Results 26,041-26,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I join Deputy Brendan Howlin in recognising the success the experiments of the Constitutional Convention and the Citizens' Assembly have been. When we served in government together, the convention was included in the programme for Government agreed to in 2011. None of us really knew how it would work out, but we can now stand over the fact that the assemblies were representative of the...

Leaders' Questions (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am happy to give it consideration. The Citizens' Assembly and the Constitutional Convention before it looked at many issues. As such, it is not the case that an assembly could not look at more than one issue in future. It is certainly something the Minister for Education and Skills and I will consider, along with the Government. The Constitutional Convention made other recommendations,...

Leaders' Questions (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot comment in great detail about the precise situation in the Deputy's county as I am not fully briefed on it. The Deputy might elaborate on demountable homes. It is not a term I am familiar with, but perhaps one with which I should be. In terms of the broader picture, across Ireland 18,000 homes have commenced construction in the past year. That is a significant...

Leaders' Questions (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am informed by one of my colleagues that demountable homes are prefabricated homes, which is what they are called in Fingal and they can be constructed on site. I am told it is an option for local authorities. Ultimately it is for local authorities to come forward with those proposals. A sum of €6 billion is allocated in Project Ireland 2040 for investment in social housing over...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is a bit late now to-----

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Maybe an extra hour could be found tomorrow.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, will take that question.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I understand there have been some delays in providing medical records that have been requested by women affected and their sisters and also some difficulties finding some of the smear slides in laboratories. I know CervicalCheck is under a lot of pressure trying to do lots of different things at the moment, as people can understand. Additional staffing is going into CervicalCheck and it is...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That legislation is on the priority list so we should see it in this session.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It depends on the sector.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The general scheme of the Bill has been prepared and was published in March. There has been a lot of preparatory work done around that general scheme to allow us to draft the legislation quickly. There is not a draft Bill ready yet but a lot of work has been done on the general scheme to allow us to legislate and prepare the legislation quite quickly. The Minister, Deputy Harris, will...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure it is clear that it has no Exchequer implications, but if it does, the Oireachtas will seek a money message. I am not sure if it has done it yet, but if it determines that it has Exchequer implications, it will have to seek a money message. I am not sure if that has been done and will have to check. Like the Government, I welcome the proposals from the European Commission...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The policing model is principally a matter for the acting Garda Commissioner and his team. They are best placed to know what type of policing works in the different communities throughout the country. I point out that, over the past couple of years, we have made considerable progress in increasing the size of our force of gardaí. We will meet our target of increasing the number of...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have the exact figures in front of me but overall there has been a very substantial increase in the roads budget this year for regional and local roads. I know some local authorities are behind schedule in the works they intended to do because of the bad weather, but there has been a very substantial increase.

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister, Deputy Ross, to correspond with the Deputy.

Referendum of 25 May: Statements (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: History was made on Friday. It was made by 1,429,981 people who came out with hope in their hearts to vote for compassion in our Constitution. As a country we said to Irish women, we trust you and we respect your choices about your healthcare. More people voted on Friday to remove the eighth amendment than the combined number of people who voted on both sides in 1983. It was, therefore, a...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: A number of engagements are being planned with my EU and international counterparts over the coming months. Yesterday, I hosted a meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea, Lee Nak-yeon, here in Dublin and last week, I hosted the Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel. I met with Prime Minister May the previous week, when we were both in Sofia for the EU-Western Balkans Summit. I have...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committee Meetings (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Since 1 January 2018 I have chaired eight Cabinet Committee meetings. In January I chaired meetings of Cabinet Committee A (Economy) and Cabinet Committee G (Justice and Equality); in February Cabinet Committee C (European Union, including Brexit), Cabinet Committee D (Infrastructure) and Cabinet Committee F (National Security); in March Cabinet Committee B (Social Policy and Public...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Programme for Government Implementation (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Government recently approved its second Programme for a Partnership Government Annual Report which provides a comprehensive update on the progress since May 2017. The report will be laid before the Oireachtas in the near future.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Programme for Government Initiatives (29 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In addition to delegation orders that assign responsibility for specific statutory functions, I have also assigned Ministers of State specific responsibilities to progress and implement Programme for Government commitments. Following the appointment of Ministers of State a set of policy priorities was agreed between myself as Taoiseach, Cabinet Ministers and the Ministers of State. On...