Results 24,381-24,400 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Citizens Assembly (16 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The total costs incurred by the Citizens' Assembly to end 2017 is €1,809,454. Year Costs Incurred € 2016 274,321 2017 1,535,133 Members are reimbursed for expenses incurred in attending meetings, including travel costs and a contribution towards childcare. Payment is not made for attendance or any missed days of work either to members or their employees.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff Data (16 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As at 31 December 2016, 4.08% of the staff of my Department and 5.5% of the staff of the NESDO voluntarily and confidentially disclosed a disability. This exceeds the minimum requirement of 3% for public sector organisations set down in the Disability Act, 2005. Returns for 2017 on the proportion of employees in my Department and in organisations under its remit who disclose a disability...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Communications (16 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: All electronic interaction with my Department is through email. There are no online contact forms on my Department's website. An electronic mail filtering product has been programmed to implement my Department's email usage policy. This policy has a number of rules, including one on profanity. The policy is based on a central 'Profanity Dictionary' which my Department's HR Unit approved...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is important that when we discuss health budgets we put all of these things into their rightful context. We have this year the largest budget for the HSE and the health sector in the history of the State, at approximately €15 billion, an increase of €2 billion a year in the past three years. It is increasing much faster than the population is growing or ageing. We are now...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I always welcome an honest debate and if we were to have an honest debate about health, one of the first elements the Deputy would accept is that it is not credible or sustainable to argue for an extra €1.5 billion per year for health care on the basis of it making absolutely no difference, with no improvements for patients.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is no chance of resolving our problems if they are all monetised and it takes an extra 10% per year to do nothing at all.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The position is not credible. With respect to the Deputy, it is fair to say he has been commentating on the health service for a very long time, since he became a Member of this Dáil almost 30 years ago, and including a period as a health Minister. He knows that during his period in government, there were service plans that included efficiency criteria and percentages for efficiency....

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I join Deputy Adams in welcoming the announcement by the group styled as Óglaigh na hÉireann of its decision to end violence. I also recognise the involvement of trade union leaders, politicians and others in that engagement. The Government, with the new British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, has initiated a new series of talks between the parties in Northern Ireland....

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will strongly support the new talks process that has been initiated by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, who will be in Belfast tomorrow, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley. I hope to have a chance to talk to Prime Minister May this week. The Government I lead is cognisant of its role as co-guarantor of the Good...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Government's objectives on housing are threefold. First, it aims to reduce the number of people who are homeless. I am encouraged by the reduction in the number of rough sleepers over the Christmas period and into January and the fall in the number of families in emergency accommodation in January as a consequence of Government actions. However, one fall is not a trend, so I do not...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I did not actually make any of the contentions that Deputy Howlin has accused me of, so I will not reply to them one by one. It is often the case that people are refused a mortgage because they cannot pay the interest rate. Consider the difference between a mortgage where the interest rate is 3.5% versus a mortgage with an interest rate is 2% and guaranteed and locked in for 30 years. One's...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We will be able to assess this in the next couple of weeks and months and will see how many people apply for and get these new loans. I predict this might be one of the ones where we will be coming back in a few months' time to expand it and will be offering these low-cost loans with fixed interest rates to more people.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It has been always the case that a person needs to raise a deposit to buy a house. People do it in many different ways. Sometimes people go abroad for a period and earn money. Others get money from their parents. Lots of us did. Others get money through other loans. Sometimes people stay at home for a period and raise a deposit in that way. It has always been the case that a person had...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am really pleased that the Government was able to restore the local improvement scheme last year. I included it in my manifesto when I ran for leadership of my party. It is also in the programme for Government, which the Deputy was involved in negotiating, and is something that is very much welcomed in rural parts of Ireland. While these roads and laneways are not public roads, they are...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We should not forget to compliment the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, and the officials of his new Department who managed, at very short notice in the summer and autumn when they were only setting up the Department, to get the money out to local authorities. Deputy Healy-Rae will be glad to know that Kerry is among the top five for securing money under the scheme,...

Order of Business (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Of course it is an issue for the Business Committee as to whether time is allowed for this, but perhaps I can clarify the position because there may be a misunderstanding. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, briefed Cabinet about this matter this morning. We are doing this in two steps and the first step is quite minimalist. It is only allowing asylum seekers who have been here for six to nine...

Order of Business (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have a date for that legislation currently but I join Deputy Martin and every other Member in expressing condemnation and disgust at the stories we have all read today and on other days about sexual predators and others using social media and online systems to gain access to children. None of these behaviours was created by the Internet but its existence allows people to contact...

Order of Business (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Government disagrees strongly with the decision of the United States to recognise Jerusalem as the legal capital of Israel. That is the position I took at the European Council and the position we have adopted as a European Union. We continue to believe that the status of Jerusalem should be determined as part of the final settlement and final status talks between Israel and the...

Order of Business (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is also the case that a decision would be much stronger if it were taken at the same time as our European partners take the same step. It would be a much stronger statement if that were done as a Union of 27 or 28 rather than by member states acting individually. While individual acts may get noticed momentarily, they will probably not change anything or be of any real benefit.

Order of Business (23 Jan 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I reassure the Deputy that the Government has no plans to link the public services card to Internet usage, which I agree would be a restriction on privacy and people's freedom. I have no doubt the Minister of State, Deputy Daly's thoughts and proposals were well-intentioned but it is certainly not something the Government is proposing to do.