Results 25,261-25,280 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Strategic Communications Unit: Motion [Private Members] (20 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I rise to oppose the motion. I welcome this opportunity to put some facts on the record for those interested in them. The establishment of the strategic communications unit, SCU, as a Civil Service unit in my Department was approved by Cabinet in September. A budget of €5 million from within my Department's existing envelope was allocated in October and a work programme was agreed...

Strategic Communications Unit: Motion [Private Members] (20 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----even though there is no evidence to support that. Allegations are thrown around in a "make them deny it" sense. Conspiracy theories are put about because, of course, conspiracy theories require no proof. Innuendo is passed off as analysis or even fact. The Government was compared to Nazis by the deputy leader of the Labour Party and yet no sanctions or dissociation from his party or...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I do not have a note on it to hand, but I have some knowledge, given that the matter has been in the public domain and from discussions I have had with the Minister for Health about it. It is the policy of the Government to endeavour to ensure patients in Ireland will have access to new medicines. That has been our policy for a very long...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On foot of the Deputy raising the matter, I will speak to the Minister for Health today and ask him to request further engagement involving the HSE's national drugs committee and the company. That is the appropriate way in which to respond on this important issue. I am very much attuned and wise to the humanity and human consequences of it.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a cuid ceiste. Tá innéacs náisiúnta cíosa an mBord um Thionóntachtaí Cónaithe le foilsiú inniu don ceathrú deireanach de 2017. Taispeánann sé gur ardaigh cíosanna príobháideacha 6.4% ar fud na tíre i gcomparáid leis an tréimhse 12 mhí chéanna in 2016....

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have not sung the song before because the statistics are quite different from the ones we have seen in recent years. The numbers show - the Deputy brought up the statistics first - that there was an increase of 1.1% in the last quarter of last year and that the annual-----

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The figures which Sinn Féin has brought up and therefore wishes to discuss show that in Dublin there was the lowest annual increase since 2013. Therefore, I certainly have not been able to sing this song previously because it is four or five years since it would have been possible to make that statement. Notwithstanding this, the Government is acting. We have already introduced the...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this question and reminding us of the day that is in it. I am not in a position to comment on individual cases. I do not have the information to hand and, for reasons of privacy, I should not do so anyway. If the Deputy wants to pass that on to my office or that of the Minister of State with responsibility for disability affairs, I will certainly have it...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I see the Deputy got his speaking points from the Fianna Fáil press office this morning.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Well done on working on those lies. The Deputy is correct that I have been in office for seven months-----

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Seven months as Taoiseach and seven years as a Minister.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have given the Deputy many examples of the kinds of things that the Government has done in the last seven years, such as a major increase in funding for disability services, the almost total reversal of the welfare cuts made by Fianna Fáil for people with disabilities, and the extension of medical cards as a right to children with severe disabilities. They are very real things which...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We will also extend legislation to extend free general practitioner care to everyone in receipt of carer's allowance. At long last, we will ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a cuid cheiste. Tháinig an coiste maoirseachta maidir leis A Vision For Change le chéile i mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2017 chun an straitéis ar meabhairshláinte - A Vision For Change - a athnuachan. Aontaíodh creatlach oibre a chinnteoidh go gcríochneofar obair an choiste maoirseachta roimh dheireadh na bliana. The A...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I bPáirc Merlin-----

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----nó in ospidéal an choláiste?

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have any specific information on the psychiatric unit in Galway but the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, who has responsibility for mental health and older people, will revert to the Deputy with a detailed response. In terms of the issue more generally, the A Vision for Change review will be completed by the end of the year. We look forward to...

Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am advised that the Bill was rushed through the Dáil before Christmas without proper and due consideration. The experts who have since examined it have stated that it is riddled with technical and legal flaws and, in particular, presents serious unintended consequences for the democratic process itself. For example, the definition of "political end" in the Bill is so broad that the...

Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and not undergoing the proper scrutiny for a Bill. If it were a Government Bill, the heads of the Bill would have been drafted along with other scrutiny of the Bill prior to its publication.

Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: An tAire Dlí agus Cirt.