Results 31,341-31,360 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I believe I answered that question in response to Deputy McDonald. We acknowledge that this payment is unprecedented, is one of the highest in the world and cannot go on forever as that would not be affordable for taxpayers, but we also acknowledge that it cannot be removed until people have the opportunity to return to their jobs. Lots of people will not have that...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Again, I think everybody in the House knows that these are rhetorical questions. The Deputy asked me if I can give a commitment that this payment will not be ended until the pandemic will end. Does the Deputy know when the pandemic will end?

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No, he does not.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Exactly. Of course it is impossible to give a commitment about the pandemic ending when nobody knows when the pandemic will end. It is a rhetorical question, not a serious one, designed to get press coverage, not to get a serious answer.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Democratic legitimacy does not derive from opinion polls, whether it is a door-to-door survey or online and no matter who does it. In a democracy, and this is a democracy, legitimacy does not derive from opinion polls of any sort carried out by anyone. Sometimes I wish they did because, as the Deputy will know, my own experience is one of doing much better in opinion polls than in real...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I reject the Deputy's contention. I was not glib and nor did I sweep anything under the carpet. I gave him a straight answer to a straight question as to whether I accept the democratic legitimacy of opinion polls. No, I do not. If the Deputy did, I imagine he would vote for me as Taoiseach because apparently that is what the latest opinion poll says the public wants. Opinion polls are...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My thanks to Deputy Murphy - I will certainly do my best. In answer to Deputy Murphy's first question, I cannot confirm it. A period of 24 hours is extremely difficult to achieve. It is almost impossible for tests that are sent to Germany, because they have to be flown to Germany. However, turnaround times are improving and they will improve further. I think people accept that there...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will indeed ask the HSE to produce a roadmap on testing. It may have done that already. There are lots of documents being developed all the time and lots of drafts that people will be aware of, but that would be a useful thing for the HSE to do and I will certainly take that up with the HSE CEO. On the Deputy's final point, there are about 40 laboratories now that can test for Covid....

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is absolutely right: the quicker we can turn around the tests, the better we can do on contact tracing. I should point out, however, that contact tracing can and does start before the tests come back, so if somebody is a suspected case, the contact tracing can be started even before the test comes back. That is what is commonly done in South Korea and other jurisdictions.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is absolutely right in his initial comments that businesses need money to restart. That is why rates are being waived for three months and businesses can reclaim their rates from 2019. Businesses that are reopening can claim up to €10,000 worth of their rates from 2019, so it is effectively a rates rebate. Some 80% of businesses in Ireland pay less than €10,000 a...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am very aware of the difficulties our fishermen and fisherwomen are facing at the moment. I had a conversation with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, about that particular matter in the past couple of days. He, with his European colleagues, is working on a solution that can assist them at this particularly difficult time. Obviously,...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As is often the case, the Deputy suggested two new stand-alone Ministries but did not enlighten us as to which two stand-alone Ministries he would wish to abolish to make that possible. The Constitution provides for a maximum of 15 senior Ministers, and only 15. I would be interested to know whether it is rural affairs, agriculture, children and youth affairs or which...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I confess that I have not yet read the letter to which the Deputy referred. I am sure she appreciates that I receive thousands of individual items of correspondence to my office every week and it is not possible for me to read them all. If the Deputy wishes to pass on privately the correspondent's name and address, I will check out his letter and ensure he receives a proper reply. In...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: There is nobody on NPHET who is a voice for a particular subgroup in society, whether women or men, business people or workers, people with disabilities, older people or younger people. That is not how NPHET-----

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Decisions are made by Government, not by NPHET. The latter advises Government. At the Cabinet table there is a Minister of State whose responsibility is disability. He is the voice on these matters. Where NPHET acts entirely independently of Government it is on those matters that are solely matters of public health such as the clinical criteria for testing and so on. Political decisions...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The wearing of face masks and face coverings is still very much a matter of scientific debate. Some scientists speak about it with great certainty, but within the expert advisory group, the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, the World Health Organization, WHO, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, one...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Protected Disclosures (13 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: 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. In line with the Act, my Department has a policy on Protected Disclosures which sets out the procedure by which an employee can make a disclosure, what will happen when a disclosure is made, and...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Gach lá bíonn an iomarca daoine ag fáil bháis de thoradh an víris seo. Tá an iomarca ag éirí tinn agus fós san ospidéal. Smaoinímid orthu go léir agus déanaimid comhbhrón leo inniu díreach mar a dhéanaimid gach lá. Is dea-scéal é, ámh, go...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. It is a matter of great regret that the childcare scheme for healthcare workers cannot go ahead. The focus of the Minister, Ms Zappone, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for the next couple of weeks will be to get crèches and childcare facilities open by the end of June for all essential front-line workers first, and then more broadly after that. I...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure that this issue will be ongoing. It is a matter to which we will have to give consideration as we work with the childcare sector to reopen crèches and childcare facilities by the end of June. We will examine, of course, what is being done in other countries and other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, to see if there are things we can learn from those because there...