Results 29,161-29,180 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government has not yet made a decision to accept a bid or to appoint a preferred bidder. If and when it comes to the point of being able to do that, there will be several months-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----while contracts are drawn up and, during that period, I have no doubt that the committee and Parliament will want to scrutinise the matter in detail.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot give the Deputy a precise date, nor have I ever. Due diligence has to be undergone, Cabinet Ministers have to be briefed, the Cabinet has to meet, a decision has to be made and a preferred bidder has to be appointed, or not. Deputy McDonald questioned my beliefs. I am of the view that Sinn Féin would probably have opposed rural electrification if it had been around during...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Will Sinn Féin put forward an alternative? It has tried to by proposing that the ESB do it and the ESB pulled out. Sinn Féin proposed that a public company be designated to do it. That is contrary to European state aid law, under which tendering is required. I have no doubt that Sinn Féin is opposed to rural broadband and that it would try to stop the project if it got into...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that the Government supports a just transition on climate change. I am not sure it is exactly the model that Deputy Howlin supports but the Government absolutely supports the principles of just transition. We anticipate that the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, will bring forward the all-of-Government climate cation plan in May. I agree...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We do not have a far right in Ireland. We have a far left but the far right and the far left are like a horse shoe: when one goes so far in one direction, one pretty much ends up in the same place. One of the recommendations of the cross-party committee on climate action was that we adopt a just transition model and have just transition task forces. There are ways in which we can...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot confirm that but it is something we are considering as part of the whole-of-Government climate action plan. I appreciate where the Deputy is coming from in saying that all the revenues from carbon tax should be ring-fenced to assist the most vulnerable whether it is through the fuel allowance or helping them insulate their homes and so on. I understand where he is coming from....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: True but ring-fencing all of it for the vulnerable and forgetting about the people just above the threshold, the middle class and low-income families is not just either. That is why we do not agree with Deputy Howlin's assessment.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I would prefer not to comment on an individual planning application, building or SDZ without having studied it. I am not informed enough to comment specifically on it but I am advised that Dublin City Council is reviewing the SDZ for that area. I would expect the council to take all issues into account, including the impact on existing residents,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We need all types of development in Ireland, including in our cities: housing, office buildings, hotels and student accommodation. We will have a population of 6 million by 2040. It is therefore not a case of either-or; we will need all sorts of development in our cities. While the block to which the Deputy refers has no housing in it, An Bord Pleanála just the other day approved...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I have never been a fan of guillotines. In my six years as a Minister in three Government Departments I never used the guillotine once. There does come a point, however, at which a filibuster is under way and a minority in either this House or the Seanad are preventing a democratic decision from being made. I do not know how many hours of debate that Bill had. I think it was 70 or 80 hours.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Any Deputy or Senator who cannot make his or her argument in 70 or 80 hours-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----would probably have difficulty getting elected to this House anyway, whatever about the other one. There comes a time when the use of a guillotine or limiting debate is merited, and that is when debate has gone on for four, five or six days and people are just repeating themselves or deliberately using filibustering tactics to prevent the majority from having its view. However, as the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure the Minister, Deputy Zappone, would be happy to do that. I will speak to her later as to whether she can do so when the Dáil resumes. The fifth interim report of the commission was discussed at Cabinet yesterday and published today. It makes gruesome reading, even if many of the facts were known to us already, and gives us a further insight into a very dark part of our...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is absolutely right about this. This is unusual practice but does happen. It is not the norm but is very much a tactic, a marketing device, used to create attention for a particular development. It happened in times of copious supply; it is happening at a time of limited supply. It is often the case that there are more bidders for a house than can buy the house, even a single...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I meant to say that these were everts that happened in the past. All of these institutions are closed and have been closed for quite some time now. It is still, of course, a real issue, a live issue and a lived experience for those who were in those institutions. I join the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, in calling on anyone who has information that would be of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government's commitment to universal healthcare is a very real one. It is evidenced by the fact that prescription charges for people with medical cards are going down and by the fact that prescription charges for those who do not have medical cards are also going down through the reduction in the drugs payment scheme, DPS, monthly cap. It is also evidenced by the fact that we are...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: That is not something we are proposing to do. As far as public hospitals are concerned, however, all patients will continue to receive the same medicines whether they have health insurance or not and no matter who they are insured by. The best system would be a single system of approvals, with the European Medicines Agency, EMA, deciding on a European-wide basis which medicines are approved...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think that it is but that is a decision for the Chair.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Apr 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I believe in the European Union and in free trade and not in tariffs, quotas or rules of origin. That is why I am not in favour of Brexit. I am in favour of the European Union because that is one of the things it is all about.