Results 29,261-29,280 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There is no electioneering going on when it comes to this decision. No matter when we would have made the announcement on the preferred bidder, we would have been accused of either electioneering or trying to bury it until after the forthcoming elections. The Deputy knows as well as I do that if we had put off the decision to appoint a preferred bidder until next month, he would have turned...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There will be no budgetary impact in 2019 and a minimal impact in 2020. In fact, there may possibly be none as a result of carry-over. There will be a budgetary impact from 2021 onwards. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in the summer economic statement, due in a few weeks’ time, will indicate exactly-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----how that will be provided for. I stand over the cost-benefit analysis. Yes, errors were detected along the way but the final cost-benefit analysis after all corrections still showed that this is a positive project and that the benefits outweigh the costs in all scenarios-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----the pessimistic scenario, the core scenario and the most optimistic one. The cost-benefit analysis does not include many things which I think are very important.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: These include smart farming, the potential positive impact it will have on rural isolation, e-health, e-government, and home working.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: None of those is taken into account by the cost-benefit analysis, and even then it is still positive. It should be born in mind that this was undertaken independently by PwC. Yesterday the Deputy cast aspersions on KPMG-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----a company with thousands of employees and today he is casting aspersions on PwC. I think that is wrong.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is wrong for the leader of the Opposition to come into the House and cast aspersions on two large firms and all their staff and to do so two days in a row. I think that is wrong.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the final question on financial requirements, these were set out in tender documents many years ago.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: As the Minister, Deputy Bruton, outlined yesterday, there is no issue with any bidder relying on the resources of any companies.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Granahan McCourt relied on Tetrad Corporation and McCourt Global LLC to demonstrate its financial and economic capacity. This was entirely appropriate given the scale of the investment required. This was allowed for by the project information memorandum and the prequalification questionnaire which were given to all bidders in 2016 and were published last week. This is a standard...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: All other bidders to the process would have sought to do the same.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure the Minister will be happy to answer that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue. It is one which is very much coming up on the doorsteps and has been for quite some time. Insurance costs in Ireland are very high. This impacts on drivers, patients or potential patients with health insurance, business people, farmers, community organisations and in particular, when it comes to motor insurance, people who have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not have that particular legislation in front of me but I will examine it again during the week to see if we can work with the Deputy's party to progress it. However, in the past year alone we have passed three new laws that deal with the issue of insurance and another Bill is currently working its way through the Houses. We are certainly not new to the game when it comes...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan for raising this important issue. I very much agree with her that the cost of new medicines is extremely high. That is the case across the world. Notwithstanding that, so far this year - it is only May - the HSE has approved 23 new medicines for use in this country and is considering a number of other applications. One of the most effective things we can...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I broadly agree with the Deputy. In my conversations with the Minister for Health I will advise him that the Deputy has raised these issues. He will follow up directly with her.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Housing is a significant concern for citizens and families across the State, be they people on the housing list waiting for social housing, people who want to buy their first home or a new home and are struggling to do so or people who are facing very high rents that take up a large proportion of their income. It has very much been the priority of Government to get on top of these issues...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We both agree that this is a real problem. We need to tackle high rents. Where we disagree is that the Deputy thinks there is only one way to reduce rents while I and this Government appreciate that we must do it in a number of different ways. "Yes", we need more social housing. We added 9,000 units to the social housing stock last year because when we have more social housing, we are able...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 May 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Like him, I met some of the families waiting on approval of this medicine. As people in this House know, it is not a political decision as to whether a particular medicine should be approved for reimbursement. Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, this House decided that decision should be made by the Health Service...