Results 2,261-2,280 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have always taken the first or second seat, despite what people may say.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will see one of two things: the re-election of this Government or a Government led by Sinn Féin that will end the eviction ban in January anyway.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: What is the point in the Opposition's motion? It is just ego.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: It is simply not the case that I blamed the Opposition for the housing crisis and it is dishonest politics from the Social Democrats to try to put that across.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: In the 11 years during which Fine Gael has been in office, we have built over 100,000 houses, by the way, and we are going to build a lot more over the coming years. I am happy to answer the Deputy's questions, to engage with her in robust debate and hear her criticisms but it is a little bit precious for her to say nobody can say anything back to her and how dare we question her claims and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----to say that she should not be subject to any criticism and there should be no scrutiny or that it is okay for her to shout us down when we dare to talk back to her.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Like the Deputy, in my constituency service, I deal with housing queries all the time. Probably one quarter or one third of the queries that come through my constituency office are now related to housing. Every circumstance is different. We try to give people the best advice, whether that is advice we give them or advice with the help of the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, or advice from...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: We are building public homes on public land. We built more public housing last year than in any year since 1975 - that is any year in the Deputy's lifetime or in mine - and I can guarantee we will build more this year. The LDA is building housing. Some 600 homes are under construction at the moment in Shanganagh. I will be travelling to Wicklow on Thursday morning to open a new housing...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----in transforming our country. It will be a game changer in that regard. It has got off to a slow start. Quite frankly, that is disappointing. We thought more would have been done by now, but it is now getting things done. We will be revising the target for the number of homes the LDA can build in the next 20 years upwards. The LDA had a slow start. It is now getting going. I happy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have never argued that the housing crisis is the fault of the Opposition. Again, the Deputy is trying to put words in my mouth. That is not honest politics. I have always argued that the cause of the housing crisis is multi-factorial. I will not get into that conversation today.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: First of all, I know what homelessness looks like. Everyone in this House does. The Deputy should stop trying to pretend that she knows more than us or that she is somehow more compassionate than us.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have answered the Deputy's question several times.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The fact that she has to misrepresent my answer-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----and interrupt me while I am speaking shows that she does not want an answer to her question. That is why she had to misrepresent the answer and that is why she has to interrupt me while I am trying to speak. She has an answer, but she will not hear it. She misrepresents it. She twists it. Quite frankly, a lot of people listening to her spokespeople, because of the way Sinn Féin...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I am glad she accepts that she has never claimed that and that that is not going to be the case. That is a good thing.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: One of the many reasons we will be voting against Sinn Féin's Bill tonight, in the form of a reasoned amendment, is precisely because Sinn Féin would be doing to a lot of people what it is against. It would be saying to them that they cannot move back into their own houses or move their own families into houses they own if they had the option of the box room or moving back in with...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I would be interested if the Deputy knows how many new tenancies were created in Ireland last year.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Fifty thousand new tenancies were created last year.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: That means 50,000 people found a new place to live.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: It is possible that in some cases those properties were rented out before but the fact is-----