Results 29,001-29,020 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I was not suggesting we change precedent and that the Deputy give me notice of questions. I am just saying I would have liked to have given him a more accurate answer. I am conscious of this issue. It is being considered by the HSE for approval right now but it needs to go through the process to ensure that the same procedures apply to this drug as to others. I am very familiar with the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: When I met Sophia's father on the way into Government Buildings on Tuesday, I spoke to him about the matter. I experienced some of the frustration which I am sure the Deputy has also experienced when speaking to him at the pressures he, his family and daughter are facing as a result of having to wait for surgery. The long-term strategy to develop sustainable scoliosis services from 2018...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I have not presented figures.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I understand Sophia's family have a meeting in the hospital today.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I did not give figures for waiting lists, but I will. Waiting list figures at the end of August show that there are 188 patients on the waiting list for spinal surgery, of whom 109 are awaiting a spinal fusion. A total of 90 of the patients are actively waiting; 14 are come-ins, which means that they have a date for surgery; 40 have had surgery suspended; while 44 are on a planned procedure...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy well knows, as a former Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the debate around the choices for a budget generally happen around budget day. There are all sorts of speculation and kite flying, mainly not from Ministers but from other people trying to provoke a response from the Government to get an idea what is and is not going to happen on budget day. I suspect this is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: We have learned much over the past seven years. The Deputy will remember much of it in terms of the debates and the hard decisions which needed to be made in difficult circumstances in the build-up to budgets, particularly five, six and seven years ago when he, as then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, had to make difficult choices. I am glad to say we are not in that situation...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy has raised a lot of questions there and I would like to spend a lot of time answering them because this is a brief with which I am very familiar and in which I am still very involved. To answer her direct question regarding a rent freeze, I do not think it is a good idea, not because I do not want to introduce measures that provide relief for renters but because the core of the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: It is time for action and less talk and that is why we are implementing the Rebuilding Ireland plan, which is a five-year housing plan that is working. The Deputy said the vacant site levy is not working but that has only just started. It does not work overnight.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: We cannot retrospectively correct things from two years ago. We are setting about-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy does not want to hear the answers - that is the problem - because she wants to keep talking about the problems. We in government recognise that there are huge pressures on the housing market and that is impacting on families right across the country but, in particular, in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and in other areas. We are setting about fixing those. There...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: Five thousand people were taken out of homelessness last year. We know that 7,000 new social housing units were added to the market last year. It will be 8,000 this year and 10,000 and 12,000 in the years ahead.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: We know that last year 14,500 new homes were built in Ireland. This year it will be over 20,000. Two years ago that figure was less than 10,000, so we are moving in the right direction.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: While the transition is happening we need to protect renters, in particular, and people who need affordable properties-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: Which is why we have changed the rental market but the Deputy does not want to recognise progress because she wants to keep talking about problems.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I also take the opportunity to thank Kathleen O'Toole who has done an extraordinarily good job. What the Government has done to date is simply to note the report because there are many recommendations in it. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, is consulting with other political parties and other stakeholders on an implementation plan which he has committed to bring to Government within three...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: Yes, I am is the answer to both of those questions. We are at the business end of these negotiations and this is difficult, and it was always going to be difficult. The complexity of Britain leaving the European Union and of getting the complexity of a withdrawal treaty finalised, in terms of legal text that provides absolute certainty and that will stand to legal scrutiny and so on, was...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: The only update I can give to the Deputy is that there are ongoing consultations between the Minister's Department and trade unions. I do not have an exact date.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I will have to come back to the Deputy on this, but I would be surprised if the Minister had committed to that. I would be surprised if that was the case but I will need to confirm it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Sep 2018)

Simon Coveney: I will come back to the Deputy on this. I understand that the Government is happy to progress the issue. It has been debated a number of times in the House and the Taoiseach has answered questions from the Deputy on the issue. We are serious about doing it, but I will have to come back to the Deputy on the timing of the legislation.