Results 30,741-30,760 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I might get into it if Deputy Micheál Martin gives me more than ten or 20 seconds. I am sure somebody asked me about that. It is very difficult to write down the questions as quickly as they are asked, so my apologies if I picked up anyone's questions wrong. I was not able to write them all down, so I beg Deputies' forgiveness and forbearance for that. I was asked if it was factored...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Martin did not even ask the question. I am actually responding to Deputy Kenny, so perhaps we could have a little less irritability from him on this one. Deputy Kenny asked me about the EU budget and he is correct to say that the contributions will increase as our GNI increases over the next couple of years. That is factored into our multi-annual projections and is referenced in our...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: However, we do support the permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, to which we have signed up. This House voted by a very clear majority in favour of Ireland joining PESCO. That involves security co-operation and there is lots of scope for greater EU security co-operation. Operation Sophia, under which our navy participates in operations in the Mediterranean is one example, as is the EU...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the question of how long it will take to negotiate a future trade agreement between the EU and the UK, it is hard to know. Nobody can know for sure how long it would take to negotiate such an agreement. Of course, there is a difference between negotiating a future trade agreement and actually ratifying it. We may well be able to negotiate it in a short period of time, but it would have...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I have two more questions to answer and am happy to do so.

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan, the Government's position is, as it always has been, that we consider them to be illegal. We do not recognise Israel's attempt to annex any of the territories occupied in 1967 or thereafter. According to the current treaties, however, the EU can only act on foreign policy matters by unanimity. There is not a unanimous position in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 11, inclusive, together. The Climate Action Plan 2019 was published on 17 June 2019. The plan contains 183 actions, broken down into 619 individual steps, which Ireland needs to implement to meet our EU 2030 targets and achieve our long-term low-carbon transition objective. Delivering such an integrated set of actions requires a deep level of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I join Deputies in welcoming the youth climate assembly, which was held in the Chamber last Friday. I recognise, in particular, the Ceann Comhairle and the team around him for taking the initiative and making it possible. Around the world, especially on Fridays, students have protested outside parliaments, and I am sure they will continue to do so. It is good that we were the first...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----or 2050. The EIB is a great organisation but it is run by economists and bankers, not scientists. The Climate Action Advisory Council is run by scientists. The Deputy will be aware that the Paris accords do not say we should end exploration. We do not propose to fund a liquefied natural gas terminal at the River Shannon or anywhere else. It is very much a private sector project that...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: What will probably happen with the purchase of electric vehicles and hybrids is there will be a tipping point-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We will see an increase year on year and there will be an inflection point at some stage. That will happen as prices fall, and it is evident already that the cost of electric vehicles and hybrids is falling. People see more and more sense, as they change their car, in considering an electric vehicle-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----or a hybrid.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In any given year, approximately 100,000 people buy a car or change their car. We could reach the point where more and more of those cars are hybrids or electric. Of course, there are also business vehicles-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----which could be hybrids or electric. On the Dublin City Council manager's comments on trees, I assume he did not mean them. It was probably a little flippant or figurative but I cannot speak for him.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot disown them because he is not my employee. The city council, as the Deputy will know, is controlled by Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party, the Green Party and the Social Democrats. They have an opportunity to disown him if they wish, censure him if they wish and, more importantly, if they wish, do the opposite of what he has proposed, by planting more trees rather than knocking...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In this city, I said. The major cause for the air quality problem in Ireland is diesel cars, not smoky coal.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In Enniscorthy, for example, the problem is largely due to peat and briquettes-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: People who know Enniscorthy well will know that it has much more to do with peat and briquettes than with smoky coal.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: If we were to ban smoky coal and people changed to peat or briquettes, it would make the air quality worse.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We need to look at such matters-----