Results 30,241-30,260 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

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

Leo Varadkar: For families working on low pay, we have increased the working family payment and the lone parent disregards. The poorest families, those living alone and those on welfare with children have been protected.

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

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that some have not but taking the four budgets in the round we have increased the weekly rate of the pension and the weekly rate of welfare payments by three or four times the rate of inflation. I am proud to have led a Government that did that.

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

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of the various anonymous briefings we are reading of in the newspapers about me, Ireland and Chancellor Merkel and I do not want to make much response to anonymous briefings of that nature. I do not think much of anonymous briefings, whether from Downing Street or from my own ranks. If people want to brief, they should do so publicly and openly. There has not been any change to...

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

Leo Varadkar: I read the article written by the Green Party leaders in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago. I thought they made a helpful and constructive suggestion and their case was well made. We do, however, need to bear in mind that referendums are unusual tools in politics and sometimes when it comes to a referendum, people do not necessarily answer the question that is being asked. One concern we...

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

Leo Varadkar: I absolutely agree that the issue of drug abuse is a significant problem in our society. Drugs are ubiquitous and widely available. It is not a rural or urban problem; it is all over the country and is not just about disadvantaged areas. They are ubiquitous and available in all sectors of society, including among the very well-off. Our approach has been led by a few policy considerations,...

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

Leo Varadkar: -----and one can see where we are going in that regard. The second policy consideration is improving addiction services, for which there has been increased funding in recent years. The naloxone project has made a big difference to a large number of people who would have overdosed and died five years ago but who now survive because of the availability of naloxone. There has been...

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

Leo Varadkar: I do not have the exact figures in front of me but I believe that the increase in the health budget is €669 million on projected outturn but €1.15 billion year on year. Either way, it is an awful lot of money. In the past two years-----

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

Leo Varadkar: We do not yet know what the outturn-----

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

Leo Varadkar: -----will be for 2020 but we will see how it goes.

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

Leo Varadkar: Either way, it is an awful lot of money and an unprecedented increased investment in our health services over the past two or three years since I have become Taoiseach. On the Public Health (Alcohol) Act-----

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

Leo Varadkar: I wish that when I was Minister for Health, I had got the increases that the current Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is getting, quite frankly-----

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

Leo Varadkar: -----but we are in different times. I believe I got zero the first year and was delighted to get €350 million the second year. I am pleased to be part of a Government that is able to give the Minister, Deputy Harris, such large increases-----

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

Leo Varadkar: -----in the health budget but that would not have been possible, had it not been for how well the economy has been managed by the Government in recent years. For the Deputy's information, approximately 1.27% of the health budget next year will go on the children's hospital, with 98% on everything else. On the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, some sections relating to promotions and advertising...

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

Leo Varadkar: I will. We are keen to address minimum unit pricing in 2020 but we have a genuine concern about cross-Border trade. It is a real concern-----

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

Leo Varadkar: -----if one lives along the Border or retails along the Border.

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

Leo Varadkar: Little is achieved for public health if people just cross the Border and buy cheap alcohol in the North. We want everyone to do it at the same time. It has been done in Scotland, but it is not capable of being done in Northern Ireland because of the problems there.

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

Leo Varadkar: It is a real issue.

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

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, had a huge influence on the composition of the budget, in particular in relation to her own Department, for which an increase in spending of approximately €500 million is projected next year. It is a very large increase. Albeit the package is modest and targeted, it was very much one of the Minister's...

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

Leo Varadkar: In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the people who will be most vulnerable are those who will lose their jobs. That is what the budget is all about. It is about ensuring we protect Ireland from the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit. We are putting in place the firepower to make social welfare payments to those who may need them because they lose their jobs and, more importantly, to save...

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Financial Resolution No. 9: General (Resumed) (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: One of the earliest recorded examples of economic strategising appears in the first book of the Bible. Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, was able to predict the trajectory of Egypt's economy. He foresaw a period of boom followed by a period of bust. Forewarned, he was forearmed and able to guide the country through the worst of the crisis, thereby saving his own people. There are many...