Results 23,321-23,340 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Of course we are doing desktop studies into what may happen under the many different scenarios that could arise from Brexit. We are not going to do what Fianna Fáil seems to be suggesting, which is-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----start preparing for something we are trying to prevent. We are not going to be hiring and training dogs. We are not going to be hiring customs officials. We are not going to be scoping out the Border for sites for truck stops.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Regardless of Fianna Fáil's demands that we should make such preparations, we will not do that.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The amount of additional funding for disability services next year, as announced in yesterday's budget, is €65 million. Approximately €50 million of this will be used to improve and expand existing services and cover additional pay costs etc. The other €15 million will be used for new developments. That is just in the Department of Health. Additional funding is being...

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I read Sinn Féin's documents. On page 7 of its document on health, Sinn Féin recommends an increase in health spending of €403.55 million a year.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Before that, Sinn Féin recommends a further €100 million in capital spending. In Sinn Féin's alternative-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----budget strategy, it recommends that we spend €503.55 million extra on health next year-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----which it believes is less than is needed to stand still and which is actually less than we are providing. Sinn Féin has been exposed. It wants health cuts.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy has a big problem because that is just not what his document provides for.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: If he is saying that €400 million extra on the current side, an additional €100 million on the capital side and another €691 million-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----should be spent just to stand still, he is saying that we should increase the total health budget next year by €1.1 billion. That is simply not provided for in the alternative plan-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----that Sinn Féin put forward.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure we will allow plenty of other people to assess-----

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----that fully.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am not in a position to comment on individual cases without knowing the facts and being able to have them verified. Even if I was able to do that, I would not be able to breach individual confidentiality. If there are individual cases that the Deputy wants to raise, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, would be happy to look into them. Up until now, we have been able to provide emergency...

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: First of all, LIHAF is not a failure. It is Government money provided to give sites access and make them developable. I would have thought that - even from Deputy Boyd Barrett's point of view - he would have thought it an essential role of the State to provide public infrastructure to sites for housing. That is what LIHAF does. It connects the roads, brings in the water services and does...

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----and that is what we continue to do. If I turned around in this House and suggested that public roads and infrastructure should to be provided by private developers, I imagine that Deputy Boyd Barrett would also be against that so it is one of those situations where we just cannot win no matter what we do.

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I gave a few examples of new announcements that were made yesterday in respect of the new housing finance vehicle. That will lend the money to developers to build on commercial terms. This body will have €750 million, it will use the expertise of NAMA, and it will lend the money to builders to build houses and they will then pay it back. We anticipate that it will not only produce...

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I do not believe anyone in this House wants to see a situation where people do not receive the pension they had expected. I know that this has happened to a lot of people across the State, and not just in this particular scheme. It has also happened across the private sector where pension schemes have had to reduce the promised benefits because there just was not enough...

Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I would be happy to arrange for the Deputy, someone from my Department and the Minister for Employment and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, to sit down, go through this and see if there is something we can do. I suspect there is not. The law needs to be changed in this area. Trustees are there to look after the interests of the members and not to look after the interest of the...