Results 24,441-24,460 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: This is a very important issue and a matter of enormous concern to the six schools affected. The schools are located at four sites in Wicklow, Wexford, Meath and Carlow. They are all replacement schools. The existing schools are still available but we want people to be able to move into the new facilities as soon as possible. It will take a couple of weeks to sort this out. We will sort...
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I can absolutely give Deputy Howlin that assurance. The NDFA and the Department of Education and Skills are very much involved. We will do everything we can in the next couple of days to have this issue resolved in a matter of weeks so that the children and their teachers can move into these fabulous new school buildings. We have a statement from the Dutch Infrastructure Fund explaining...
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Meanwhile, it is offering assurance to people in all of those areas that where schools are being built-----
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----it will work as hard as it can to find a solution.
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The Government, the NDFA and the Department of Education and Skills will be deeply involved in that.
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I had a chance to read the World Economic Forum report on inclusive economic development last night in advance of my visit to Davos today. As is always the case with a report, it is possible to pick out negatives and positives. However, this report is very positive about Ireland and it is worth recording some of the items it contains. In terms of inclusive economic development, Ireland...
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: That is certainly not the case; I assure the House that we are not going to feature on that list. The positives will always be undermined if we only ever focus on the negatives, and it is important that we, in this House, acknowledge from time to time some of the positive things happening in this country and in the world. The "single malt" is a feature of Maltese law. It is not something...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I thought I misheard the Deputy for a moment and that he was suggesting that we need to increase civilisation in An Garda Síochána.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I understand that he means civilianisation, and it is absolutely the Government's commitment to increase Garda personnel to 21,000 by 2021, which will comprise 15,000 gardaí, 2,000 Garda Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. In budget 2018, we have allocated-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Civilianisation is done by hiring civilians and by transferring existing gardaí-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----to different roles. To answer the Deputy's question, we have money in the budget to hire 500 additional civilians this year, and obviously we would expect the Garda authorities to make more progress in transferring uniformed gardaí out of clerical roles and back to front-line roles.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not know but I will check with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and revert to the Deputy. It is possible that it is linked to the assisted human reproduction legislation, which has yet to be published but which is being work on by the Department of Health. I may be wrong about that. I will check for certain and revert to the Deputy.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The timing of a debate is a matter for the Business Committee. To reply to the Deputy's substantive point, however, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, answered that very well. If these schools and the college of further education had been procured by traditional means, namely, a simple contract with a private construction firm, it is equally possible that said firm could...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Companies of all types can go bust and as the Minister for Education and Skills pointed out, we are in a more favourable position because we have not paid over the money yet, and we have ownership of the schools. I am often a sceptic when it comes to PPPs. There is a role for PPPs to provide infrastructure in different ways. We built almost all our intercity motorways by means of PPPs....
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----but PPPs are certainly not a panacea to everything. They involve risks and we need to be wise in respect of them.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I will have a look at it. The ESRI is not a European body. It is a Government agency that has compiled this report on our behalf. The report is very good. It is also very realistic-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----because it says that if we do nothing, the vast majority of population and economic growth will happen in Leinster, in the greater Dublin area. It does not say that we should cap or stop growth in Dublin and Leinster. That is not practical. We all know that in a free country and in the real world we cannot tell people where to live, open their businesses or shop but the report states...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: In particular, the report recommends that we should focus on the other big cities - Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway - and that will be very much at the centre of the national planning framework when it is published. That will not be at the exclusion of growth in rural Ireland and other places but the ESRI report is clear and stark in that regard. If we do nothing, too much of the...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I accept that this is taking far too long and that it is enormously frustrating for everyone waiting for broadband connections in their homes. We anticipate that the contract will be signed this year and probably in the middle of the year. However, it is a very complex and complicated contract, much more so than people might have anticipated. Certainly, the best thing to do now is stick...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is a significant delay but the contract will be signed this year. We anticipate that it will be signed by the Minister this year.