Results 25,361-25,380 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Is our time up?

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot answer in three or four seconds.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I was very pleased to welcome the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, to Dublin on 8 March. Our discussions, which took place ahead of the March European Council, covered the Brexit negotiations, EU trade policy, Economic and Monetary Union, and the taxation challenges posed in the digital era, as well as a number of foreign policy issues. On Brexit, we discussed progress...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 to 134, inclusive, together. I visited the United States from 11-17 March for this year's St Patrick's Day programme. My visit included engagements in Austin Texas, Durant Oklahoma, Washington D.C. and New York. In Austin, I paid a courtesy call on Governor Abbott. Our conversation focused on the bilateral economic relations between Ireland and...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Government Information Service (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136 and 140 together. There are no plans to replace merrionstreet.ie as a website or as a social media identity. Twitter has procedures in place for reporting fake social media accounts. Staff in Merrionstreet have been in contact with Twitter regarding this. As a result, Merrionstreet is now part of Twitter's Partnership Support Portal. This means...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The President has already indicated his desire to see an Ambassador appointed at the earliest opportunity and the Irish Government understands that the US Administration is treating this matter as a priority. I did not have detailed discussions on the matter with the President on this occasion.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Communications (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 139 together. I and the staff working in my Private Office have been assigned official email accounts. These accounts are only accessible through my Department's secure network and, in some circumstances, remotely using officially supplied and appropriately secured mobile devices such as laptop computers or mobile telephones. My Department's...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: During a visit which I undertook to the United States in early November 2017, I met Mr. Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook. I did not have any substantive discussion on regulatory matters with Mr. Zuckerburg. I did not meet with the CEO, or any company representatives, of Twitter, during my visit.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Seanad Reform (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The question of who might Chair the Implementation Group on Seanad Reform is still under consideration.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committee Meetings (27 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Cabinet Committee G deals with justice issues. It last met on 18 January 2018 and its next meeting is scheduled to take place on 16 April 2018.

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot agree with the Deputy's thesis and assessment regarding this Government's commitment to children and our response to the needs of children and the need to support their families. I would argue that the needs of children are actually at the heart of what the Government does. We invest in children because we know it makes sense; investment in children gives them...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have introduced free GP care for all children under six. The National Children's Hospital, promised again and again by previous Governments and previous Ministers for Health, is now under construction. The third storey is up on the satellite unit in Blanchardstown. Child poverty is falling again, at least according to the CSO's survey on income and living conditions , having risen a...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that much more needs to be done in the areas mentioned, whether in child mental health services or housing. The rising number of homeless children distresses us all and requires us to focus even more on the work that we do as a Government. One of the major investments we are making in the area of housing other than building houses - and it will be many years before our housing...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have not seen that letter, but there was an article on the front page of The Irish Timesduring the week which I believe covered the case the Deputy is referring to. I read that article. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed on any individual, whether on a man or a woman, and it is particularly serious and egregious when that crime is perpetrated by a husband, wife...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will talk about what we can do about this, because I think we are largely in agreement that we need to take action in this area to support victims and ensure the perpetrators receive sentences they should receive. We can work together as parties in two ways. First, there is the Judicial Council Bill 2017, which Deputy McDonald mentioned. It is before the Seanad currently. It proposes to...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Yesterday was a busy day for Government. As on every Tuesday when the Dáil is in session we had a Cabinet meeting. There were 31 items on the Cabinet agenda yesterday, so many items that we had to have a morning meeting and an evening meeting. The items ranged from the Collins report to the discussion on Russia to abortion legislation, so while the Opposition may be obsessed with...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In the first instance, it is worth pointing out that for the last few quarters the CSO would not publish crime statistics. It is an independent agency and it rightly upholds statistical standards. It did not publish them for several quarters because it did not feel it could do so, given the quality of those statistics. The CSO is now in a position to produce statistics under a new category...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Noel Grealish for raising this important matter and for the constructive suggestion he put forward. I am advised that the Saolta University Health Care Group, which runs the hospitals in the west, is working with the HSE to examine the potential for a new day-services hospital block at Merlin Park. As the House will be aware, Project Ireland 2040 provides for ten new...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In fairness, a ten-year plan does not mean everything happens in year ten; it means that things will happen-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----over the course of a ten-year period. The Deputy will be aware that the new 75-bed, state-of-the-art ward block in Galway is now open. The construction of the new acute mental health unit in Galway is now complete. That is ready to open. When it comes to radiation oncology for people suffering from cancer, enabling works, including the demolition of the old mental health unit, are...