Results 6,961-6,980 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I explained previously, I requested it verbally. It is not uncommon to ask for something and not to do it by letter or email. I often ask for documents. I did not request the document I have here, by the way, but I do have it because it is provided to me every Thursday; it is my folder for each Thursday. My adviser got the copy from the Department of Health and she had it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020 is before the Seanad and that may be the legislative means by which we can deal with this.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I remember well that at the time the ECDC, the World Health Organization, WHO, the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, and NPHET all advised against stopping flights from Italy because that sort of action was at the time seen as being ineffective. Much has changed since then and a lot of advice has changed since then. The Deputy can go back and check over that from the press conferences etc. What...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I saw that opinion poll. If we exclude those undecided, the opinion poll indicates that a majority of people in Northern Ireland are in favour of holding a Border poll. It also shows that a majority of people in Northern Ireland, excluding those undecided, would vote to stay in the Union. People are therefore in favour of a Border poll for different reasons, some because they want a united...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that student nurses are going to want to know what the plan is quite soon. We will get that information out as soon as possible. The placement of student nurses was suspended because, as the Deputy knows, student nurses have to be supervised and tutored. Suspending those placements freed up hundreds of fully-qualified nurses to look after patients and that was the priority. A...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I will have to check that out for the Deputy. It may well need to be re-established, particularly for groups that may be at very high risk and I am thinking of the Roma community, in particular, which experienced Covid-19 very badly during the first wave, and there are other such groups. I will take this up with the chief medical officer, CMO, to see if it can be...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I totally understand and appreciate that sixth years are under a great deal of pressure. These are the same students who lost a chunk of fifth year and are now also losing several weeks, perhaps even longer, of sixth year. It is very difficult for them. I know that they want an answer from Government as soon as possible on what is going to happen with the leaving...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I, unfortunately, do not have any information on that for her but I will raise it with the Minister and ask that he send a reply directly to her.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I appreciate that this is an important issue. I am not exactly sure what the question for me on this is. If the Deputy is concerned that there is an issue around competition and competition law, there is a procedure by which these matters can be raised with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, and there are also rules around cross media ownership....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I broadly agree that there is a greater role for antigen testing in Ireland into the future but we have to be guided by public health advice on this. NPHET, as the Deputy will aware, have not been particularly confident about the accuracy of antigen testing and it believes that in many instances it does not meet what the manufacturers say. NPHET has updated its guidance...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for this question. We have a couple of schemes. There is a retail scheme and also the trading online voucher scheme, which has been transferred to my Department. We have decided after careful consideration to change the scheme to a 50:50 model, with the business contributing half the cost and the Government contributing the other half. We believe we will get better bang...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this issue because I know it has been a topic of discussion among the general public and among healthcare professionals over recent weeks. The issue was previously raised by Deputy McNamara so I looked into it. As everyone in the House knows, many Irish people are deficient in vitamin D, not least because we do not have much exposure to the sun, a situation...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I again thank the Deputy. As I am sure she will appreciate, notwithstanding my background as a doctor, I am here as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and do not wish to dispense medical advice as to which supplements people should or should not take. As the Deputy stated, there is evidence that vitamin D can be beneficial in the context of Covid-19 and there is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will know, we now require that anybody entering the State to have a negative PCR test. If people do not have such a test, they are subject to mandatory hotel quarantine. We are examining a change which would result in a requirement for two tests, five days apart. This is recommended by NPHET and we are giving it full consideration. We will make a decision in that regard...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: -----to republican funerals. I know the Deputy does not organise them but-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: -----the attendees are his party's people, members and supporters. The Deputy and Deputy McDonald have to tell people to stop these funerals. They are a bad idea.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is actively involved in this question and is showing leadership on it through involvement with the WHO and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We are providing money and, down the line, we may even provide spare vaccines to developing countries to help them with their vaccine programmes. We know how infectious diseases work. Covid will always be present somewhere in the world. It...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. In terms of the overall picture on hospital capacity, everyone acknowledges that we are doing so much better now than has been the case for a very long time. January is usually a period when our hospitals have no spare beds and when we hear every morning about hundreds of people being forced to spend some of their hospital stay on trolleys. As of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: People have good reason to be afraid. This pandemic is real. There are 3,000 families across the country who have lost loved ones and are still grieving for them. Had it not been for the actions that people took individually and as a community, as well as the actions that Government took, we would be experiencing much higher levels of mortality and sickness than we have now. At least...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Sinn Féin also opposed the help-to-buy scheme, which has helped thousands of people to buy their first home.