Results 30,701-30,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I probably know a little bit more about experiencing racism than perhaps Deputy Smith does. I do not know if the Deputy is saying my bar is high or low, but it is certainly not something tolerated in the party I lead. I rang her yesterday-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I rang Ms Murphy yesterday and spoke to her about this issue. I told her that what she said was not on. She reflected on that and at that stage she had already withdrawn the comments and apologised for them. We know in this House that there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who are migrants. They make our economy stronger, help run our public services, and enrich our...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----are much more likely to be fleeing ISIS than having anything to do with it. Ms Murphy understands that a bit better now than she did a few days ago.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Collins for raising this important issue. We have a housing shortage and everyone knows that. The solution to the housing shortage is to build more homes-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----of all forms. These include private houses for people to buy, because most people want to own their own home, and that is a good thing; houses for people to rent, because some people need or have to rent at various points in their lives; and social housing for people on the housing list and who need social housing. This is a perfect site for that type of housing. It is very near the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----to all of the public for a mix of housing, and that is what is planned. There is no ideology from this side of the House regarding housing. We want more housing of all forms. Those who are ideological about housing are those who vote against housing developments for one reason or another, such as there being too much of this type of housing or too little of that type of housing. They...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and lots of it and as soon as possible.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We are focused on delivery, while the Deputy is focused on ideology. What is planned in the O'Devaney site has now been adopted by Dublin City Council by 38 votes to 19. Nearly 800 new homes will be built on this site, 50% of which will be homes for people to buy, 30% of which will be social housing for people on the housing list and 20% of which will be affordable purchase units. That is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My understanding is that in advance of the vote some councillors, representing the so-called "Dublin Agreement" group of Fianna Fáil, Labour, the Social Democrats and the Greens, entered into a side agreement with the developer to purchase 30% of the units at O'Devaney Gardens at a market price for affordable rent. However, that deal had no status and no validity. What the local...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I believe that public lands should be used for the benefit of the entire public, not just for social housing.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is an ideological view that public lands should only be used for one form of housing, ie, social housing. I believe that public lands should be used for the benefit of all of the public.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, for social housing for people on the housing list but also private housing for people to buy because people growing up in Dublin 7 and Dublin 1 want to be able to buy a place near to where they grew up-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and also affordable housing and cost rental as well. That is our position - delivery of all forms of housing on public land.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The ideological position is only to build one type of housing for one group of people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: To reassure the Deputy, and as I informed Deputy Micheál Martin earlier, this year between 10,000 and 11,000 homes will be added to the social housing stock in Ireland-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----with two thirds to three quarters of those being new builds. More homes will be added to the social housing stock in Ireland than in any year this entire century. During the boom, during the bust, we did not build as many social houses as we are now. This is the biggest social housing programme in a generation.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On a point of information, will the Deputy give way?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I can assure the Deputy that we have no proposals to abolish the RSA, nor will we be repealing any of the legislation we introduced over the past seven or eight years, which has been successful in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. On a point of information, there is a big difference between talking about the Central Bank amending its macro-prudential guidelines and...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is pretending that it can intervene and tell the Central Bank what to do when it comes to macro-prudential guidelines-----