Results 27,381-27,400 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----was as much about funding health and housing or balancing the books as it was about finding money for a tax package. Deputy Martin knows how budgets are done. There are always a number of moving parts. In terms of carbon tax, the ESRI is way off the mark. Certainly, this Government of Fine Gael and Independents does not intend to raise carbon tax to the kinds of level suggested in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of the trajectory, we have not worked one out yet. That is something-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: No, we have not. That is something that we are going to need to work on in the years ahead.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is entirely reasonable for a political party-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is entirely reasonable for a political party to set out its policy on income tax over five years.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Where is the policy on income tax and carbon tax from Fianna Fáil? I have not seen one. Where is the five year policy on income tax and carbon tax from Sinn Féin? It is entirely reasonable-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We are probably the only party that is actually ahead in terms of setting out the trajectory.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We are working on that at the moment and a time will come when we are willing-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and ready to put forward a trajectory for increases in carbon tax. As I said at the weekend, if we are going to increase carbon taxes, which we need to do if we are serious about reducing emissions, we should follow the model being pursued in Canada, where the money is given back to people in the form of tax credits and welfare.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I remind Deputy McDonald and the House that we have a public sector pay deal, not just with nurses but with all public servants. That pay deal was only negotiated and agreed a few months ago and its cost is €400 million this year, another €400 million next year and €650 million the year after that. The deal comes at considerable expense to the taxpayer, is about at the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Health regularly meets the trade unions, as do all Ministers in their respective briefs and-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform engages with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU. This is the system we have had for a very long time and it works very well. According to the HSE, the number of patients on trolleys is 289 today, a decrease of 14% on last year.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is also a decrease on the year before. The count that is done by the INMO is different and includes patients on beds, patients on trolleys and patients who are not in emergency departments.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is a wider measure of overcrowding but is not a trolley count anymore. It has been changed over the years to include many more categories of patients.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is a bed count as well. That is on the INMO website so I am not telling any tales in that regard. Whether the figure is 300 or 400 does not really matter.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is not the point. There are far too many patients waiting for admission to a proper hospital bed almost every day of the week, all year around. What can we do about that? Obviously better and proper management systems make a difference and we know that from the hospitals that are performing well. We also need more beds and better primary care so people do not end up in hospital in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have not read the report, nor seen it, nor has it been brought to Cabinet, so I am impressed that Deputy Wallace has. I imagine the Deputy would have come to his conclusions about whether it was a whitewash or not before he read it. I will read it and form my own opinion on it once I have. I am advised by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that the report will be brought to Cabinet this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy and I will agree that we need both legislation and enforcement because only the laws that exist can be enforced, and if the laws are deficient or do not exist, obviously they cannot be enforced. It requires a combination of actions. I have given the Deputy examples of some of the legislation that we have brought through just in the past year to crack down on white-collar crime,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Is Deputy Ryan talking to himself again?