Results 21,061-21,080 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know why that is the case. If the Deputy wants to give me the names of the schools now, that is fine. If not, he can give them to me afterwards. Overall, the funding provided for the scheme was increased substantially by the former Minister, Deputy Burton, and was increased again for this year so I do not understand why that is the case. I am not saying it is not the case but if...

Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We do not anticipate an underspend or an overspend in this area so the funding is there. When it comes to the additional funding being provided to the DEIS schools participating in the scheme, the provision is for breakfast and lunch for up to 90% of children. That has been the case for quite some time. It is not a change or cutback in any way. That has been the case, as far as I can see,...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As Deputies in the House will be aware, my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, recently announced a new approach that will be taken to reviewing current departmental expenditure in advance of budget 2018. The purpose of this review is to ensure the best value for money for the taxpayer. It is quite distinct from the savings reviews in...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy makes a very valid suggestion. As we get down to very low levels of unemployment, with long-term unemployment now under 4%, people will need a different type of support because the profile of these people is different from what it was when unemployment was very high. To answer the Deputy's previous question, one of the programmes is already closed. JobBridge is closed for new...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The answer to the Deputy's first question is "Yes". It is still intended that we will have a new scheme in the latter half of the year, which will provide people who do not have work experience with the work experience they need, but it is intended that there would be an employer contribution and they would be paid, at the very least, the minimum wage rate. It will be quite different from...

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the usual practice is that a social welfare Bill is brought before the Oireachtas each year, in spring or early summer, to provide a legal basis within the social welfare code for policy, administrative and operational changes that may be required. My Department is developing the heads of a Bill which will address legislative needs in a number of operational...

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am very much open to the idea of a stakeholder forum involving employers, unions and perhaps people who represent pensioners. I would propose to start it off with the new Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which was recently established. I will bring proposals to LEEF in the spring. However, I would not be averse to a different form of stakeholder forum, perhaps similar to that which...

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The difficulty I have is that it is not just my own Department.

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am not afraid as a Minister to take a decision that my officials do not recommend. I have done so on many occasions in the past few years. The OECD, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and our own Pensions Authority all say much the same thing, that is, that our minimum funding standard is not too onerous and I cannot ignore that advice. It is the advice I am being...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department fully recognises the need to support staff and promote positive mental health. It has been very active in the provision of training and supports in this area in recent years with a very positive response from staff. In conjunction with Mental Health Ireland and the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service, mental health awareness workshops have been held in a variety of...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Mental health and mental well-being are important for both staff and clients. Many of the clients are very vulnerable and very stressed and can encounter staff in very difficult situations. Staff members need to be trained to deal with this and can often be subject to abuse and very bad experiences. I have heard of many such...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In addition, we have given consideration to training all staff members in mental health first aid. This is costed at €350 per participant, so it would cost approximately €2 million to train all staff members in basic mental health first aid. However, perhaps it is something we could do for all new staff or all staff over a number of years. That probably would not be...

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on income and living conditions, for 2015 shows that for lone-parent households, the consistent poverty rate is 26.2%, up from 25% in 2014, that the deprivation rate fell from 58.7% in 2014 to 57.9% in 2015 and that the at-risk-of-poverty rate is essentially unchanged at 36.2%, compared to 36.5% in 2014, a slight fall but not one that is...

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy quoted two years. Anyone can use statistics for two years and compare them. I will take a different year, 2006, when the boom was getting "boomier", when consistent poverty rates among lone parents were 33%. Consistent poverty rates for lone parents are lower than they were in 2006 - ten years ago - when we were in the middle of the Celtic tiger boom, when Fianna Fáil was...

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The most important fact to take away from this and the quarterly national household survey is the powerful effect that employment has on poverty rates. There is a three-quarters reduction in poverty if a lone parent is at work. One can play around with the welfare system but welfare is not the answer. If employment can reduce poverty by three quarters, that should be the main part -...

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know how the Deputy can say that is a fact.

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We do not actually have-----

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, they like to interrupt the facts.

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We do not have a register of wealth in Ireland so I am not quite sure how the Deputy can know that as an absolute fact. There may be a survey or an opinion on it but that is a different matter. More importantly, we do not have a register of debt in Ireland and it is quite facile to calculate somebody’s wealth and not deduct the debts from that. There are some very wealthy people in...

Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There are some very wealthy people in Ireland who people think are wealthy but when their debts are deducted, they are not wealthy at all.