Results 27,901-27,920 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----but I have had some verbal briefings. I would like to see the documents for myself. Other Ministers and officials might have seen them where it was relevant to their line Department. The common travel area is protected in the EU treaties and also in the withdrawal agreement. In the absence of those, it is a mix of national law, European law and conventions. There has been some...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Howlin asked me on a number of occasions to explain what other people mean. I am afraid I cannot do that. I can explain to him only what I mean.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Many people are telling me what I mean but I have never had the ability to tell other people what others mean.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Among the UK requests was one that the joint political declaration on the future relationship be attached to the withdrawal agreement. The advice from the EU legal services is that this would not be possible and that the withdrawal agreement and protocols attached to it are legal documents in our treaties whereas the joint political declaration is a political declaration. To be called a...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Budgets (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 19 together. My Department's gross budget in 2019 will be €35.266 million, as set out in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published yesterday, which represents a 3% increase on the figure for 2018. The allocation is divided between administration and programme expenditure. The administration allocation covers the running costs of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Budgets (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Micheál Martin asked about the public attitudes survey. I do not believe it was ever carried out. I will have to double check, but I think because of everything else that was going on, it was de-prioritised and never carried out. I had forgotten about it until the Deputy reminded me of it.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Budgets (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Forgotten about, rather than done away with, is the answer to the question. On the national co-ordinator, we have not decided yet whether it will be an internal appointment or whether the post will be advertised. It is to be determined in the first quarter of next year. Regarding the new Brexit contingency unit, it is being set up to augment the work of my Department's international, EU...

Post-European Council: Statements (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I attended the European Council in Brussels on Thursday, 13 December and Friday, 14 December. We met in three separate formats over the two days and discussed a wide range of issues. Chancellor Kurz reported on Austria’s work as the holder of the EU Presidency for the past six months. I congratulate the Chancellor and his country on what has been a very efficient and effective...

Post-European Council: Statements (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I stayed to listen to everyone who was present for my contribution.

Post-European Council: Statements (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Merry Christmas.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Commissions of Investigation (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 88 together. On 23 November 2018, the Commission submitted its Fifth Interim Report to me and requested a further extension of its deadline for reporting until the end of March 2020. On 5 December 2018, I met with representatives of the Opposition parties in relation to the Commission's request. There was a strong shared concern by all...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff Data (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There are currently 211.5 whole time equivalent staff working in my Department. This compares to a figure of 203.5 whole time equivalent staff on 31 December 2017.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister May on the margins of the December European Council on 13 December. We discussed the state of play with Brexit. We also discussed the political situation in the UK following the Prime Minister's decision on the previous Tuesday to defer the meaningful vote in the House of Commons, and the vote by her party MPs in respect of her leadership of...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Advertising Expenditure (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 to 91, inclusive, together. Please find the amounts requested in tabular form. The costs include information campaigns aimed at improving citizen's lives, such as the Healthy Ireland campaign, which encourages people to take small steps to improve their health or the Be Safe Online campaign, which highlights the range of resources to help assist people in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome the Deputy back and wish him and his party a happy new year. The withdrawal agreement is the only agreement on the table, and it has been supported by 28 Governments, including that of the United Kingdom. We will allow the democratic process to take its course in Westminster tonight, when the British Parliament will vote on the withdrawal agreement and four amendments. We will...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not accept the Deputy's charge. The stakeholder group meets regularly and information is given to stakeholders. Any time Opposition spokespersons have asked for a briefing, they have been provided with one. We could not publish the contingency plan until the day we did so because we had to have the European Commission one first, and I explained that at the time. The work on social...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The difficulties in recruiting and retaining healthcare staff, including nurses, are very real. They are not unique to Ireland: the same problems exist in places where pay is much lower, such as Northern Ireland, and much higher, namely, the Middle East and Australia. It is the consequence of an international labour market in which there is a shortage of healthcare staff. Deputy Pearse...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We can only deal with this issue in the context of wider concerns and wider issues. There are lots of people working in the public service, 300,000 of them, including doctors, teachers, gardaí, people who work in this House and other civil servants. They all work really hard. There are lots of areas in our public service where we are now finding it hard to recruit because we are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Just as in places like Venezuela, it would implement socialist policies, it would blow all the money in the first couple of years and, after that, it would just be austerity, austerity and austerity.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not doubt for a second the depth of the housing crisis affecting so many of our citizens, whether they are in emergency accommodation at hotels or bed and breakfasts, spending a large proportion of their take-home pay on rent or seeking to buy for the first time by putting together a deposit and finding a home they can afford. We are hard at work as a Government to deal with this. What...