Results 35,941-35,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have reduced excise. It is in addition to VAT. It €200 when the VAT is included, to be exact. Of course, we are examining other measures and things that we might do to help in the future.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: At the outset, I want to join with the Ceann Comhairle in offering my thanks and congratulations to Teresa Doolan. I worked with her in the Department of the Taoiseach, over here in the Oireachtas. She now moves across St. Stephen's Green to the Department of Justice. I wish her and the new officers taking up their roles the best. If I may, I would like to take this opportunity to, on...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The budget happens in October every year, and will happen in October this year. The demand for a mini or emergency budget has to me elements of sloganeering. Taking action does not require us to have a budget. People will know that during the pandemic we introduced the pandemic unemployment payment, which cost €9 billion. We did not have a mini-budget for that....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am not sure I would characterise the three options presented in the same way as she did. I would have to read the Sláintecare report again to remind myself exactly how prescriptive the report was in terms of how the regional health areas should be structured. I heard the Deputy say on the radio that she did not think they should be a recreation of health boards,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have not gone for that. Rather, we have gone for something in between, which is establishing regional health areas within the HSE on an administrative basis with the intention of devolving power and budget to them. That is the plan.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The plan is to have a hassle-free home energy upgrade scheme. One-stop shops are being established to take the stress and hassle out of the process so that people can get this work done quickly. At the moment, there are two one-stop shops registered but there are another two that will be approved shortly, bringing us to four. There are a further 15 companies in the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. This is a significant issue coming through my constituency office as well as his. I presume all Deputies have the same experience. The situation with renewals is actually now pretty good. Renewals are happening quite fast. There are significant delays, however, with new passports and passports for children, particularly foreign-born children. Some of that is down to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The new role of the Chief Medical Officer is an open-ended secondment funded by the Department of Health. Dr. Holohan is being seconded to Trinity College Dublin under the same terms and conditions as his existing contract. Secondments between organisations are a regular and common feature across the civil and public service to encourage interdepartmental and inter-agency co-operation and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I think all present will acknowledge that it would have been far preferable if the full details around the secondment had been put in the public domain at the outset. That should have been done. I know the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, is not satisfied with how this has been done and he is engaging with the Department of Health on it at the moment....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am sorry to hear of the experiences that the Deputy's constituents are having in St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny. It is a very good hospital most of the time but has suffered from increased overcrowding in recent years. The best thing I can do is to inform the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the matter was raised in the House today and ask him to speak to the Deputy directly.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We are examining some of those options at the moment, both in terms of putting people on preferential tariffs, doing what the Deputy suggested in respect of switching, and the move to time-of-day pricing. The truth is energy prices will go up and down in the course of the coming couple of years. The thing that can be most helpful to people are the kind of sustainable solutions he mentioned...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I am not up to date with the detailed plans for the site but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to revert to the Deputy on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I echo the Deputy's remarks in respect of Ukraine and our need to support the Ukrainian people in their battle against Russian aggression. One of the main things we are doing is putting together a deeper and tighter set of sanctions to be imposed on Russia. That is the fifth package of sanctions and it is currently under development. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is very involved in that....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his question. It is important that we should improve our performance when it comes to licensing and reimbursing new medicines. We have fallen behind many of peer countries in that regard. It is not right or fair that patients in Ireland cannot get a medicine that they would be able to get via the NHS in Britain or in similar health services elsewhere. We need to up...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. This is a matter for Munster Rugby and the IRFU, as the national governing body, but I would ask them both to reflect on the decision they have made in respect of this matter and to review it. Neither the Government nor the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have any role in this. It is important that we...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: There has been no Government decision on this per se. Talks were convened under an independent chair. They went on for some time. That independent chair has now been appointed to the courts. Unfortunately, those talks were not successful. It is now intended, therefore, that the Government will re-engage in the coming weeks with the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Hospital...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Deputy O'Dowd has raised it as well. I do not have an up-to-date note on it, and I do not want to give the Deputy information that might be misleading. I will inform the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, that she raised the matter as a priority and ask him to provide her with a report directly.

Sick Leave Bill 2022: Second Stage (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill creates a new workers’ right in Ireland. For the first time, employees in Ireland will be entitled to statutory sick pay from their employers. It is one of five new workers' rights I am establishing this year. The other four are: a new public holiday, which has been signed into law; the right to request remote working,...

Sick Leave Bill 2022: Second Stage (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank colleagues for their considered contributions throughout the debate, which I found very useful in terms of ideas as to how we can improve the Bill. I am very pleased that it has broad cross-party support, at least in principle. The Bill will ensure that for the first time in Ireland, almost all employees will be entitled to paid sick leave in the event that they are unable to work...

Sick Leave Bill 2022: Referral to Select Committee (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).