Results 31,821-31,840 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We are very keen to see disability services reopening as soon as possible. We want it to be done in a way that is safe for the staff and the service users. Many families are now at their wits' end. This has gone on for so long, since the pandemic started in March. In some cases, service users are regressing and going backwards, which is a matter of worry and concern for all of us. The...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Unfortunately, this problem has been going on for a long time and we have struggled to deal with it. In some cases, there might be 16 and 17 year olds in an adult unit, while in other cases a decision is made in consultation with the family to put a child in an adult unit nearer to home rather than a children's unit far away. Still, it is not a satisfactory practice. As long ago as when I...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know the details of the individual case raised by Deputies Ó Murchú and Fitzpatrick or the particular service that was mentioned but I am sorry to hear that story and my heart goes out to that man and his family. I wish to pass on my condolences to them at this time. I will not comment on the individual case or the service as I do not know anything about them but I will...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I did not say it was not about beds. I said it was not just about beds. There is more to healthcare in Ireland than hospital beds. Many services can and should be provided through general practice and in community settings. The Deputy can feel free to misrepresent me for the next five years. It is in the nature of her party to do so-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: -----and I am sure that modus operandi will continue from that particular party.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We had been making significant progress on waiting lists prior to the pandemic. 1 o’clock For many months, if not for more than a year, we were seeing reductions in the number of people waiting for an operation or a procedure and reductions in the number of people waiting to attend an outpatient clinic. It was still a bad situation but we had been going in the right direction and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think we have got started on that aspect yet, but it is in the programme for Government. It is something that the Government and all three parties in government are committing to doing, because we need an accurate way to measure well-being in our society that is about more than GDP and about more than trolley numbers. We need something more sophisticated than any of those metrics....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government will make this decision at our Cabinet meeting next Tuesday. It will depend on two things. The first is advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, on how we might manage social distancing in pubs and open them safely, which will be difficult to do, but not impossible. Second, it will depend on the epidemiological data on how we are doing with the virus....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not doubt that this is an important issue for north Kildare but I do not have any information on it. If Deputy Cronin would like to raise this issue with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, by means of a parliamentary question or special notice question, I am sure he will respond.

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing somebody from the Government to speak. What we have seen for the past hour or two is exactly what has been wrong for too long: very small parties that get very few votes in elections dominating the Chamber, and members of Government parties and other larger parties that get hundreds of thousands of votes not being allowed even to speak, or being...

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is not beneath me.

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am embarrassed to be a Member of this Chamber tonight because of the behaviour from some of the parties here. I want people at home to listen to the number of times I am going to be interrupted when I try to say a few words in this Chamber because of the arrogance, nastiness and abusiveness of some of the smaller parties and the far left parties in this House who try to dominate this...

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Day in and day out they bully people in the Chamber because they come from a larger party or a Government party. I want the people at home tonight and the people who will listen to this on the radio tomorrow morning to know that what we have here is a new set of procedures, which will still give the Opposition parties 74% of the speaking time, even though they have less than half the seats....

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Credit Guarantee Scheme (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme will facilitate lending up to €2 billion to SMEs, primary producers and small mid-caps (i.e. companies under 500 employees).  This credit is urgently needed by enterprises seeking to react to the changed economic landscape and the need to restock and change business practices in response.  It will ensure that SMEs, primary producers and...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: This Government is providing a range of liquidity assistance to businesses, through guarantees to the banks for their on-lending and through MFI to assist microenterprises. MFI lending was paused on 6th July, as their funding position had become constrained. The Microenterprise Loan Fund Amendment Act 2020, which was signed by the President on 10thJuly, will allow MFI to immediately resume...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On 23 July the Government announced the July Stimulus Package, a substantial financial package to stimulate our economy worth more than €5 billion, with an additional €2 billion in loan guarantees. It is bigger in scale than most budgets and will be deployed at speed. The July Stimulus package is designed to help businesses to open, to help those that are already open to stay...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government previously introduced a package of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, the pandemic unemployment payment for the self-employed, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow among SMEs. Full details on all COVID-19 supports for business are available...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ministerial Communications (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As set out in my Department's internal ICT Usage Policy, Ministers and staff in my Department are provided with email accounts for official use. It is the practice that communication of Departmental issues be conducted through Departmental email accounts and not through private email.

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ministerial Meetings (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The details of the meetings excluding Government and Cabinet Committee Meetings held by myself and the Ministers of State in my Department since the formation of the Government are outlined in the following table.  2020-07-30_pq93-30-07-20_en.docx">Table of Meetings

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ministerial Advisers (30 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the commencement of every Dáil, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform issues guidelines setting out the arrangements for the staffing of Ministerial Offices. The appointment of Special Advisers is subject to section 11 of the Public Service Management Act 1997. The Guidelines for the 33rd Dáil, which incorporate the principles of section 11 of the PMSA Act, are...