Results 23,461-23,480 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I was pleased to be associated with and involved in the development of the new National Maternity Strategy, which was published when I was Minister for Health. If I recall correctly, it is a seven year strategy.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Of course, the nature of a seven year strategy is that it gets implemented incrementally over seven years. I will ask the Minister for Health to provide the Deputy with detail on what is implemented to date and progress on other matters. I would point out though that while we have a high birth rate in Ireland, it is falling, and notwithstanding the fact that we have a falling birth rate,...

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: An tAire Stáit, an Teachta McHugh.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of this issue. I have discussed it already with the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, who will examine it. I expect that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will provide a mechanism by which people can get their social insurance record without only having to get it online. It is incumbent on the Department to come up with a solution.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly discuss the matter with the Minister, Deputy Ross. However, if, as the Deputy claims, it is an industrial relations matter, I imagine that would be dealt with in the normal way.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have no doubt of the need for a good paediatric occupational therapy service in County Louth and I understand the concerns of parents who may have children who are waiting for those services. The Deputy will, of course, be aware that I am not involved personally in recruiting paediatric occupational therapists in County Louth or any other county and the best way to get a substantive answer...

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy has been pursuing the matter of the Garda station in Newcastle West for quite some time. We are keen to get the work done. I am unable to give the Deputy the timeline but I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, to contact him as a priority and provide any information that he can.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Bill is currently being drafted and the Department of Health expects to publish it next year.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The upgrading of the N4 and the N5 are included in the capital plan. We are very keen as a Government to see both roads upgraded as soon as possible because access to Sligo and Mayo in particular, and to Roscommon, is essential. It is one of the few parts of the country that is still quite remote from the motorway network. It is intended to bring these projects forward but I am not in a...

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot answer it but I will ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, to contact the Deputies and to provide them with some information.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Communications (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together. The strategic communications unit in my Department represents a step change in how we as a Government communicate with our people. It is about informing people of the work of Government in a co-ordinated, focused and cross-governmental way so that it becomes easier for people to understand what the Government is doing and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Communications (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Most of the questions were very detailed and would really be more for a civil servant than a politician to answer. However, I will answer them as far as I can. I do not know who commissioned and designed the research, but I assume it was the director of the unit. The thinking behind the unit is very simple, one I hope most Members of the House will understand, namely, that if we do not...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Communications (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: No. As I said, I am giving the House an example of the concept involved.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Communications (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That is correct. It was done separately. I am doing my best to answer the Deputy's question, with all of the others. The concept behind it, as used by governments across the world, is that when it comes to research, one cannot improve something, unless one can measure it. Separate from the strategic communications unit, the Department of Health has for the first time commissioned a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Communications (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There will be no political advertising and no promotion of political parties. The Civil Service and public sector code will continue to apply in that regard. On the issue of costings, I cannot explain it any better. Cost-neutral is not the same as it will cost nothing. The money is being found within my Department and my departmental budget is, in fact, being reduced. The unit will...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 10, inclusive, together. Cabinet Committee A held its first meeting on 12September. Its focus is on economic issues, including implementation of the Action Plan for Jobs 2017 and preparation of a new, more focused, action plan for next year; labour market policies, including implementation of Pathways to Work and responding to emerging skills pressures;...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I intend that the capital plan will be considered by the Cabinet as a whole because it will have an impact on all Departments. I am not suggesting that it will not be discussed by individual Cabinet subcommittees as well. My intention is that it will be discussed and approved by the Cabinet as a whole. I would welcome the involvement of this House in discussing the ten-year capital plan...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We have closed a loophole in respect of stateless companies. I read the Coffey report. We are closing some of the loopholes in respect of intellectual property. That was in the budget and will be addressed in the Finance Bill tomorrow. A very good report to read for anyone interested in this area is the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General from a number of weeks ago. It...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We have any number of economic strategies. I encourage Deputy Eamon Ryan to read them. They include, for example, the Action Plan for Jobs, the speech I made to IBEC outlining our five key economic policies, Enterprise 2025 and the trade strategy. There are any number of documents which could supply the Deputy with bedtime reading for a number of days and inform him fully of our...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Summits (18 Oct 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 16, inclusive, together. The digital summit in Tallinn was an important opportunity for EU leaders to discuss the evolution of digital technologies and their wide-ranging implications in a less formal setting than regular European Council business. The Estonian Presidency prepared a very useful, forward-looking agenda to stimulate discussion on how...