Results 20,421-20,440 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: The Government's plan is to prevent strike action taking place, if at all possible, and discussions took place in the Department of Education and Skills yesterday involving departmental officials and representatives of the ASTI. We want to come to an agreement to ensure there is no disruption to the provision of children's education and that parents are not inconvenienced by taking their...
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: Officials from my Department have met representatives of Childminding Ireland and will meet them again. There is time between now and September to legislate for the new programme and to put the necessary websites and administrative systems in place. It also gives us a window of opportunity to ensure more childminders can be registered with Tusla and that is certainly the objective of the...
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I will have to ask the Minister, Deputy Ross, to answer that question in detail for the Deputy.
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy said, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to reintroduce it, so it will be reintroduced, but I cannot tell the Deputy the exact timeframe. During my time in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport we allowed local authorities to decide from their discretionary grant and discretionary budget whether they wanted a local improvement scheme.
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: In many ways, that made sense because some local authorities want to prioritise roads that are not taken in charge and others do not. Any commitment in the programme for Government will be honoured, but the exact timeline would be a matter for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to communicate directly with the Deputy.
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I am delighted to hear that Deputy McDonald is interested in expert opinions and I hope she will seek an expert opinion on her own party's tax policies. She might ask the experts about the impact on our health service and our financial services of a major hike in income taxes on consultants and IT specialists-----
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: -----or, similarly, on the prospects of multinational investment in Ireland. I challenge her to seek an expert opinion on that and perhaps to publish it.
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: On the question the Deputy asked, the purpose of the help to buy programme is twofold: first, to help first-time buyers and to give them an edge over others who are seeking to buy homes, particularly investors who are looking to rent properties - even if prices rise, this still gives them an edge; and, second, but importantly, to incentivise builders to increase supply to build more homes,...
- Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: All social welfare increases announced in the budget occur in March, although some will occur in January because I will be able to implement them by order. The exact date will be in the social welfare Bill, which goes to Cabinet on Tuesday and will be published either next Friday or the week after, so people will have plenty of notice as to when the increases will come into effect. I am...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I hate to disappoint Deputy Ryan but he would need to be a member of Fine Gael in good standing for at least two years before he had an opportunity to vote on that question.
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: It could well be two years or more so perhaps he will have the opportunity to join up. I understand the Minister, Deputy Zappone, is from neither Boston nor Berlin but from Seattle. Leaving that aside, I have a radical suggestion for Deputy Ryan, rather than try to ape systems in other countries, whether Boston, Berlin or the Nordic countries, we should strive to take the best from Boston,...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: -----and design a vision for Ireland that suits our culture and aspirations. The aspiration of this Government is to support families by doing the things I have mentioned already, expanding maternity, paternity and parental leave-----
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: -----by reducing the cost of health care and education for children and supporting stay at home parents through the home care tax credit, child benefit and subsidising child care. We do not want to force Irish people and families to make a choice between Boston and Berlin, we want to build the best model for everyone.
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I am happy to talk about the issues. I think that distinction was created by Mary Harney, someone I admire very much individually and as a politician. I have always taken the view that the attempt to create a distinction between a vision of Boston on the one hand and Berlin on the other to be somewhat bogus and a little outdated. It is somewhat outdated in many ways that the Green Party is...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Lowry for his acknowledgement of the reinvestment in the Garda that is occurring under the leadership of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald. I will give some examples of that investment. We provided for 457 new vehicles in 2014 and 486 new vehicles in 2015. More than 500 new vehicles will come on stream this year, compared to just 50...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I do not have any detail in front of me in relation to the golf club or the other site mentioned by the Deputy. I know this is a matter of great interest to him. This important national facility is located in his constituency. I think Templemore has served the Garda and the State extremely well over the years. I refer to the quality of the training that is provided at the college and the...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: Perhaps we should have a special new session where Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin can have questions among themselves and see how that dynamic plays out.
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: I will, of course, pursue Deputy McDonald's suggestion of raising the issue of the paltry welfare payments paid to people in Northern Ireland with the Tory Government . I will also bring it up with the Minister of Finance in Northern Ireland, Mr. Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, who is a Sinn Féin Minister-----
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: Again, I am being interrupted mid-sentence because Sinn Féin is terrified of the facts and really hates the truth being spoken in this Chamber. Deputy McDonald is correct in saying that she is paid €87,000 per year as are all of the other Teachtaí Dála who are on her party's benches now. However, they claim that they only draw the industrial wage. Perhaps Deputy...
- Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)
Leo Varadkar: Perhaps she will tell us how much money Sinn Féin MPs, including some who are now Teachtaí Dála, claimed from the British Treasury for jobs they never did. Perhaps she will explain why they-----