Results 1-20 of 224 for immigration speaker:Leo Varadkar

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

Leo Varadkar: ...to Ireland as we have had leaving. It is a different world. People are mobile and they go and come for all sorts of different reasons. When it comes to people from other parts of the world, we have immigration, with many more people choosing to come here from Britain, the rest of Europe and other parts of the world to work, study and build their lives here. Those are the facts and most...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (5 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...initially 60 rising to 62 because a change has to be made in legislation. Some of the others can be done by ministerial order. Deputy Barry raised the very real and ongoing issues around the abuse of immigration law and employment law in the fishing industry. I do not know enough about the particular case to comment on it. It is the first I have heard about that case. Deputy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...engage in it every other day in my constituency, in this House and in the media. Only a few weeks ago, I wrote a detailed article, published in the Sunday Independent, setting out what our immigration policy is and was, what the facts were and what they were not. I will keep doing that, but I need a bit of help. I need a bit of help from people in this House-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: The issue of immigration and asylum is a very sensitive topic and one that needs to be dealt with sensitively in this House, so I reiterate my view and that of the Government that migration in the round has been a good thing for Ireland. We would not be able to run most of our public services without migrant workers. Many of the big companies that are here that pay billions in tax would not...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (12 Dec 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...affairs and public services oversees implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services. The committee covers a range of topics, including immigration and integration, with a particular focus on equality and public service reform. Other topics covered by the committee include sport, social protection, arts and culture, justice issues...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is absolutely right. I would welcome such a debate. I agree it should be fair, balanced and measured. It is also important that it be informed. I am not an expert on immigration law, but I worry when I hear Members of this and the other House mixing up international protection with temporary protection or EEA with EU. We in this Chamber are well paid and we all have a duty to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...team has been set up, and it has been engaging with Deputies Feighan, Harkin and Kenny in an effort to set out exactly what is and is not happening in Dromahair. Deputy Harkin asked what our immigration and migration policy is. Let me be as clear as I can be, and sometimes it is difficult to be clear because this is not straightforward. There are different types of migration and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...it uses; it is not my term. It left the European Union in part to take back control of borders. The front page of the Financial Timesduring the week stated there were record numbers of migrants and immigrants going to the UK for lots of different reasons. We need to be honest with people about all of these issues.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Northern Ireland (15 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ..., regardless of citizenship, who do not need a visa to visit the UK. This exemption was welcome. In respect of non-EU citizens, the fact of two jurisdictions means different visa requirements and immigration policies can have impacts on cross-Border working and travel. Officials in the Department of Justice are monitoring these issues and working with counterparts in Northern Ireland...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...the UK left the European Union was so that it could control its borders but it is seeing record numbers of people arriving now on boats. Italy elected a Government that promised to crack down on immigration but in the past few weeks more people landed on Lampedusa than live on the island. It is not realistic to think it is possible to put a cap on the number of people who might arrive in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (26 Sep 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...affairs and public services oversees the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services. The committee covers a range of topics, including immigration and integration, with a particular focus on equality and public service reform. Other topics covered by the committee include support, social protection, arts and culture, and...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Raidió Teilifís Éireann (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...Affairs and Public Services oversees implementation of Programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services. The Committee covers a range of topics, including immigration and integration, in the areas of social policy with a particular focus on equality and public service reform. Other topics covered by the Committee include sport, social protection,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: On the immigrant investor programme, to be very clear, it does not involve passports or citizenship whatsoever. It never did. The programme involves a residency permit for a number of years if somebody makes a major investment in the State. Nothing specifically came up that was untoward about it. However, the numbers availing of it are much larger than we expected. Almost all came from...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (9 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...Affairs and Public Services oversees implementation of Programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services. The Committee covers a range of topics, including immigration and integration, in the areas of social policy with a particular focus on equality and public service reform. Other topics covered by the Committee include sport, social protection, arts...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (18 Apr 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...tomorrow attending a number of events alongside the British Prime Minister. It is intended that we will have a bilateral meeting but we have not set a time for that as of now. Regarding immigration and the issue of the undocumented Irish in the US, I raised this matter in the Oval Office in Washington last week. President Biden and his administration would like to bring about...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (18 Apr 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...and vibrancy of relations between Ireland and the US. In my meeting with President Biden at the Oval Office, we discussed our increasingly two-way economic relationship. We also discussed the prospects for US immigration reform and the need to increase opportunities for young people to move between our countries with greater ease. While in Washington, I had several other engagements,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputies for their questions. Last week or the previous week, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, and I had a meeting with the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the border management unit of the Department of Justice to discuss some of the issues raised by Deputy Mattie McGrath and to examine how we can improve border security and make sure that people who should not get...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...committee on social affairs and public services oversees implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services. The committee covers a range of topics, including immigration and integration, in the area of social policy, with a particular focus on equality of public service reform. Other topics covered by the committee include sport,...

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ..., not human traffickers. We need to ensure, therefore, that our system is efficient and fairly operated and that decisions are made quickly so that those entitled to international protection are granted an immigration status and can rebuild their lives here. The money and staff allocated in budget 2023, approximately €18 million, will help to make this a reality. There has...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...an extra 1,000 gardaí because there will be retirements, but it will allow for several hundred additional gardaí. I hope that will include additional gardaí for Wexford and for the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, as I accept it needs them. On the issue of transfers, the Deputy was not asking me to do this but the era when Ministers get involved in Garda...