Results 3,041-3,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Was it the question about the advertisements?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not know.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Almost all regions of the country would say they are underfunded or under-resourced when it comes to healthcare. The Deputy has made the case very strongly today for the west. I have heard Deputy Shanahan, who is sitting beside him, make the same case for the south east on many occasions and many of my colleagues have made the same case to me in respect of the mid west only a few weeks ago....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a chuid ceisteanna. Ar dtús ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabhadh lenár bhfoireann sláinte go léir as ucht an cúram atá á sholáthar acu inár ospidéil agus sa phobal le linn tréimhse an-ghnóthach. Sin é an fáth go bhfuil líon na leapacha ospidéil á...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I acknowledge is causing a lot of concern at the moment. We should not lose sight of the objective. The objective is to increase dramatically the amount of trees on our island and the amount of our land that is under forestry. We want an increase from about 11% of our land being forestry to something more like 18%, and that means...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned, this arrangement will account for roughly 1.5% of new forests developed between now and 2050. The mainstay of the forestry programme is going to be Irish farmers and we are encouraging them to plant at least some of their land. The new forestry programme has been designed to incentivise farmers to the greatest extent possible, as I mentioned earlier. Under the new...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy and completely agree that urgent action is needed. I will be following up on this personally later on in the week, alongside the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, ensuring that the whole of the Government is behind her, the Department of Health and the HSE in taking the actions that are needed. As I mentioned earlier, a new clinical lead will be appointed in youth mental...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not want to make that commitment here until I have had that meeting but as soon as I can answer that question, I will. I point out that there has been a great deal of investment in CAMHS in recent years. There has been a marked increase in staffing in the community, for example. Fewer than 400 full-time staff worked in CAMHS in 2011 and it is now over 659. Much investment has been...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The Mental Health Commission's interim report into CAMHS is of great concern to me and to Government. The Minister for Health gave us a briefing on it at Cabinet this morning. Any of us working in politics who have a constituency service, anybody who has worked as a GP and many parents will understand that we have had problems in our CAMHS service for quite some time....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. Exposing her hypocrisy is not a distraction; it is simply telling the truth, something she consistently runs a mile from. She has some brass neck, quite frankly, in that regard given her party had to file its 2020 declarations on three occasions-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----because of a €7,000 payment to a UK polling company it had forgotten about until The Irish Timesquestioned the party about it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy always wants to shout me down when she does not want to hear the truth, but this country is still a democracy-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----and the Deputy is not in charge of it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As long as we are a democracy, people will be allowed to speak freely in our Parliament and I will continue to do so. The Deputy has some brass neck in this regard when we consider the Jonathan Dowdall donation, which was a personal donation to the Deputy, not to her party, and the fact her party had to file its own declarations on three occasions in 2020, something the Minister has not had...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: A service was provided, which they believed had been done on a voluntary basis, and once they found out about it, they made efforts to put things right.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy knows, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make a statement before the House this afternoon and he will take questions on it. That will be an opportunity for the Deputy to put some of those questions directly to him, should she so wish. Once that process is over, once he has made his statement and once he has answered questions, it will be a matter for people to decide whether...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I travelled to Belfast on the 12thof January for a round of engagements with the leaders of the five main political parties, the focus of which were on the formation of the Executive and the EU-UK Protocol negotiations. Legacy and a number of other issues of concern, were also discussed. I emphasised that it is a priority for this government to support the parties in Northern Ireland to form...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Business Supports (24 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of the Taoiseach did not provide grants, funding supports, tax breaks or any other monetary assistance to businesses in the years 2020 - 2022.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: We dealt with this matter earlier, and there was a vote on it. The reason we have the Ethics in Public Office Act is precisely because there should be independent oversight of ethics and standards in this State. That is why the Standards in Public Office Commission was set up. It is not appropriate for us to turn our Parliament into a Star Chamber or to try to take on the role or the work...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jan 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I can confirm that the Government decided today that we will fund a scheme to carry out necessary fire safety, water ingress and structural safety works to apartments and duplexes that need that work done. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced the scheme only in the last couple of hours. It will benefit tens of thousands of people. It is not just about the financial distress and...