Results 3,281-3,300 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Pay increases for teachers kick in this week. Teachers will receive their pay increase from the Department of Education in their payslips this week and throughout the month. It includes the back pay to February, which will obviously help financially. We have a teacher shortage of which we are very much aware and we are working on solutions. I believe the IPPN conference is happening...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have not agreed dates for any of those referendums as of yet. It is fair to say that none of them will happen within six months. It takes a bit of time to plan for a referendum. My Department has begun the process of planning for the referendum on the patent court, which will happen no later than the local and European elections of 2024. We do not have dates for the referendums. We...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: These toll increases and their scale are very unwelcome. I am not happy about them at all. The M50 toll bridge is in my constituency and many people travel north and south through it twice per day. I am not happy with the toll increases at all. It is a statutory function of TII, not a Government decision, but we will take it up with TII when it publishes the details of the proposal, as...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am not fully up to date on that and will have to ask the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to respond to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That certainly sounds strange and I doubt it was what was intended. I will certainly take it up with the Department of Transport. Even giving people reassurance that they do not have to reapply and the grant will be reissued might provide a solution, but I will certainly take it up with the Minister.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am very sorry to hear about the experience of Jack and Aisling, but we have done trolley counts in children's hospitals for a long time now, perhaps ten or 20 years. Thankfully, it is a much less common experience than in our adult hospitals but it happens in the winter period in particular. A new children's hospital is under construction and, in a few weeks' time, I will able to tell the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate this is an important issue for people on Dursey Island and in Castletownbere. I do not have an update to hand and do not want to give information that may turn out to be false. However, I will get my office to follow up with the Deputy on this to see if we can find more information.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am sorry to hear about this man’s experience and that of his family. As the Deputy will understand, it is not within the power of a Minister to intervene to allocate people housing or residential care. This is not how the system works, and I am not sure it would be fair if politicians were the ones who decided who got residential care and who did not.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy passes on the details, we will definitely follow up on it and will be happy to. Again, I do not want to create the impression that Ministers allocate housing. That is not the case.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We discussed this at the Cabinet subcommittee on health on Monday, trying to figure out and carry out a review into how we might be able to speed up capital development in the health sector. The Deputy will be painfully aware that the development of an emergency department and of maternity and paediatric services in University Hospital Galway seem to be going on forever, which is extremely...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I very much agree that if a person’s mobile home is his or her principal residence, he or she should benefit from the €600 credit. I think a solution has been worked out on Traveller accommodation, although I am not sure how that works. I know both Ministers, Deputies Humphreys and Ryan, are trying to work out a solution through energy bills or the social welfare system. I...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have a successful programme of building primary care centres throughout the country. I have three in my own constituency, all of which are working very well.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know about Portlaoise, to be honest-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: -----and I am not sure when the next capital programme is coming out. However, I will check it and get back to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I will.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: In making the decision to merge the two Bills, we took on board the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, of which the Deputy is a member, and listened to the views of employer groups and unions through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF. The plan is to insert the remote working provision into the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's, Bill on Report...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am a big supporter of the Government's plan to build elective hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway to reduce waiting lists. Bearing in mind what Deputy Ó Cuív said earlier, I am realistic and I believe these new elective hospitals will be five or six years in planning, design and building. That is not good enough, so we need interim solutions as well. We already have elective...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am informed the setting of tolls is not a Government decision. It is a statutory function of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, although there are some procedural differences between the two public roads, which are the M50 and the Dublin Port tunnel, and the eight PPP roads. Obviously, news of the increase is not welcome. The M50 toll is in my constituency. The...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Bacik. I certainly hope they have been implemented or, if not, that they are in the process of being implemented. I cannot confirm that now for the Deputy. I will certainly let the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, know Deputy Bacik has raised it and I will ask him to come back to her directly.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Nov 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am very sorry to hear about Miley's experience. I was not aware of the case, although I appreciate Deputy Whitmore has raised it previously. As the Deputy knows, wait times for scoliosis have improved and reduced in the past year or so, but often there are individual cases and very complex cases that take longer because of the number of different specialists that need to be involved. I...