Results 27,441-27,460 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Ombudsman Complaints (22 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Section 6(2) of the Ombudsman (Defence Forces) Act 2004, provides for the making of complaints by former members of the Defence Forces. It states (2) A former member of the Defence Forces may, subject to this Act, make a complaint to the Ombudsman concerning an action if it has affected that former member and was taken while he or she was a serving member of the Defence Forces by...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. A lot of progress has been made on broadband in the past couple of years. When the Fine Gael and Independent Alliance Government entered office, only half of premises in Ireland had access to high-speed broadband. Today, three quarters of homes, businesses and farms in Ireland have access to high-speed broadband. A huge amount of this has been driven by Government...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Off the top of my head it may be KPMG but one of the big four firms is doing one evaluation and a second evaluation is being done by an expert panel with international involvement. Once this evaluation of the bid is done, a recommendation can be brought to the Government as to whether we proceed with this particular bid. There have been changes in the composition of the consortium...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: This is well known and well aired but the bid still stands. It is worth referring briefly from the report. On pages 18 and 19, it states:The meetings between the former Minister and Mr McCourt gave cause for concern as they suggest ongoing engagement outside of any formal need for them to engage with each other in the normal course of the Department's business, including the State-led...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The issue relating to the communications protocol is covered in the second paragraph of the conclusions in Mr. Peter Smyth's report. That is my reply in that regard. The consortium has changed but it is not a new consortium. It is a consortium that has changed in its composition during the process, not a new one.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have the report from the independent process auditor, Mr. Peter Smyth. It is available for anybody to read. If people do not have the time, they can read pages 18 and 19.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is all people need to know. It indicates that by removing himself from the process by resigning, any concern relating to Deputy Naughten's involvement in this or his relationship with Mr. McCourt no longer affects the process.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The final tender was received by the Department on 18 September last. It is being evaluated by the Department with the support of external expert advice. As part of the evaluation, all matters will be examined, including the consortium, the deliverability of the project and its cost. When that examination concludes the Government will be in a position to make a decision on whether we can...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Doherty referred to child poverty. Child poverty is a scourge on our society, but the Deputy did not mention that child poverty in Ireland is falling and has been falling for several years now. The Deputy does not need to believe me on that, he can look at the statistics from the Central Statistics Office and the survey of income and living conditions. It rose dramatically during...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----to improvements for lone parents and increases in the child dependent allowance, including further improvements that will kick in during March, presuming that this House supports the social welfare legislation. Levels of child poverty remain far too high and there is more to be done, including further increasing employment, focusing on households where there is low work intensity,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and, for example, the figures for those who are waiting for that prolonged period are 0.6% in Dublin, 0.6% in Donegal and the Border area, but it is 29% in Cork and Kerry. I will certainly be looking for a report on a comparison between resources, staffing and outcomes. I do not believe that resourcing and staffing is so much lower in Cork and Kerry to have nearly 30% of people waiting...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----when in other parts of the State it is 0% or less than 1%.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On speech and language, I do have the figures. There are about 8,000 children waiting on initial assessment but most of those are waiting less than 16 weeks. There are 14,000 waiting on further therapy and again most of those are waiting between zero and 16 weeks, and 16 weeks or four months is the target waiting time. When we see those big figures it is important in terms of accuracy to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The same thing would apply if they were going privately. That does not make it acceptable that there are any children waiting more than four months. As is often the case, the Deputy presents the easy answer, the easy solution which probably does not work - more staff, more resources, more money. That is what we have been doing for three or four years. There is a record budget next year...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy pointed to the Tánaiste's area and I see that here too. I see huge variations in the amount of time children who need these services are waiting from one region to the next.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I ask myself why that is the case and this is something I am going to look into because I do not believe there is such a dramatic variation in staffing and resources from one region to the next yet we can see enormous variations-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: For years we were in a financial and economic crisis when budgets were being cut back, services were being cut back and staff were being cut back.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have had the reverse for three or four years now, massive increases in resources-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and increases in staff but we are not necessarily getting the results that patients, children and families deserve. This Sinn Féin solution of more of the same is not necessarily the answer and that is why we are trying to do things differently.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2018)

Leo Varadkar: For example, when it comes to speech and language therapy, in 150 schools we are introducing a pilot programme in speech and language therapy because we need to do things differently.