of the expert group on the transposition of the Directive, released in November, will be helpful in guiding how Ireland should transpose the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: EU Directives (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: EU Directive 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions in the European Union has been transposed. The European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No 686 of 2022) became law on 16 December 2022. Ireland pre-empted many provisions of the Directive through the enactment of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Energy Conservation (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: Integrating Decarbonisation and Net Zero Commitments is a key policy priority for the White Paper on Enterprise. The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are actively engaged in pursuing this priority through the LEOs suite of supports of competitiveness and productivity supports for small businesses. The ‘All in a Day’s Work’ campaign by the LEOs highlights the benefits...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Staff (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The beneficiary of the end of service payment referenced in our response to PQ 11012/24 has not been engaged by Enterprise Ireland on a consultancy basis. Neither my Department or Enterprise Ireland would be aware whether or not the beneficiary has been engaged by any other State body.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services. ...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Health leads on the implementation of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. The Government is committed to supporting positive ageing across the life course as well as to ensuring that older people can continue to live independently in their homes and communities for as long as possible. This commitment is enshrined in the National Positive Ageing...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Legislative Measures (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: It is not my Department’s intention to bring forward legislation in the light of the recent Supreme Court Decision. Ireland has comprehensive and effective legal protections in place for workers who go on strike. Part 2 of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act provides workers who are taking part in peaceful and legal industrial action with a number of legal immunities, provided certain...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The 2023 Review of the Employment Permits Occupation Lists delivered comprehensive changes to the employment permits system, with changes to 43 occupations. Submissions to the review were subject to consideration by the Interdepartmental Group (IDG) on Economic Migration Policy. The IDG consists of cross-departmental membership including the Department of Health, which has policy...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (20 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The Employment Permits Section of the Department has provided the requested information in the table below which sets out data on the number of Employment Permit applications received by country of origin over the last four years and the number of applications that were refused. Unfortunately, it is not possible to capture the reasons why these were refused, but some of the more common...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (7 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: Ireland has a robust framework of legislative protections and supports for workers who are impacted by redundancy. This includes: The Protection of Employment Act 1977, as amended, which requires employers in collective redundancy situations to consult with employees’ representatives and to notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment before implementing redundancies....

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (6 Mar 2024)

Neale Richmond: The occupation of Food Process Operative, which is the job category for workers involved in the preparation and manufacture of tofu, is currently on the Ineligible Occupations List and, as such, employment permits cannot be granted for this occupation. The outcome of the most recent review of the occupations lists for employment permits was announced last December. The review comprised a...