Results 28,341-28,360 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not have any information on that. It is an independent process, as the House will be aware. I am aware that last year 29 new medicines were approved using this process. Obviously, what has to be considered in all cases is the efficacy of the medicine and whether the price being charged by the company is fair given all the other demands for funding in the health service....

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am unfamiliar with the documents the Deputy has referred to. I ask Deputies to be fair in this regard. The Minister is not a member of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. He is not a member of any of those committees. It is not reasonable to expect him to account for documents that he did not see and minutes of meetings he never attended.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Nobody can be held to that level of accountability. That is not fair.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am assured it is compliant with the EU procurement directive but I cannot give the Deputy an assurance that an underbidder or another party will not contest this legally. Anybody has the right to go to court if he believes he has been treated unlawfully. Obviously, I cannot give an assurance in that regard.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know. I would have to check.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I believe the question the Deputy initially asked was about financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, legislation and this House has passed-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: At least the Deputy is honest. It is a rhetorical question. The Deputy knows full well how this works. There was a hearing in the Labour Court and it heard all sides and came to a recommendation. It will be up to the members of the two particular unions, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, and the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland, PNA, as to whether they want to...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is fair to say the Labour Court recommendation is that. To answer Deputy Coppinger's final question, and I have said this before, there are many countries that pay less than Ireland does to its nurses and midwives, including most of Europe and most of the United Kingdom. There are many countries that pay more than we do, including Canada, Australia and countries in the Middle East....

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, I can. The only funds that have been transferred from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport relate to the A5 project which has been deferred because there is no Executive in Northern Ireland. I will be turning the sod for a new runway for Dublin Airport with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, on Thursday. We will be turning the sod for the N4 project...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It may well be the case that projects around the country are held up for lots of different reasons, whether planning permission delays, tender delays, or sometimes because the project itself is over budget, but it will not be because of the national children's hospital.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid that I do not but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to provide Deputy Ryan with more information if he can. My understanding is that the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 gives senior civil servants the power to make certain decisions without a Minister for the period up to March 2019 with the possible extension for a further five...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will provide the Deputy with a proper reply in correspondence.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the alleged conflict of interest, I answered that question when responding to Deputy Lowry earlier, namely, PwC ceased to be auditors in 2005.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My apologies. It was 2015, four years ago. This emphasises my advice to Deputies. Rather than asking the same questions again and again, perhaps they would familiarise themselves with the questions which already have been asked and the answers already given.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the contract and hyperinflation clause, the Deputy is well aware that no Minister or no Government has the authority to change a contract already signed. Politicians and Ministers are no longer involved in contracts. That practice ended in tribunals many decades ago.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not know the details of that particular project, but I will ask the Minister for Health to provide the Deputy with a reply by correspondence. I will say this again. There are projects throughout the country, including in my constituency, that will be and are delayed for all sorts of reasons. It might be that they do not yet have planning permission or that somebody has...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----project is delayed as a result of the national children's hospital.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I want Deputy to know here today that by doing so she is being dishonest and deliberately misleading her constituents.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On support for beef farmers, Deputies will be aware in the next few weeks that we should be in a position to launch the beef environmental efficiency pilot, BEEP, which will provide some additional grants to farmers who are beef producers but who provide necessary environmental information that we request from them. We always try to de-bureaucratise the CAP and the rules and regulations...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If I may, I would like to withdraw the term dishonest in favour of the term untrue.