Results 26,761-26,780 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I can assure the Deputy that, as was the case in the last couple of budgets, we will not be giving tax cuts to the wealthy alone. Tax cuts will be focused on those with middle incomes. We have already taken people on the lowest incomes out of the tax net altogether and we have relieved them of the burden of the USC, which Fianna Fáil imposed on them. Some 38% of the lowest earners do...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Absolutely, we always engage with unions. That is the reason we have a public sector pay deal which was agreed less than a year ago. That deal runs for the next three years and it applies to all public servants in the country. It provides for pay increases every year for the next three years at a total cost to the taxpayer of €400 million last year. We made that agreement after...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I can guarantee that the Government will engage with unions on pay and terms and conditions and on co-operation with the reforms that are necessary to bring about a better health service. It is because of engagement that we have a three-year pay deal with all public servants to increase their pay every year. The sum of €400 million has been set aside for next year alone for increases...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----but that is not the approach of Government or what is in the interest of the Irish taxpayer or people who use our public services.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy raises some valid points. In respect of our tax base, ten years ago we relied heavily on stamp duty, tax revenues from capital gains tax and tax receipts from the property sector. Now, our tax base is much more broadly based. We have a local property tax which, unpopular as it may be, has broadened our tax base. We also have a sugar tax and a carbon tax and as such we have a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: When one factors out part-time workers, students and pensioners the average person in Ireland working full-time, the type of people we all know and meet every day, earn €44,000 per annum.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Those people pay tax on some of their income at the highest rate. That is the anomaly and that is unfair. People on middle incomes who get a pay increase, an increment or do overtime lose more than half of that income in income tax. I do think that is unfair and it is something we want to change. We cannot do it in one go but we will do it in this budget, the next budget and the one after...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy and I are not as far apart as he may think or wish people to believe. There will be three priorities in the budget coming before the House in two weeks. The first priority is that it be broadly balanced and that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past by ramping up spending and slashing taxes when the economy is strong and doing well. We will reduce the deficit and our...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am not entirely clear what the Deputy's question is. I will await the report from the all-party committee, which is being ably chaired by my colleague, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. On the Government's commitment to climate action, it is important to put the kind of initiatives that the Government has committed to on the record of the House. We do not need an all-party agreement to make...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is a very excitable gentleman, is he not?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy can be passionate but he can also be measured and logical.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I encourage the Deputy to read Project Ireland 2040 because I would love to know where these 53 big motorways are going.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I can absolutely guarantee there are not 63 motorway projects-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----in Project Ireland 2040. The Dublin-Cork motorway, the M20, the Galway ring road and a few others need to be done. I may be totally wrong but I highly doubt that as things are going all the peat will gone by 2030. There is a lot of it out there.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy has a specific proposal to make on the wording of the referendum, we would be happy to consider it but we always need to be very cautious about amending our Constitution. As the Deputy rightly points out, 83 countries have a legal right to housing and many of those countries have a homelessness crisis and people living in shanty towns. Putting something into the Constitution...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is why it is important that on housing Sinn Féin should have thought-out policies, which it does not at the moment.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If the vessel makes an application to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Irish Maritime Development Office, the application will be considered. That would be the case for any vessel as whether it is a ship or an aircraft that wants to be registered in Ireland or have an Irish flag, it will be considered.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have not seen the application. Is the captain qualified? Is the vessel seaworthy?

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: This is awful play-acting on an important and serious issue. The Deputy is well aware that those councils have developed plans for those lands: Fingal County Council with Damastown, and South Dublin County Council with Kilcarbery. What they have proposed is a mix of housing, that is, some private housing for young people who want to buy and own their first house, some affordable housing for...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Leo Varadkar: What was the question?