Results 32,361-32,380 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I was wrong in the way I went about it. I should have done it differently. I should have brought Dr. Ó Tuathail in and given a full briefing, even if it was line by line or page by page. That is the way it should have been done. I did not do it that way because I knew him and, almost as a shortcut, I did it in the way I did it. I should not have done it that way. I should have set...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: Thank you.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: As I explained, if I was doing this again, I would do it through official channels. I would perhaps bring Dr. Ó Tuathail in and do a page by page or line by line briefing. What I wanted to do was to share the document with him on a confidential basis to get his opinion on it and see whether he thought it was a good deal. I believed that in sharing it with him, he would come to the...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: The document was not made public. It was not circulated among the NAGP membership or shared widely. It is a document I gave to a person in confidence for the reasons I explained, namely, to try to demonstrate that what had been announced was exactly what was in the document and that there was no reason to oppose it. That was the basis on which I gave it to him. It was not published or put...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: As I think I explained, it is important to note the memo brought by the Minister for Health to the Cabinet on 9 February said very clearly that engagement with the IMO had concluded many days previously. The IMO in its own statement said-----
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: -----that the agreement had been made. It was launched by the HSE. It was then welcomed by me and by the Minister, Deputy Harris, at an event at a primary care centre on the Navan Road. It is always the case that an agreement, even after it has been made, even after engagement has been concluded, can be changed.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I think it would depend on the circumstances, but this was not done by an official. It was done by me as a Minister, as Taoiseach, as Head of Government. I took the decision to do that.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: An official did not do this. This is something-----
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: Let me explain the answer.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: A Minister, as a member of Government, is the one who makes decisions. We had made a commitment to keep them engaged and informed of the process and the outcome of negotiations. I was honouring that political commitment and Government decision that was made. An official could only have done this if he or she had been directed to do it by a Minister. If he or she were not directed to do...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: If he or she were not directed, yes.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: If he or she were not directed by a Minister to do it, but the Minister in this case and the Prime Minister or chief Minister in this case was me, and I was doing this on foot of a Government decision and honouring a commitment made by the Government. I could have instructed an official to do it. I did not, but I could have.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: Sorry, excuse me?
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: No, but it would not be the case that my colleagues would be aware of everything-----
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: -----that I would do as Taoiseach or as a Deputy. That is not the way our lives work. It is certainly not the way Government works. One is not able to tell everyone of everything one does on every given day. It is a fair question that people have asked as to why I did not discuss it with the Minister for Health at the time. The truth is that, like many things, it is probably because...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I can. As I think I explained earlier, a circumstance like this never arose before. If it was a commercial contract, there are particular rules around that, and Ministers do not have access to those contracts. If it was a pay deal or a pay agreement with a union in the normal sense, it would have been published immediately or within days. In circumstances like this, I can say that this...
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I can say a circumstance like this never arose before or since.
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I can only speak for myself. I cannot speak for other people's motivations. I can speak for my motivations, and I have explained-----
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: I do not want to express an opinion on other people's motivations, and most of those people I do not know at all. So how can I express my view?
- General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)
Leo Varadkar: All I can do is explain my motivation. The NAGP was an unusual organisation with many different players in it. To my mind - perhaps I was mistaken - Dr. Ó Tuathail was one of the decent people in that organisation. He was the president of it. I was sending it to him in confidence, asking him to see it, demonstrating to him there was nothing in it worth opposing and trying to avoid a...