Results 26,881-26,900 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not believe the Deputy is an ideologue, I believe she is a populist. Populists present easy answers to complex problems. They replace emotion with reason and they try to demonise and misrepresent their opponents. What Deputy Bríd Smith is trying to do here is a classic example of that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I lead a Government that contains at least two Cabinet members who grew up in a council home and they are proud to have done so. I also lead a Government that perhaps includes people who are landlords. We should bear in mind that landlords who receive rent supplement and HAP are not receiving subsidies. They are receiving payments that provide housing for people who need it, and until such...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Housing is recognised as a human right in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which this country signed up many decades ago. I have an open mind on inserting economic, social and cultural rights into our Constitution but we must be careful about adding to the Constitution. I refer to the difficulties we went through in removing the eighth amendment and the ban on divorce.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: When adding to the Constitution, one must get the wording right and at least try to understand how it may be interpreted by the courts in two, ten, 20 or 30 years time. As Deputy Pringle rightly pointed out, 83 countries have a statutory right to housing. In some cases, that is provided for in the constitution of the country. Each of those countries has a level of homelessness which may be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ------or make rent cheaper. We need practical solutions and that is what we are doing. The biggest social housing programme in decades is now under way. Some 100,000 social homes will be provided over the next ten years, with 8,000 provided this year and 7,000 last year. Some 20,000 new houses and apartments, many of then in my constituency, have been built across the country this year,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, pointed out, that list is online.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that not all of the 8,000 properties are houses directly built by local authorities.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Some were built by affordable housing bodies such as the Iveagh Trust, which has been providing housing in Dublin for decades or centuries, but the Opposition-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ------do not count such houses. Some of the houses were bought directly from developers. Many people in my constituency received social housing that was bought directly from a developer in places such as Waterville. However, to the Opposition such housing provision does not count.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Many people are living in houses with long-term 20 or 30 year leases and have secure tenancies. None of that counts for some members of the Opposition, but it counts for the people living in those houses. I have handed over the keys to people moving into new homes such as those. Those people are not ideological about the mechanism used to provide the houses. Rather, they care about having...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". It is intended to hold that referendum in May, at the same time as the local and European elections, on the issue of extending voting rights in presidential elections to Irish citizens no matter where they live. It is quite complicated because issues like postal votes, polling stations and so on have to be worked out but, given that the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I understand this is a very unfortunate situation and I extend my apologies to those members of the Defence Forces who have been affected. They will now rotate. It seems they will come home on 16 October, so it will be a two-week extension to the deployment. The Defence Forces are providing a €1,000 ex gratia gratuity to each member affected to defray any costs that may arise....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, has been in direct contact with our honorary consul in Beirut, Georges Siam. It happened because military flights require specific diplomatic clearance from all countries through whose airspace they fly. These clearances require prior notification, are time limited and must all be aligned to allow the flight to proceed. In the case of UNDOF,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The programme for Government commits to increasing resources for mental health. That is being done. We had spending at approximately €700 million in 2011. It is well in excess of €900 million now, and will approach €1 billion next year. There has been a 67% increase in clinical CAMHS staff since 2008. Twenty more teams have been put in place, an increase of 40%....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is examining the matter. I had the opportunity to meet the chairperson and director general of RTÉ only in the last couple of days. Ultimately, any money provided is public and taxpayers' money and we have to make sure it is used to best effect. There is a lot of public service broadcasting beyond RTÉ. There is also TG4 and many other news and media organisations...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Anyone who is entitled to receive illness benefit and does not will have his or her payments backdated to the point at which they were entitled to receive it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is a simplification process. The process is being moved online. As happened with maternity and paternity benefit payments in the past, it does appear that there are some problems in making the transition. I stand to be corrected, but I understand there were consultations with doctors through the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, but not the National Association of General Practitioners,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is, of course, correct on one point - there will be a further substantial increase in funding for health service and the HSE in the forthcoming budget. We are already spending record amounts of money on health services and will break a new record in the provision of funding and resourcess again next year. The important point, the thing that can be very difficult to do, is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputies will appreciate, section 39 organisations are all very different. They range from what are, effectively, very large corporate service providers to very small charitable organisations and their financial position differs from one another. There are discussions taking place at the Workplace Relations Commission about the provision of additional funding. The Deputies may be...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I apologise to Deputy Cahill; I do not have up-to-date note on that particular matter. I will ask the Minister to provide him with a detailed reply.