Results 21-40 of 46 for "direct provision" speaker:Leo Varadkar

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...x20ac;1 per week costs €10 million and I am not sure that an extra €1 would change much. It would be better than nothing, but I am not so sure how well it would be received. I have already covered direct provision.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Expenditure (11 Apr 2017)

Leo Varadkar: ...Supplement €20.9m €11.9m €6.6m €4.1m ENPs and UNPs €31.3m €31.1m €32.2m €31.5m Other Supplements €9.8m €7.4m €6.2m €4.6m Total €485.5m €453.2m €409.3m €378.2m From 2015, the Estimate provision for Direct Provision Allowance is recorded separately.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...to be a household or bubble. There is no change of definition there. It was always the definition and it is just common sense from a public health point of view. It applies whether someone is in direct provision or not. It does not matter what language a person speaks, his or her household is the people he or she lives with. If that person shares a room, that is his or her household...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (20 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...the issue for the Deputy. Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance recipients 2012 to 2016 Year Number of Recipients 2012 32,358 2013 23,127 2014 19,798 2015 16,092 2016 (End Sept) 16,392Note: Direct provision allowance recipients are included under Basic SWA until 2014.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----international protection applicants would arrive every year. The world has changed since then, but it remains our policy that we want to move away from direct provision. The Minister is developing proposals for a dedicated migration agency and more State-run facilities; we have some already. The number of staff has increased by 250. There are 250 additional staff in the Department...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Apr 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...raised the matter and has some suggestions as to how it could be put into use for the benefit of the community. I am sure he will want to consider them. It is the Government's policy to phase out direct provision and it has committed to doing so but we are realistic that it will take quite some time. We have a housing shortage in this country and there is a real difficulty with capacity...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Citizen Information Services Funding (21 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: ...the provision of information, advice (including money advice and budgeting) and advocacy on a wide range of public and social services. The Citizens Information Board delivers on this remit through direct provision, by supporting a network of delivery partners, and by funding targeted projects. In 2017, the Citizens Information Board has been allocated €54.05 million from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (12 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...and fair society. The Cabinet committee considered a range of social policy issues over the recent period, including childcare; child protection and welfare issues; social enterprise; immigration and direct provision; gender equality issues; Sláintecare and health reforms. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I often meet Ministers on an...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Sep 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...not know at what point the various Ministers were informed. The HSE carries out surveillance testing every few weeks in places where there is a high risk of an outbreak, such as nursing homes, direct provision centres and meat and food processing plants. The HSE is essentially hunting for the virus and testing people who have no symptoms. The number of positive tests that have come...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (4 Jun 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My thanks to Deputy Pringle. As I mentioned earlier, direct provision is very often substandard. The kind of accommodation we want is at the McMahon standard level, where it is self-catering and where people have their own door. Much of direct provision is substandard and that needs to change. We have brought in good examples of accommodation in recent years, but obviously the whole...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Mar 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...; the recently launched national childcare scheme; child protection and welfare issues, particularly those related to Tusla; social enterprise and the new social enterprise strategy; immigration and direct provision issues; the publication of the LGBTI+ national youth strategy; the action plan for online safety; the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with...

Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2008)

Leo Varadkar: ...would like to address the delay in deciding on asylum applications. I do not see why we cannot have a provision whereby if the State fails to make a decision on an asylum case after, say, one year, direct provision ends and the applicant is free, if not required, to enter the labour market and support him or herself. The State should be able to make a reasonable or initial decision in...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (4 Jun 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I answered a similar question on direct provision earlier. On the events we have seen take place in the United States, as I stated, we have witnessed a real absence of moral leadership from the top in the United States. We should have had words of unity, comfort and reconciliation, but we did not get them and that is absolutely wrong. I am sure that if those events had happened in this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...world when other countries refused to do so. We sent our navy to the Mediterranean to help rescue migrants and disrupt human trafficking. We have brought in the new McMahon standards relating to direct provision. These ensure that the quality of accommodation has improved. We have also recognised Traveller ethnicity for the first time, something that was resisted for a long time by...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 311, 315 and 320 together. The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants. The main purpose of the scheme is to provide immediate and flexible assistance for those in need who do not qualify for payment under other State...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes Data (14 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: ...,420 Farm Assist 82,800 Pre-Retirement Allowance 2,660 Other Working Age Income Supports Exceptional and Urgent Needs 31,500 Other Supplements (including heating and light) 4,560 Humanitarian Aid 500 Direct Provision Allowance 3,700 Total Other Working Age Supports 40,260 Jobseeker's Benefit 342,910 Deserted Wife's Benefit 71,150 Maternity Benefit 266,400 Adoptive Benefit 270...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (16 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...the community. However, many people move from nursing homes to hospitals when they get sick and subsequently die there. The issue of congregated settings, such as nursing homes, homeless shelters, direct provision accommodation centres, and long-term care residential centres, has been always either on the agenda or been a topic for discussion since the Cabinet sub-committee was set up,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...34,555 24,319 16,268 8,500 A11 Other Working Age Supports A11.1 Exceptional and Urgent Needs 35,659 30,092 30,987 30,300 A11.2 Other Supplements (including heating and light) 9,527 8,124 7,379 6,200 A.11.3 Humanitarian Aid 1,225 2,073 479 500 A.11.4 Direct Provision Allowance 3,776 3,629 3,852 3,600 A11 Total Other Working Age Supports 50,200 43,915 42,696 40,600 Expenditure...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Mar 2022)

Leo Varadkar: ...1% or 2% in the course of a few weeks. To put this in context, when homelessness was at its worst, we had about 10,000 people in emergency accommodation. We have approximately 7,000 people in direct provision at present. We now have 10,000 Ukrainians seeking international protection. That figure will probably be 20,000 by the end of the month and 40,000 by the end of the following...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (2 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ...agreement sooner rather than later. In terms of integration and diversity, I disagree with Deputy McDonald's assessment. I appreciate that there are plenty of issues and shortcomings, of which direct provision may be one, but one in six people in Ireland was not born here, which is very high relative to that in other countries. It is higher than the figure in Britain, France, Germany...