Results 35,521-35,540 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Speaking as a public representative but also as a doctor, I am disturbed and worried by what I have read and heard about what happened with psychiatric services for children in Kerry. I extend my sympathies to the children who have been affected and to their families. What it appears has happened is very serious, including misdiagnosis...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am a little disappointed that the Deputy has chosen to try to make this issue, which is very sensitive, into a party political one and to try to personalise it politically. I would remind him that while he may pretend to claim otherwise, Sinn Féin is very much an establishment party. In the past 20 years, his party has been in government on this island as long as my party has been....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I did not have a chance to listen to that interview this morning but a number of people have mentioned it to me already so I will make a point of doing so later today. It is important to hear the voices of patients and parents. It is the best way to understand the impact this has had on them. Let me not mince my words in any way. I am a politician and a medical doctor. I have come...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister will provide more details on the audit in early course. It is intended that it will be nationwide. It will be an audit of compliance with CAMHS operational guidelines by all CAMHS teams to ensure the other 71 teams have been prescribing appropriately. This will include a random selection of files proportional to the medical caseload from a continuous six-month predefined time...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I wish to extend once again my sympathies and condolences to the families affected by the Stardust tragedy and all who have followed this issue down the years. The decision to carry out these inquests was made by the Attorney General in the last Government, Séamus Woulfe, who acceded to the request by the families that the matter...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The timing of the inquest is a matter for the senior Dublin coroner Dr. Myra Cullinane and it is not possible for Government to interfere in her work. However, it is the wish of Government that these inquests should start as soon as possible. I mentioned that pre-inquest hearings have already taken place. The OPW, which is a branch of Government, is working with the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: On gas supplies, I had my Department look at this for me the other day. Ireland does not use very much Russian gas. Pretty much half our gas comes from our own supplies in the Corrib gas field and the other half comes from Britain. Most of that either comes from Britain, Norway or Qatar. The gas comes from Qatar on ships to LNG terminals in Britain and then comes across the pipelines into...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy rightly acknowledged, the budget provided for a social welfare package and a pension increase across the board, in addition to targeted increases for those who need them most, in particular, the fuel and living alone allowances. The budget also provided for reductions in income tax, increases in tax credits and widening of the tax bands so that people on middle incomes who are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is the reality of that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: There has also been the real rent freeze of 2% or less, the freeze on childcare fees, in addition to improvements to the Student Universal Support Ireland grant, which will come in later in the year. As I said, when it comes to the specific issue of energy costs, the energy credit will be legislated for quite soon. We will deduct it from people's bills, hopefully, by the end of March. We...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have not had a chance to read that article. The report is being done at the moment by the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is entirely appropriate that he should do that; he is the Accounting Officer. We should wait until we see that report. We will pass judgment when we have it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is working on the legislation at present. There will be a chance to debate and tease out these issues. One issue that has come up is that if we start to exclude or exempt particular types of residences, it makes it much harder to do. It seems it is quite straightforward to knock €100 or €113.50 off every domestic bill, but when we start to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to check this with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, but my understanding is - I might be incorrect - that estate agents and landlords cannot refuse to accept HAP. This is an enforcement issue. Perhaps a complaint should be made and investigated.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I have not seen the tender documents so I am not sure if they have been prepared yet but my understanding of the Government decision is that there will be four bases. The four bases are named as the existing bases of Sligo, Shannon, Waterford and Dublin.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is valid question. I had this experience myself recently. For years, I have been using Internet banking and phone banking and using my card reader at home and so on, which I have found very good. I had not been in a bank for a long time, but I recently visited a bank on Baggot Street because I had to change the PIN for my card. I had to interact with this very strange large machine...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy raised an important and sensitive issue. I do not have up-to-date information for her, but I will let the Minister know that she raised the matter and ask him to come back to the Deputy directly on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier, one of the things we absolutely have to make sure happens now, if it has not happened already, is that the children affected and their families get not only the supports and services they should have got in the first instance, but also any additional help they need to undo the harm and remedy the situation. We need to try to make things better for them in any way we can....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I note the Central Statistics Office housing figures came out earlier today. They showed that 20,000 new homes were built in Ireland last year. That was not as many as we needed but it was a reasonable performance, given that construction was shut down for a long period last year. We expect that figure will go well above 20,000 this year. We know that we need more...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware that many dentists around the country have withdrawn from the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, which is the medical card scheme. I am not sure about the details in Mayo specifically but many dentists have withdrawn from the scheme in different parts of the country. The budget for the scheme is being increased and discussions with the Irish Dental Association about getting...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The energy credit requires legislation. We anticipate that will be done quite quickly and, with the help of the Houses, it will be done within the next couple of weeks. It is intended that €113.50 will be knocked off people's bills by the end of March.