Results 31,561-31,580 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. All of us in this House will have had many similar stories related to us by our constituents and many queries coming through our constituency offices which are very similar. As I believe everyone in the House will appreciate, many normal health, education and disability services had to be suspended, discontinued or curtailed during the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am reluctant to give the Deputy a date because if I give him one it is a date I want to stand over. The worst thing one can do in a circumstance like this, other than failing to provide the service, is to give a date that one cannot then deliver. That would raise people's hopes and they would be let down even more and I do not want to do that today. I can assure the House that this is a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue. She does so at a good time because this is going to be really important as we head into the winter. We are very closely watching what is happening in the southern hemisphere, where countries are now entering the winter flu season. We need to watch what happens there in order to inform what we do here. Everyone knows that the flu...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The figures I have been given refer to 1.35 million doses of the quadrivalent vaccine. That will be sufficient for a 90% uptake among at-risk groups, including healthcare workers. There are 600,000 doses for children between two and 12 years of age, which equates to a rate of 75%. I will double-check those figures.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know if there is an estimate for demand, but there is enough to provide for a 90% uptake.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will know, the flu vaccine for the northern hemisphere is formulated based on what the flu looks like in the southern hemisphere, because it starts there and spreads to the northern hemisphere. It may be the case - I might be wrong - but I suspect that the vaccine has not yet been formulated, let alone produced. It would not, therefore, be possible for us to have secured a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: In regard to the Deputy's earlier remarks, we all need to be very careful and responsible in how we use international comparative data relating to Covid. We all need to take the information we see on websites like Worldometer for what it is, which is not a like-for-like comparison between countries. Every county is at a different stage in this pandemic. Things look very different in Israel...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I was involved in the country's response to Covid from day one. I was at all the meetings where the big decisions were made and I can assure everyone in this House that our overriding concern always was to reduce the number of people who got infected and to minimise the number of deaths in all settings, whether in the community, in care homes or in hospitals. We know now from the data on...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As I said to the Deputy earlier, I have not seen the minutes and I am not a spokesperson for Brian Hayes. I related to the Deputy my recollection of the meeting and I related to him what I think is the most important thing here, namely, that the banks should not think that they can in any way make an extra profit or get some type of bonus or premium out of the fact that some people are...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: This is a very important issue for those whose pay and terms and conditions are governed by sectoral employment orders, including electrical contractors, construction workers, some engineers and contract cleaners. I have considered the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and sought the advice of the Attorney General. I can confirm to the House that it is our intention to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know she will acknowledge that this is a new Government and we are all still finding our feet. The Government, working with the Business Committee and the relevant legislative committee, should be able to clarify in the coming weeks which Bills will be brought forward. The Bill to which she referred will form part of that consideration.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As I understand it, the pay and conditions of existing workers in these sectors cannot be diminished unilaterally by their employers. As such, the orders stand until such time as the Supreme Court hears the appeal and adjudicates on them. Obviously, labour rights are enforced in the normal way and should be enforced fully. As is often the case when the Government is appealing a decision of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I had the privilege of visiting Age Action a few months ago, in the early phase of the pandemic, to see the work it does and to thank its staff personally for their work. I think State funding was provided to the fund, but I will have to double-check that. If my recollection is correct, State funding was provided. The Government can certainly give consideration to whether additional...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, and her team are working on this issue. We wish to ensure that all children return to school in August and that they have a means of getting there, which of course involves the provision of school transport. There will be real difficulties because capacity on school transport may be considerably reduced compared with previous years. The...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I think the Deputy indulged in some selective history-making there. The VAT rate on tourism and hospitality was 13.5% for a very long time and was reduced to 9% by a Fine Gael-led Government on a temporary basis to get the tourism and hospitality sector going again. In the year in which tourism reached a record high, it reverted to the previous rate of 13.5%. Those are the facts. We are...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for the question. The contract for the national broadband plan was signed last year. I was in a rural part of west Wicklow to sign it. I remember my Secretary General saying to me at the time that I had got a lot of abuse about it and there had been a lot of controversy, but I would never regret signing the contract. This national broadband plan will bring high-speed...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. Primary legislation is required to change those income limits upwards for people over 70 and also to provide for the expansion of free general practitioner care to children up to the age of 12. That legislation has been approved by Cabinet. It is intended to take it through the Dáil and Seanad before the recess, to get it done this month. That will allow the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I agree that this is a problem in our shared constituency and indeed in other parts of the country. We are working on the legislative schedule. It will not be possible to bring in legislation on that matter in July but we are working towards the possibility of having that legislation for the autumn session.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, formerly the Competition Authority, falls under my Department. I am still finding my way around the brief in the Department so the Deputy will forgive me if I am incorrect in saying that I think there was a competition investigation carried out. Perhaps it was years ago and it did not have adverse findings. The Competition and Consumer...