Results 2,701-2,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am afraid I do not know the details or the facts so I am loath to comment on it. Certainly, if the Deputy wants to get in touch with my office with the details, we will look into it further and raise it with the relevant council and company.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think what Deputy McDonald said was quite correct. The low 9% VAT rate on electricity and gas has been extended until the end of October. It was the position of Deputy McDonald's party not to extend it until the end of October but only until May or June. This is the measure that is in the announcement today that will at least have a marginal downward effect on electricity and gas...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: For clarity, the lower rate of VAT on hospitality, energy and gas and the lower rates of excise on petrol, diesel and green diesel are due to go back up fully in eight days' time. We have taken a decision as a Government not to do that and not even to begin unwinding it until June, which is what Members will be asked to vote on. They need to be unwound at some point. They were not factored...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy very much for raising the important issue of fertiliser prices. I think we all know that the price of fertiliser has gone through the roof in the last year or so. As the Deputy mentioned, some of that is linked to the increase in the cost of oil and gas. There is also the situation in Ukraine and Russia, where much of the fertiliser comes from. I know that very high...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will. Like I said earlier, I will certainly look into the matter. I will speak to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about it this week. There might be a good reason for it, but I do not understand why there would be a big disparity in what Irish farmers have to pay for fertiliser versus those in Germany and the UK. We will definitely have it examined. In terms of a CCPC...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As I explained earlier there is a process under way trying to figure out how many additional places we will have in medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine and pharmacy as well as where they will be located. I do not know the exact number of universities that have made applications but I know a number of universities and technology universities have. It would be wrong for me to prejudice the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this important issue. All of us in the House agree that we need to train more vets. Government is looking at different options as to how to do that. One option is to expand the existing veterinary school and another is to establish a new veterinary school in another part of the country. Many people want to study veterinary medicine but we do not have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The qualified child payment is a weekly payment. Along with all other weekly payments, we increase it in the budget. We increased it in the budget only six or seven weeks ago.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: What we announced today was not a budget and we did not increase any weekly payments. What we decided to do instead was to target lump-sum payments, including an extra €100 on the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance precisely for the children the Deputy mentioned-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----a €200 additional payment for working family payment recipients, who are low-income working families; an additional €100 for all children, including those families; the introduction of hot school meals for every child in a DEIS primary school; school transport being made affordable; and the introduction of free schoolbooks. All of that is happening this year. Can the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----in the space of one year has done as much as that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not accept the Deputy's characterisation of the package announced earlier. I will go into that matter in some more detail later on. I need to emphasise again, and as I said last week, this is not a budget. We only had a budget a few months ago. Some of the measures only started kicking in in the past few weeks. Some have yet to kick in. This is not a mini-budget either; it is a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: There is one thing I agree with the Deputy on; rents do need to come down. Rents in Ireland are very high and are out of kilter with comparable countries, cities and regions. There are ways that we can do that. One such way is the rent tax credit, which was only introduced eight weeks ago. Nearly 200,000 people have claimed that credit already. It amounts to €500 per renter this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: We have the rent pressure zones. Because of these, according to daft.ie, the vast majority of people who are renting, those who are established sitting renters and existing tenants, saw rents increase by about 3.5% last year. The huge problem we have is with very high rents on properties that are new to the market. The only thing we can do about that is increase supply. Deputy McDonald...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----because it is for rents. Deputy McDonald objects to it because it is full of one-bedroom apartments for transients, as her party describes them.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: We need more supply. That has to be public and private.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: It has to be additional public rental properties through cost rental, which is now a reality. Last year, we think about 8,000 new social homes were built-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----the highest number since 1975. There is also a need for private supply, which is the kind of thing the Deputy objects to all the time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an costas maireachtála fós an-ard agus go bhfuil brú ar theaghlaigh. Tá go leor teaghlach faoi bhrú. Tá gnóthaí faoi bhrú agus tá an Rialtas ag cabhrú. Tá béim mhór ar theaghlaigh le mac léinn ar scoil, ar ghnóthaí beaga agus ar dhaoine gan mórán, mar shampla,...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (21 Feb 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 34 and 36 together. The Cabinet Committee on the Economy and Investment was established in January 2023. The first meeting was scheduled for the 16 February, but was subsequently postponed. The meeting has not yet been re-scheduled.