Results 22,681-22,700 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will understand from the legislation he brought in to establish the HSE, those final decisions that are made in terms of funding-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----were previously made by the HSE board and would subsequently be made by the Director General of the health service, and not by the line Minister of the time. That is and has been the case for the last ten years. Indeed, the HSE, which was established by Deputy Martin-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----was established in part for that purpose in order to take clinical decisions and decisions such as that away from the Minister for Health or other politicians.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There are two other points that I believe are worth making. The Deputy seems to be conflating the issue of a second cath lab with 24-7 services. One can have two cath labs and not have a 24-7 service. As was-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----the case in St. Vincent's University Hospital for quite some time, a single cath lab ran a 24-7 service. Therefore, I believe there is an error in understanding there. We could have a single cath lab running a 24-7 service-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----and one can have two cath labs not running a 24-7 service. I believe it is important not to conflate the two issues. The Deputy also knows from his own time as Minister for Health that if it were possible to provide 24-7 emergency services of all sorts, not just cardiology, in every county or town, we would of course do so.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: However, it is not possible to do so. The reasons for that are that in order to make it sustainable, one needs to be able to staff it adequately. One also needs to have an adequate number of patient throughput for staff to retain their skills. That is why there is only a small number of these centres in the country. In Scotland, for example, which is a similar size country, there are only two.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Taoiseach may have changed, but the scripted outrage of Sinn Féin has not. It is almost a cut and paste of a speech on a question on a similar issue not that long ago. Fundamentally, it is about the environment. Landfills in Ireland are filling up. We do not want any new dump. I do not know of a single Deputy in this House who would like to have a dump in his or her constituency...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I assure the Deputy that I wish we could have a Parliament where we actually have a proper questions and answers session and serious debate rather than this level of-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: If I may answer that-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I do not think a single person in this House does not understand bins. We all have bins and we all put them out. There are plenty of people in this House who have been putting a tag on their bin for as long as they can remember. That is the kind of system that the country is going to move to, either payment by lift or payment by weight. Half the country has such a system already. It will...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Charging people by lift or by weight incentivises people to throw less away. That makes sense for all sorts of reasons-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: On the alleviation measure, Deputies will already be aware that the €75 grant will be brought in for people who have long-term illness and use incontinence pads. That will apply to half the country which already has the system and has not been receiving that grant. We have already announced that areas with a population of more than 500 will have to have brown bins. That gives people...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this important issue in the House and assure her and the House of the Government's deep commitment to taking action against gender-based violence, sexual violence and domestic violence which all of us condemn and abhor. The SAVI study was done in 2002, which as the Deputy stated, was 15 years ago. I am told there have been European studies that have...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: First, the timeline for making any decision such as this will be in the context of the Estimates. Departments will know in October what the budget for next year is, provided it is voted through by this House. We will then be able to make a decision on whether we should have another Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report. I am told that the research conducted at European level is of...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The announcement by the UK that it is withdrawing from the London Fisheries Convention is very unwelcome. It is important to note that this forms part of the UK's approach and negotiating position to broader Brexit negotiations. The announcement will have no immediate affect, as the withdrawal process for the convention takes at least two years. As the Deputy will be aware, 35% of the...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the Constitution provides for only 15 Ministers at the Cabinet table. To establish a new Department of the marine it would be necessary to abolish another Department. For the duration of this Government, the marine sector will continue to form part of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. There are obvious synergies in having agriculture, food and...
- Order of Business (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I understand an additional hour for this Bill has already been provided. As the House will be aware, the order and schedule are now agreed by the Business Committee, and this has been agreed by the Business Committee.
- Order of Business (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: It is a matter for the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport to decide who it wishes to invite. I have no doubt that if it issued an invitation to the IRFU, it would accept but it is not a matter for the whole House.
- Order of Business (4 Jul 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There is a Vice Chairman.