Results 1-20 of 2,668 for long speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ireland's Recognition of the State of Palestine: Statements (28 May 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...of months to get us to this position. I also want to recognise the role of the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and many other Members of this House who have called for recognition for a long time. I believe it is an important symbolic but also practical moment. It underlines our view that the Palestinians' right to have their own state is as valid as and equal to that of the...

Delivering Universal Healthcare: Statements (15 May 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...is not a good model for the 21st century. Whatever about in 1948, it certainly is not right for 2024. In the NHS, north of the Border and across the water, we see a system in which patients wait longer and have poorer outcomes, staff are paid less and social care and healthcare are not integrated. That is not a model we should follow in this State. We see much better models on mainland...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (1 May 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...free PrEP pre-exposure profilaxis programme to prevent HIV; if he is satisfied that at risk men can access the programme without any barriers; if there is a waiting list for the programme and how long the wait is for a first assessment; and if he plans to extend the service to GPs. [19668/24]

Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...into account all the different submissions and conflicting opinions. The late Seamus Brennan first mooted introducing this measure 25 years ago. It certainly has been in the pipeline for a very long time. In many ways, it is a pity it was not done back then. If it had been, there are people retiring today and having to get by on the State pension alone who would now have 25 years of...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...war. It is an opportunity to restate our unwavering support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and to make it clear that we will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine for as long as it takes. Russia’s imperial war is existential for Ukraine but is also fundamental for European and global security. If he is successful in Ukraine, we know that Putin...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Offices (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...also conducting support visits. That is essentially what is being provided at Crooksling at the moment. I will have to come back to Deputy Barry with a more definitive answer on Covid-19 and long Covid, but my understanding is that Covid-19 is now being treated as any other respiratory virus would be treated and long Covid is being treated as any other chronic disease would be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Programme for Government (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...able to set up a task force in the next couple of weeks but I promise Deputy O'Sullivan that it is something on which we can perhaps work together. It is something I have been sincere about for a long time but I have not managed to unlock whatever the problem is. I will keep an interest in it because I do not understand or accept why any patient who needs a medicine that is available...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: The main thing for us to get the scheme up and running. It has been far too long in coming. It is open to applications from today and we are very keen to implement it, press ahead with the other measures such as the remembrance centre, memorialisation and the medical cards and get what has been agreed by Government and the House operational as soon as possible.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: The mother and baby homes institutions payment scheme opened for applications at 9 o'clock this morning. It has taken far too long but I am glad the scheme is now up and running. An extensive information and awareness campaign will take place both at home and abroad, and applicants will be supported throughout the application process with the information and advice they need. Where a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: .... We are seeing energy bills fall and I believe we will see interest rates fall during the year, which will be welcome to many people, particularly those who have mortgages. On the health service, we see now for the first time in a very long time that waiting lists are falling. They have fallen two years in a row and we intend this year to be the third such year. The work of the...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Public Inquiries (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur. It will include a consideration of the health service response covering hospitals, the community and nursing homes, along with the wider economic and social response. It is intended to have a public element to hear the lived experiences of all society. The review should be undertaken by those independent of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (5 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...prompt a better response than Deputy O'Sullivan has had to date. I will make sure that is done today. I want to join with Deputy McAuliffe in welcoming the seizure of scramblers. The new laws were a long time coming but I was delighted to see them being used now that they are on the books. I agree that we need more gardaí, Garda staff and Garda reserves. I have to say that I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...achievable this year or next, but we do think it is achievable. We think that is an ambition we can share. The motion calls for the tenant in situ scheme to be scaled up. That scheme has been a big success. We agree it should be scaled up in order that we can buy properties from landlords who are leaving the market and allowing housing assistance payment, HAP, tenants to become regular...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cross-Border Co-operation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...in Clones, I have never been to the Ulster final but I have been to Dublin matches in Clones. It is not for me to decide whether the final stays there. I hope to get to an Ulster final there long before Casement Park is built, which I think will be a while anyway. I have heard of the Wider Horizons programme but I am not familiar with it. I will ask a member of my team to contact...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...immediate ceasefire that would allow access for the humanitarian supplies so urgently needed in Gaza, as well as for the immediate release of all remaining hostages, which should happen without any conditions and should have happened a long time ago. We also discussed challenges facing the agricultural sector and significant concerns raised by farmers in several member states. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cross-Border Co-operation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...and South. The Government is also making substantial allocations under the shared island fund. This includes a €50 million contribution to the redevelopment of Casement Park stadium in Belfast. This will help to realise a long-planned sports infrastructure project in the city and maximise the benefit for Northern Ireland from the joint hosting by Ireland and the UK of UEFA...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...should be able to carry the years they waited with them. However, there are safeguards we want to put in place. The Deputy will appreciate that people who have been on the housing list for a very long time - five, six, seven, eight or ten years - in Swords or Blanchardstown might not respond so well to people coming from other parts of the country and pushing them down the list. I am...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I have been sent a very long list by Deputy Carroll MacNeill just now, and indeed previously by Deputy Devlin, of all the developments in your own constituency you have objected to-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...a cuid ceisteanna. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil fadhb mhór againn leis na seirbhísí sin agus tá brón orm faoi. I know from my own experience, having worked in medicine as a doctor in what seems a long time ago now, that the problem of failures and inadequate services when it comes to spinal surgery, scoliosis and spina bifida surgery for children, goes back...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Covid-19 Pandemic (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur. It will include a consideration of the health service response covering hospitals, the community and nursing homes, along with the wider economic and social response. It is intended to have a public element to hear the lived experiences of all society. The review should be undertaken by those independent of...