Results 28,901-28,920 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: These are quite detailed questions. I have answered the one that relates to legislation. The others do not relate to the programme for Government but I will ask the Minister for Health to provide Deputy Micheál Martin with a more detailed reply.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. Obviously it is our objective as the Government to make sure that as much of our public transport is accessible to people with disabilities as possible so that they can go about their lives, participate in the workforce and avail of the services they need. A question for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport would be best put to him rather than to me-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----but I know that the Minister has appointed several people who have disabilities to the boards of the transport companies with that particularly in mind, as he wants to make sure that their voice is heard at the boards. In respect of which buses Bus Éireann orders, that really is a matter for the company rather than the Government.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is a good question. I was pondering this myself yesterday when I was reading the report from the European Parliament. The truth is that the Government has not taken a position on it yet, nor have we discussed it. I would very much like to know the views of the House on this matter so perhaps we should have a debate on it. Maybe a few indicative votes might be worth experimenting with.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It would not kick in until April 2021 anyway, so we have plenty of time to make this decision, no pun intended. One thing about which the Deputy is absolutely right is that I could not and certainly would not wish to countenance a situation whereby Northern Ireland was in a different time zone from the rest of Ireland.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not have the details of the situation in Fethard, but I am sure the Minister for Education and Skills does and would be able to give the Deputy a more detailed reply. We have done a considerable amount of work in the past few years in accommodating and supporting children with special needs. We have more special needs assistants and more special classes than ever before....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: As I understand it, the National Transport Authority is publishing the document, not the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Government. I cannot give the Deputy a commitment on the authority's behalf, but I am sure it will publish it as soon as it possibly can. Our ambition in Project Ireland 2040 is to see the population of Cork grow by 50% by 2040, twice the rate at...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not an expert on the particular pension fund. However, I met ESB pensioners some years ago when I was Minister for Social Protection. As the Deputy knows, the State pension is increased every year; in fact, it will increase this week by €5 a week. It has increased by about €1,000 a year in the past year. Pension funds such as the ESB's essentially are company funds and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure if it was reported correctly. Generally, when the Attorney General gives advice, his advice is on legal matters, not the expertise levels of staff in local authorities, as being a barrister the Attorney General would have no knowledge of such things. However, he has said that even though it is not a referendum in a constitutional sense, we need to treat it as though it was....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I think it is next week or the following week. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, is conducting it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure there are 479 vacant posts. The Deputy will be aware the when the Public Service Pay Commission examined these issues, it was not able to authenticate claims made either by the unions or the HSE as to how many consultant posts there are, but that is a problem in itself when we do not how many vacancies there are really.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We will talk about that another time. To answer the Deputy Butler's question, from the patient point of view, which is what really matters, we have made considerable progress in reducing waiting times for operations and procedures. We lost some ground as a consequence of the nurses' strike, but the number of people waiting more than 12 weeks for an operation or procedure has been falling...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have any knowledge of this but I will certainly inform the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath, and the Minister, Deputy Ross, that the Deputy raised it. I am sure it would be possible to have the travel pass recognised on the LocalLink but it would want a fee for that which would be entirely reasonable. I will certainly inform both the Minister for Transport and the Minister of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: That is a roundabout way of asking a question that I get asked almost every day at the moment. That is really going to depend on what happens in the next few weeks, whether we have a deal, and if we do not have a deal, what shape that takes. We are increasing the size of the Garda force, which is now more than 14,000. Civilians are being brought in to free up gardaí, and we are taking...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): EU Summits (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. I attended the summit between the European Union and the League of Arab States on 24 and 25 February in Sharm El-Sheikh. The purpose of the summit was to deepen and extend the partnership between the European Union and Arab countries, enabling us to tackle our many shared challenges more effectively. The summit was the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): EU Summits (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will do my best. With regard to the EU-Arab summit, migration was of course discussed but it was not the focus of the summit. We were very keen that the relationship between the EU and the countries of the Arab League should not all be about migration. A decision was taken to focus on other issues also. Land aid was not discussed but there was very strong recognition from Arab states...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): EU Summits (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is always good to clean one's own house as well as someone else's.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): EU Summits (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not condoning anti-Semitism or turning a blind eye to it.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): EU Summits (27 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I was asked about it.