Results 181-200 of 731 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Seanad: Control of Exports Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 Oct 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I am trying to do so. It is a business-related issue. While the Minister of State is before the House, I will raise the issue of work permits and people in the workforce. There is a real problem whereby people apply for work permits and get accepted, but are refused a visa and then cannot be reimbursed for applying for their work permit. Surely, there is something we can do for...

Seanad: Control of Exports Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 Oct 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Will Sinn Féin stop it straight away if it gets in?

Seanad: Control of Exports Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 Oct 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by An Taoiseach (28 Sep 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Judging by all the contributions, the Taoiseach has an awful lot of problems to solve and money to give out after today, and I am going to add one more that has not yet been spoken about, although I have spoken about it many times previously. It relates to speeding up investment for infrastructure in Irish Water. Clonmel has been decimated with outages and disruptions all year to the point...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Statement of Strategy: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (12 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I welcome all the witnesses. I congratulate Mr. Hughes and wish him well in his new role. I did this when all the Ministers came into this room. Sometimes we can focus on the challenges quite a lot and that is really important but we need to take a step back sometimes and see what is being achieved. In the last 12 years, the role the Department has played in creating employment in this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Statement of Strategy: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (12 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: With regard to supports for businesses, we gave huge supports during Covid and most businesses were really appreciative of that at the time. There is certainly a feeling when I talk to businesses that the supports given to businesses in the UK are much more supportive of business and enterprise than those given in Ireland. Do the witnesses find that is the case? There are probably budget...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Statement of Strategy: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (12 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I would not say we are ahead on the solar PV panels scheme. Seeing as Mr. Hughes brought it up, the scheme was introduced last week by the Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Eamon Ryan. It was welcome. They spoke about it at a committee meeting a few months ago. The funding for it is through the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS. Mr. Hughes will be aware that many businesses...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Statement of Strategy: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (12 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: At the start of the meeting, Deputy O'Reilly raised the level of employment for people with disabilities, which is lower than we want it to be. It is approximately 32% or 33% nationally. The EU average is roughly 55%. A strategy plan is in place. My question relates to reserved contracts for companies more than 30% of whose staff are people with disabilities. It is done quite a bit in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I welcome the recent announcement by the Departments of the Environment, Climate and Communications and Enterprise, Trade and Employment of extra financial support for businesses to install solar PV panels. It is hugely welcome. The Government has done an awful lot for homeowners in the form of SEAI grants to support them to install solar panels but we probably had not done enough for...

Seanad: Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (4 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (4 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2023: Second Stage (29 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I will be brief. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, to the House. He stated that the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, who was present, needed time to consider the Bill. We should have asked him which areas he considered. The Bill is welcome news for consumers, as well as for traders. Good traders who practise well and within the law have nothing to worry about here. The...

Seanad: Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I will not repeat what everyone else said. I thank the Minister and his officials for their work on this legislation. As he knows, my colleague, Senator Lombard, did much work on this legislation as well through the joint committee and this House. He wanted to be here today but could not be. I just wanted to pass on his gratitude to the Minister and his officials for getting this over the...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (21 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Cathaoirleach. It is hard to follow on from the really good contributions of colleagues, especially Senator Doherty's outline of Mary's contribution as a Senator and as a woman in politics. Most speakers have touched on that. There are many people in County Tipperary, especially in the Cappawhite area, who mourned Mary's passing last year. I am sure they are listening to the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for being here today which is much appreciated. My Commencement matter relates to Kilsheelan National School, which is a wonderful community school in a small village just outside Clonmel. People will be very familiar with Kilsheelan which is a previous winner of the Tidy Towns and comes very close to winning most years. It is a wonderful village right on the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State. In fairness, the principal and the school will acknowledge the good communication they have had with the Department and the Minister for Education. The real key for them is to ensure there is no hold-up and that once they send in the tender report, which the principal has said he will be doing following the end of the process today, things will move forward as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the witnesses for their contributions. It has been an informal kind of setting, which has been nice. I should declare something. Deputy Stanton named Canadian companies in Ireland and named one my wife works for, Brookfield asset management, a renewable energy company in Cork that was recently sold. She has been with them for five years or more and loves it, and the relationship...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Mr. Doyle-Kelly requested that we open a permanent consulate in Montreal, as we have done in other cities throughout the world. He suggested we are missing out on it. What countries of a similar size to Ireland have done this in Montreal, and what basic advantage does that give to businesses in Montreal and Quebec in the context of facilitating dealing with both governments? I refer not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: Have any other countries, such as New Zealand, done this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion (20 Jun 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank Mr. Doyle-Kelly.