Results 39,381-39,400 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will send the Deputy some examples.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: That is not a matter for me. That is a matter for the Ceann Comhairle.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I might have to come back to the Deputy with a more comprehensive reply because I am not fully au faitwith these issues. My understanding is we do still clean rivers and ports. Obviously, we have to take account of wildlife and other factors.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know exactly what happened in Ennis today, why surgery was cancelled and why the surgical team was not informed. They would usually to be the first to know in my experience in the health service, but that may not always be the case. I definitely agree with the Deputy that part of the solution to the problems experienced in University Hospital Limerick is the greater use of the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know from what he has said to me before and what Deputy Colm Burke and others have told me that the situation in Glanmire particularly affecting Sarsfields is very serious and we are keen to help out there. I believe the flood-defence works, which are under way, helped, but they need to be completed. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, had...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I think it is fair to say that many of recommendations from the various citizens' assemblies have been introduced and have been realised, but it is not a requirement that the Government or the Oireachtas necessarily accept every recommendation. We need to consider them though and that is why the first step is always to refer the report to the relevant joint Oireachtas committee to tease it...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate the Deputy is raising very important issues of real interest to the communities she mentioned. I do not know enough about the individual schemes to give her a detailed reply. I will certainly advise the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that she has raised it in the Dáil and ask him to come back to her directly.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have not seen that invitation but as is the case with all invitations that come in, I will give it consideration. It will not be soon; I will be in Brussels for the next two days and out of the country next week but I will certainly take up the invitation and reply to it.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I think €250 million is a lot of help for small business. The amount allocated to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is roughly double what was spent on the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS. That gives an indication of the level of support being provided to small business. It is grant and not a rate rebate, rate reduction or rate pause. However, there...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. I will touch base with the Department of Health and the Chief Medical Officer to see if something can be done in that regard. 1 o’clock Many people in Ireland would benefit from vitamin D supplementation, which is very different from some supplements people take that are of no health benefit whatsoever. Vitamin D is one that...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not accept it is a political choice. To the extent that it is, we now have a record budget for special education, a dedicated Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and a record budget for disability services. The real struggle, we tend to find, is in hiring the appropriately qualified staff as well as a court decision that requires a huge amount of resources to be used on very complicated...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that there is an ongoing and very severe problem with overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick. I point out for the record of the House that the number of people waiting for a bed in our hospitals today is 60 lower than was the case this time last year. That is a reflection of the additional beds and resources that have been put into the system. I would have to refer the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. In the last ten years or so, apologies have been issued in the Dáil by various Taoisigh on behalf of the State. In February 2013, the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, issued an apology on behalf of the Government in Dáil Éireann to women who were resident in the Magdalen laundries for the hurt done to them and for any...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Tóibín's question related to the possibility of a State apology to the Traveller community. He spoke about the attempt for decades to assimilate the Traveller community, which was wrong and should not have happened. I recall that under the Government led by Enda Kenny, and with a lot of leadership from the Minister of State at the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 6, inclusive, together. In January the Government established ten Cabinet committees. These are on Brexit and Northern Ireland, children and education, economy and investment, environment and climate change, EU and international affairs, Government co-ordination, health, housing, humanitarian response to Ukraine, and social affairs and public...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Tóibín said I was looking a little tired today. If I am, it is probably because I got back from Wexford at 1 a.m. and then had to be in Blanchardstown at 8 a.m., but this comes with the job. The rows in Government are much exaggerated. To answer the Deputy's question, though, which is a serious and valid one, and I do want to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 13, inclusive, together. I attended a European Political Community, EPC, summit in Granada, Spain, on 5 October. It was hosted by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. The EPC is an informal forum which brings together leaders of around 50 countries from across the Continent of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputies for their questions. The European Union does not have a single foreign policy. Each member state has its own foreign policy. This is very evident when one looks at the different positions held and different actions taken by the 27 member states. Depending on the case involved, we try, from time to time and on a case-by-case basis, to have a common policy. We have done...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Other countries come from a different perspective on this and we need to make sure we understand their perspectives, even if we do not agree with them. We must also guard against rising antisemitism and rising Islamophobia, both of which are happening in Ireland and in Europe and really concern me. We should also not forget that war crimes have been committed in our country. War crimes...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (25 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: On the issue of international alliances, it is a very valid suggestion that we would try to build an international alliance that looks for a ceasefire first and a peace initiative later. To have any influence, we cannot take absolutist positions. Once you take an absolutist position your influence is gone, unless you have other forms of power. You cannot be an honest broker in that kind of...