Results 29,901-29,920 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Brexit Cabinet sub-committee has not met in 2019. The Tánaiste and I found it unworkable. Cabinet sub-committees involve Ministers, advisers and officials. When so many Ministers are involved in preparing for Brexit, having 60 or 70 people there made it unworkable. As I have told the House before, we decided to have Cabinet committee meetings to deal with Brexit. We have had 25...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: That is not my assessment. The best way to get things done is through having meetings of Ministers, advisers and officials and the Cabinet.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am restructuring the Cabinet sub-committees to make them more workable by having quarterly meetings. I propose to put Brexit, EU affairs and global Ireland together in a new committee. I do not have the terms and conditions of the beef package before me, but I understand the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has made farmers aware of it. If he has not, I am sure he will do...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: To explain, the Brexit Cabinet sub-committee is just one mechanism by which people can meet. I do not believe Cabinet sub-committees exist under the Constitution. The Cabinet is the main mechanism by which Ministers meet. We have had 25 detailed Cabinet discussions on Brexit. Ministers, officials and advisers meet, and we did so only yesterday with a meeting of my officials and advisers...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The senior officials group also meets. This is the main co-ordinating body on the Civil Service side. The main co-ordinating body on the political side is the Cabinet. On Rosslare, the matter to which Deputy Burton referred falls into the TEN-T regulation and that is revised periodically. We would have to wait for the next time the TEN-T regulation, which is connected to the connecting...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Freedom of Information Data (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: From 1 January 2017 to the end of May this year, the Department received 1,069 freedom of information requests. Of these, 230 were fully granted, 502 were partially granted, 89 were refused and no records were held in relation to 182 requests. A total of 62 requests were either transferred, withdrawn or handled outside the freedom of information process, while four requests are ongoing....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Freedom of Information Data (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not familiar with the specifics of the freedom of information request to which Deputy Micheál Martin referred. I imagine there has been little contact with media owners and probably a lot with individual journalists and editors. I will, however, check on that because it is not something that I am familiar with or that I have been briefed about. Regarding personal emails, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Operations (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides a robust statutory framework which aims to provide protections to whistleblowers who raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing in their workplace. These protections apply to workers in all sectors of the economy, both public and private. They protect whistleblowers from being penalised by...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Operations (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier in relation to my Department, there are no protected disclosures on hand at present. With regard to GSOC, I do not have that information to hand but I will inform GSOC that Deputy Burton has raised these questions here and I will ask GSOC to provide a reply to her. Deputy McDonald raises some issues about particular protected disclosures. I am conscious that protected...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Operations (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am the Minister for Defence but the Government has delegated responsibility for defence and almost all of the associated functions to the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe. I will get an update on those particular matters from the Minister of State and I will respond, in my name, to the Deputies' queries.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Tánaiste and I met with Ms Mary Lou McDonald T.D. and Ms Michelle O'Neill MLA on 18 June in Leinster House when we discussed the current political situation in Northern Ireland and Brexit. We discussed what could be done to get the institutions in Northern Ireland up and running again. Once again, I emphasised the Government’s full commitment to all aspects of the Good...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Offices (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Bicycle racks are provided within Government Buildings for use by staff of and visitors to my Department.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Advertising Expenditure (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Expenditure on digital and online space over the past eight years was as follows: 2011 – Nil 2012 – €639.90 2013 – Nil 2014 – Nil 2015 – €861.00 2016 – Nil 2017 – Nil 2018 - €451,351.03 2019 - €1,355.46 Total Expenditure: €454,171.09 A decision was taken in 2017 to fund and run cross-Government public...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has not paid any costs to the companies in question for projects, in the years 2015 to 2018 and to date in 2019.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has not engaged the company in question for any projects in the years concerned. However, in 2018 my Department paid €14,205 to the company in question for expenses incurred by a witness following receipt of a direction under section 24 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 by Judge Brian Cregan, Sole Member of the Commission of Investigation established...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Details of expenditure on tribunals and commissions of investigation funded through my Department's Vote, in each of the years 2009 to date in 2019, is set out in the following table. Moriarty Tribunal of Inquiry Year Admin Legal Costs 3rd Party Costs Total 2009 €444,767 €3,350,611 €0 €3,795,378 2010 €516,409 €2,608,484 €0 €3,124,893...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Climate Change Policy (9 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Both my Department and the National Economic & Social Development Office (NESDO) have ceased the purchase of single-use plastics since July 2018. An instruction was issued on the matter at that time to ensure that single-use plastics are no longer purchased or used. A small existing stock has been phased out since then.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I have absolute, total and full confidence in Deputy Kehoe as Minister with responsibility for Defence. He has held the post for seven years, initially as Minister of State and more recently as Minister with responsibility for Defence. Nobody in this House knows more about military matters or understands defence given his seven years experience.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Let us look at a few of the things that have been done in the last three, four or five years since he has held the post. First recruitment, which had been paused by the previous Government, was resumed, and second, there has been major investment in the Defence Forces, with five new vessels and the most modern fleet ever. There has been investment in aircraft with a new fisheries protection...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In answer to the Deputy's question I am informed by the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, that he was briefed in Haulbowline last Friday and the remarks he made to the media reflect the briefing he was given in Haulbowline with officials and senior Naval Service staff present. In terms of the actions that are being taken, let me go through them again.