Results 27,941-27,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am very happy to eat fish landed in Donegal-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and to eat poultry, turkey, pork meat and all of the wonderful products that Irish farmers produce.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. Following consultations with the Opposition parties by the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, the IBRC commission of investigation was established in June 2015. The commission is entirely independent in its work and Mr. Justice Brian Cregan is its sole member. The commission is required to investigate certain transactions, activities...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Not that I am aware.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am at a bit of a disadvantage in answering these questions because it is an independent commission under Mr. Justice Cregan and I am not in charge of it. Rather, I am just the Minister named in the Act and, therefore, I do not know, nor can I know, many of the answers to the questions that people are asking. I have extended the commission's timeframe until the end of March 2019 and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 6, inclusive, together. Cabinet committee E last met on 22 November 2018. A date for the next meeting has not yet been scheduled. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and Cabinet committees, I often meet with Ministers and their teams on an individual basis to focus on particular issues. In this regard, I regularly meet with the Minister...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I spoke earlier on the threatened nurses strike and the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, answered the question on meningitis B so I will use my time to answer questions that have not been answered.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Boyd Barrett said that listening to me one would imagine that everything was fine in the health service, but I do not think that for a moment. Listening to him, one would think absolutely nothing at all is going right. Let me tell him about some of the things that are going right. The waiting times for operations and procedures in hospitals – hips, knees, eyes, cataracts and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Cancer survival rates are improving, stroke survival rates and heart attack survival rates are improving. Suicide rates are going down while life expectancy is increasing. None of that has happened by accident. It has happened because the right policies and strategies have been put in place by the health service. They have been funded by the Government. It has also happened because of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: No, I was just talking about patients.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I noted in Deputy Boyd Barrett’s lengthy speech on this issue that he did not mention patients at all.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: For me, patient outcomes should be at the centre of our concerns when it comes to the health service.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy did, it was fleeting because I did not hear it. I did not read Susan Mitchell's report but I have read the Sláintecare document, which recommends that we move towards integrated healthcare structures rather than the current system of hospital groups and community healthcare organisations. Hospitals will be combined with community services as part of the Sláintecare...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Sláintecare recommends structural change.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: People are very quick to criticise the Government for not implementing it but when we do, we are criticised as well. Either one is for Sláintecare or one is not. Sláintecare recommends this reform, namely, that we move towards integrated healthcare structures again.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of the rising costs of the children's hospital, my assessment is that the costs were underestimated in the first place but construction inflation has had a significant impact. Changes also had to be made to the sprinkler system-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and the cost of the electrical engineering system in particular was much higher than had been intended.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Health is inquiring further into the issue. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which is the dedicated State agency set up to deliver the hospital, is available to come in and answer questions in detail. It will have the financial people working on the project do that at the Joint Committee on Health.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: He is happy to do it too.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We are happy to do it too.