Results 33,561-33,580 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: A lot of extra staff have been hired and a lot of resources have been provided to schools to adapt to Covid by purchasing screens, sanitisers and all of those things. A lot has been done in that regard. The advice we have from NPHET and our public health doctors and scientists is that schools are safe places but no place is 100% safe. Any place in which people are going to interact carries...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am told there is no date yet for that Bill but I will take up the matter with the Minister for Finance today when I speak to him. We need to be frank and honest with people. Banks have a responsibility to engage in prudent lending and they should only lend money to people or businesses where there is a reasonable confidence that they will be able to pay it back. The Deputy talked about...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Most people do their banking online and they do it on their phones, and one does not need broadband for that. If the Deputy asks around in his constituency and community, people will tell him they mainly do their banking on their phones. Leaving that aside, I will meet NBI in the coming weeks to discuss the acceleration of the national broadband plan. As the Deputy knows, this is a huge...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier on, the development of a third banking force that is able to compete with Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, AIB, would be welcome. It is something the Government would support but any decision on Ulster Bank will be a commercial decision for NatWest. With anything we do in trying to put together a third or a new banking force, we would have to make sure that entity...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am very sorry to hear what people in Bandon are experiencing. I visited after floods a couple of years ago and spoke to many of the business people and residents. The flood works that have happened there have produced some benefits but the problems are far from resolved. I will certainly undertake to inform the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that this was raised here in the Chamber...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I, once again, warmly welcome the absolute 180° U-turn by Sinn Féin and other parties when it comes to the national broadband plan. This was opposed tooth and nail when we signed that contract in 2019 and now nobody wants to cancel it. We had all the usual conspiracy theories and all the rest of it about how the contract came about and who got it and why, and how somehow things...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Munster. The Deputy raised this issue last week or the week before. On foot of that, I have written to the Minister, Deputy Foley, and have asked her to take up the matter directly with the Deputy. I do not know the details of the school project but it is important that proper consultation happens with all of the people affected.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned earlier, we have asked the national immunisation advisory council to consider that and to give us advice as to whether we could prioritise family carers, for the reasons that the Deputy said, but not just them. We have asked it to consider other groups too, such as those with cystic fibrosis, CF, and people who are immunocompromised, for example, people who have transplants. ...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The family do not support it and our Defence Forces-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Our Defence Forces would be particularly offended that the term "Óglaigh na h-Éireann" is being used in relation to this.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I call on Sinn Féin to disassociate itself from the commemoration, to call for it to be cancelled-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: -----and to condemn the violent crime which this bus bomb was.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that the backlog in primary medical certificate assessments is causing a great deal of distress for hundreds of people across the country. It has been raised with my constituency office as well. I will make contact with the HSE to see if anything can be done to speed up matters. It is important that the assessments be done.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Let me just say-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am a great supporter of a technological university for the south east. One of my regrets as Taoiseach in the previous Government is that this is one of the measures we did not get over the line. I am determined that we will get it done and up and running in 2022. While I am strongly of the view that it should be centred in Waterford city and we should use some available sites there to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising these issues. My colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, has done a great deal of work on the case of Mr. Richard O'Halloran and in trying to assist that gentleman and his family. The issues the Deputy raised in respect of others who may be detained are pertinent and ones in which the Government takes an interest. Perhaps the Joint...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: To be clear, there is no date set or agreed as yet. What is being planned for is a phased return of schools across March and into the Easter period, starting with sixth years and the youngest years in primary school. That would also include special schools and special classes that are 50% back being back 100%, as they should be.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will take them up with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Taxi drivers have suffered more than most in this pandemic. They have experienced a significant loss of income and their vehicles have not been used much in the past year or so. The Deputy's suggestions make sense and I will take them up with the Minister.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I do not have an update on this. My understanding is that the NASRA, which is associated with the PNA, is not recognised by the HSE because it has existing agreements with another union. I think it is SIPTU but I am not 100% sure. I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to provide an update for the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I have read about the case but I am not an expert on it. I want to be careful about what I say on such a sensitive issue. I know that after the apology I made as Taoiseach we made offers to ten or 16 people, most of whom accepted them, but there are now difficulties with people who did not apply for the ex gratiascheme at the time because they believed they would not be...