Results 27,961-27,980 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

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

Leo Varadkar: I am sure the Minister for Health will be asked all of these questions as well. There are other health projects under way, including the new national rehabilitation hospital in Dún Laoghaire, for example, and the new national forensic mental health hospital in Portrane. As things stand, those projects look like they are going to come in on time and on budget.

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

Leo Varadkar: I accept that may change but for context, let us at least bear in mind that other national hospitals are being built-----

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

Leo Varadkar: -----which are coming in around budget. In terms of the reprofiling or delays that may happen to other projects, that is still being worked out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We believe we will be able to do it in the context of a €5 billion capital budget for this year, which is 25% higher than last year, by reprofiling projects rather than cancelling them....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together. There were 211.5 whole-time-equivalent staff working in my Department on 31 December 2018. That compares to a figure of 203.5 whole-time-equivalent staff on 31 December 2017. My Department is structured around seven main work areas. The breakdown of posts currently in each of these areas is as follows: there are 28 posts in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Regarding the vote that will happen in Westminster tonight, the sequence is that any initial response will come from the EU institutions in Brussels. We will co-ordinate with Brussels and I imagine any initial response will come from there, and perhaps from us thereafter, but more likely tomorrow than today. In terms of the SCU staff, some have transferred to other Departments, some have...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I would never have thought a personal crusade would mean appointing an adviser. Perhaps that was the Deputy's approach to Government but it is not mine.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I may be wrong but I might be the first Taoiseach who is regularly criticised for not having enough advisers and experts in my Department. In terms of the structural changes that have been made, there is the Brexit group, which has six members of staff. Of course, behind them are the entire Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Taoiseach. We also have some people working on...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I spoke by phone with Chancellor Merkel on Thursday 3 January. The main focus of our discussion was Brexit, and the importance of the Withdrawal Agreement that was agreed between the EU and the UK last November being ratified. We agreed that we would be ready to offer additional reassurances and clarifications to the UK, but that there could be no renegotiation or contradiction of the...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Expenditure on taxis from January - December 2018 totalled €26,053.46. Taxis are used for official purposes where there is no other practical or suitable alternative mode of transport available. My Department has a taxi account for official business purposes with a company selected by the Office of Government Procurement under a Framework Agreement for services in the Greater...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Communications (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Eleven customer complaints were received in my Department since 2016. Two complaints were received in 2016, five complaints were received in 2017 and four complaints were received during 2018. No customer complaints have been received in 2019 to date. These complaints are not categorised, but nine of the complaints related to issues experienced with other Government Departments and the...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: EU Bodies (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is an advisory body whose function is to represent economic and social interests in the Union’s decision-making process. The EESC has 350 members, who are drawn from economic and social interest groups in Europe, nominated by national governments and appointed by the Council of the European Union for a renewable five year term of...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 114 and 115 together. The following table shows spend on the purchase of space in various media, along with creative work. The spend includes a number of major cross-Government public information programmes aimed at improving citizens' lives that the Department funded centrally during 2018. Examples of these include the Healthy Ireland campaign, which...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: As a Government, we very much regret the vote that occurred last night in Westminster to reject the withdrawal agreement and the associated joint political declaration. A no-deal exit would be very bad for Ireland, for the United Kingdom and for all of the European Union. A no-deal scenario would leave us with no guarantee of there not being a hard border between Northern Ireland and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure exactly what the Deputy is driving at. The Tánaiste was referring to checks on goods moving from the UK to Ireland. That is what the backstop provides for. The backstop and the withdrawal agreement provide for checks on the movement of goods between Britain and Ireland at the ports at Dublin, Dublin Airport and Rosslare and also at the ports in Northern Ireland. That is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the budget, I mentioned already how the budget was planned with Brexit in mind. All the economic analysis we have so far from Copenhagen Economics and the ESRI, for example, indicate that there would be a slowdown in economic growth, but not that we would enter recession. Some people feel that is a little optimistic. The projection from the ESRI, Copenhagen Economics and others is that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I very much agree with the Deputy's initial remarks. We had a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. I remember it well. During the Troubles and prior to 1992 when the Single Market came into effect, I remember very well crossing the Border as a child and in my early teens. There were customs checks. I remember the 24-hour rule and I remember seeing soldiers, and I never want...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government of the United Kingdom - and the United Kingdom - has given the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland a commitment that Brexit, which is its policy, will not result in a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. We have come up with the solution. We have it in the withdrawal agreement plus the backstop. That is how we avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government acknowledges and is aware of the fact that two of the three unions that represent nurses have voted to strike. They have done so by a large margin - 95% - which indicates the depth of feeling among nurses and midwives about their terms, conditions and pay. The Government understands that, and we will engage with all three unions that represent the nurses and midwives with a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I care deeply and profoundly about patients. I am a medical doctor by training, I worked in the public health service - and never in the private health service - for seven years, I have been a Minister for Health, and I am the leader of the Government. I care deeply, therefore, about how strike action may impact on our patients. I care about patients and how they might be affected, and I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am very sorry to hear about that gentleman and his experience. I am aware that Deputy Wallace raised the matter in the House previously. I doubt that any Deputy has not in some way been affected by suicide or does not know someone who has taken his or her own life. We all know the enormous grief this causes and the effect it has on families and friends. It is a...