Results 26,981-27,000 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have answers to all those questions but the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, is here and I imagine he will be able to provide more detailed answers later. Every effort is being made to ensure that accommodation is secured for the people affected. I do not think anybody would like to see so many people losing their accommodation so...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is a little fuzzy in his political history when he suggests that this is the twelfth budget-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is a little fuzzy in his recollection in talking about this being the twelfth budget. It is the third of this Government involving Fine Gael and Independents under the confidence and supply agreement. The previous five budgets before those were introduced by Fine Gael and Labour. The Deputy was in that coalition briefly but I am not sure if he ever managed to vote for a budget....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure he was briefly part of that Government, at least until it came to the point of having to make a difficult decision.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure he will spend many years in this House but he will never have to vote for a budget. For the people who like that sort of politics, that is the sort of politics that they like.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Tax expenditures are there for a reason. Sometimes they are a good idea and sometimes they are a bad idea and they have to be regularly reviewed. They have to be justifiable. One of the most expensive tax expenditures we have is mortgage interest relief. We allow people to offset some of their income tax against the cost of their mortgage. That was introduced to promote home ownership...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have any plans to legislate on this but I imagine that the Department of Finance is able to provide that information to the Deputy by means of a parliamentary question. I assume the Department of Finance has-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----estimates as to what the tax foregone is from any particular tax expenditure or tax incentive.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Commission on Taxation examined all of them and had a detailed view on each of them although that was a number of years ago.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That can be done in respect of sunset clauses. When we reduced VAT for the tourism and hospitality sector, we indicated that it would only last for three years, although that was not written into the law. When there is a sunset clause, however, we always come under pressure to extend it anyway. I am not sure how effective they are. I would not have a sunset clause when it comes to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I would be concerned if that was the type of policy that Deputy Broughan was putting forward-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and a threat would be put in law that at a certain point we are going to start taxing people's child benefit.

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Is it 40 minutes?

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I imagine I will not take that long. Our country’s second Minister for Finance believed that the purpose of Government was to allow the greatest freedom for all - what he called "the greatest possibilities for the good of all". Yesterday, that message was at the heart of budget 2019 presented by the current Minister for Finance, Deputy Pascal Donohoe. It was a budget he summarised...

Resignation of Minister: Statements (11 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The national broadband plan is the Government's plan to provide high-speed broadband to every home, farm and business in the country. It will be the biggest investment in rural Ireland ever and I believe that in time it will be seen to be as significant as rural electrification was decades ago, allowing people in all parts of Ireland to access public services online and trade in the digital...

Resignation of Minister: Statements (11 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Martin. As Taoiseach, I note that the Government is absolutely committed to bringing forward the national broadband plan. When this Government of Fine Gael and Independents working together came to office a little more than two years ago, just over 50% of homes, farms and businesses in Ireland had access to high-speed broadband. By the end of this year, we will be at 80%....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We are determined to bring that to 100% as soon as possible. We want to ensure that the 540,000 homes, farms and businesses across rural Ireland which lack access to high-speed broadband should have it as soon as possible to allow them to access public services which are available online to a greater extent and become part of the digital economy. We want businesses in rural Ireland to sell...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The commercial investment that has occurred has been very much spurred on by Government policy and the national broadband plan: commercial operators getting into areas quickly, providing broadband quickly, knowing that if they did not, it would not form part of the Government's plan. Therefore, much of the commercial investment that has happened would not have happened as quickly had it not...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think it is.