Results 29,001-29,020 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Government Information Service (3 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government Information Service (GIS) in my Department, in line with the mandate to streamline whole-of-Government communications, issue advice and guidelines to Government Departments as requested. As the Regional Enterprise Plan is a cross Government programme, communications on it, including this video, were re-tweeted from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation's...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The most important thing is that we deal with the backlog. There is a backlog of approximately 80,000 smear tests waiting to be examined. While the clinical risk is negligible, there are, of course, lots of women who are very concerned about their test result and have been waiting a long time for it. We need to deal with that issue. Some women are getting their result back within four...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It was sent after the announcement had been made, not prior to it, and it was sent by a staff member in CervicalCheck to an official in the Department. It did not go, as the Deputy claims, to the Minister for Health. The advice from the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, was reflected in the decision made by the Minister for Health which was subsequently endorsed by the Government. If the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It was very much in line with the advice from the CMO, that if a repeat smear test was to be done out of cycle, it should be done after consultation with and on the advice of a GP.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: That is the statement that was issued publicly.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I can inform the House that between 1 May and 31 December last year, when the free out-of-cycle smear test was on offer, there were 112,000 consultations with GPs but only 57,800 repeat smear tests. That proves that the CMO's advice was followed because 100,000 women attended their GPs and in about half the number of cases a repeat smear test was done.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is again engaging in conspiracy theories. To the best of my knowledge, the information that was on the front page of the Irish Examiner was not a leak, it was on foot of a freedom of information request made by that newspaper, so the Deputy is really into his conspiracy theories again. A newspaper makes a freedom of information request-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----it has a story and puts it on the front page and the Deputy imagines that there is a leak or a conspiracy involved but I am sure the Irish Examinercan confirm whether it was a leak or was down to good journalism by the newspaper by putting in a freedom of information request. On what happened at the time, it is important to bear in mind what was happening at the time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Women were attending GP surgeries, they were very concerned about their smear tests being inaccurate and in many cases they were asking for a repeat smear test. This was the major issue coming up on the helpline, the NAGP called for repeat smear tests, the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO signed an agreement to provide them and it was welcomed by the Opposition. Some Opposition spokespersons...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy does not know that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Does the Deputy have any evidence of that?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot comment on those individual cases without knowing all the facts. I do know and understand the enormous inconvenience and suffering that hospital overcrowding causes patients and their families who care for them, and also the stress and pressures it puts on staff. I say that as somebody who spent over a year working in emergency departments in three different hospitals,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If we take the first three months of this year, according to the HSE we have had the lowest levels of overcrowding in five years. Even taking the nurses' figures, which cannot really be used for year-on-year comparisons because they change the way they count them every year, or at least have changed the way they count them on a few occasions in recent years, their figures show fewer patients...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and in Clonmel and many other places as well. By the end of this year, we will be back up to about 11,000 beds in our acute hospital system. That is the highest number since 2009, reversing the policy of the previous Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government to reduce the number of hospital beds, by restoring those beds. The second area is better use of our existing bed capacity....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is trying to twist my words again. I said I could not comment on those individual cases because I do not know the facts. The accusations she made concerned what was said about the Government, not those individual cases. The Deputy asked about solutions. I provided the solutions to her. I pointed towards the three areas in which we are implementing solutions. I have not heard,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The number of people waiting for an operation or procedure for more than a year is 21,477 in Northern Ireland, compared with 4,900 here, representing 1.1% of the population of Northern Ireland compared with 0.1% here. The number of people waiting more than a year for an outpatient appointment in Northern Ireland is 94,000, compared with 89,000 here, which is 5.2% of the population compared...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Sinn Féin had the opportunity to show people what could be done. It controlled the Department of Health in Northern Ireland-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and it failed. Why should anyone believe that it would do a better job?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge, as does everyone on these benches, that rents in Ireland are very high, particularly high in our cities, and have become unaffordable for many people who, as the Deputy has said, are forced to opt for long commutes instead. That is why we introduced the rent-pressure zones. They have only been in place for a few years. There is evidence from the RTB's quarterly reports that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Some 18,000 new homes were built last year and we are aiming to have more than 20,000 homes built this year - around 25,000 in fact. The policy is to ensure there is a greater supply of housing: social housing for people on the housing lists; private housing for people who want to buy because most people want to buy their own home; and places available for people to rent. Any other...