Results 26,121-26,140 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know if there was a legal contract with the private investigators. The Cabinet agreed that compliance with the contract should be part of the defence but there was no ministerial involvement in the execution of the strategy.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Health maintains the view it was necessary to pursue all avenues in the gathering of material relating to non-compliance in order to put forward the strongest possible defence in line with the Government decision. The use of private investigators and surveillance work is not unusual in defence and prosecution cases before the courts.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Department's legal adviser for the cases has confirmed this.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I also welcome Mayor Farrell to the Chamber. I had the opportunity to visit San Francisco last year and met his predecessor, Mayor Lee, who very kindly presented me with the keys to the city of San Francisco. As the House knows, there is a very special relationship between San Francisco and the city of Cork in particular, and I was really very sorry to hear of Mayor Lee's untimely death....

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy has asked the same question again and I can only give the same answer. There are reasons there may be delays in providing records but it is Government policy that records, samples and files, whether they are in electronic or paper format, along with X-rays and other radiology scans, should be provided to patients when requested. The direction has been given to the public bodies...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and to help us understand whether they were the result of misreadings or ambiguous readings.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The model we intend to follow for the abortion legislation, when we are able to publish it and bring it through the Oireachtas, is precisely the model used for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which the House passed in 2013. That legislation will allow individuals to opt out based on their consciences or religious convictions but will not allow institutions to do so. As is the...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is an agency of the Dublin archdiocese and it provides services for people who are homeless and helps to operate some of the family hubs. I also include bodies such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which does such important work with disadvantaged families around the country. I hope it is not the policy of the Socialist Party or Solidarity–People Before Profit to stop...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I indicated when it comes to the abortion legislation, just as is the case with the Protection of Life in Pregnancy Act, the conscientious objection will apply to individuals; it will not apply to institutions. Under that legislation, enacted by this Dáil in 2013, voluntary hospitals that have a Catholic ethos are required to provide the service if it is necessary. It will be the...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That silence was, perhaps, deafening. I believe in the separation of church and state-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----but I do not believe in the socialist ideology, which is to push religion out of the public space and to force people who are religious to be ashamed they have religious conviction and-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----to hide them in a corner and to defund bodies and take public funding away from bodies such as the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Crosscare, Trócaire and Concern.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The policy of socialists is to take away that funding because they do not just believe in the separation of church and state; they want to turn religious people into pariahs, put them in a corner and hide them and take away funding from institutions.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I think that is wrong.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I absolutely have an appetite for the truth. That is why the commission of inquiry was established. I look forward to it completing its work and making its findings, and I will not jump to conclusions. A commission of investigation has been established by this Oireachtas. It will carry out its inquiries and produce its findings. I ask Deputy Wallace not to jump to conclusions either....

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: A Minister's Department may have a huge number of agencies under its remit. It is only reasonable when preparing an answer to a question about an agency under one's remit that one might check with the agency and allow it to contribute to the reply. That is something every Minister does every day. Ministers have done that since the foundation of the State.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If one is asked a question about a hospital or a school, there is a good chance one will check with the hospital or the school for the answer to the question. With regard to the NAMA surplus, I recall the debates about establishing NAMA very well. Many Members said that NAMA would end up with a large deficit. It was suggested there would be a deficit of up to €10 billion. I...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I may be wrong on that point but most people argued at the time that NAMA would not break even and that there would be a deficit.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have to be honest that I was one of the people at the time who thought there would be a NAMA deficit.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: However, there will not be a NAMA deficit.