Results 4,341-4,360 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The budget happens in October every year, and will happen in October this year. The demand for a mini or emergency budget has to me elements of sloganeering. Taking action does not require us to have a budget. People will know that during the pandemic we introduced the pandemic unemployment payment, which cost €9 billion. We did not have a mini-budget for that....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am not sure I would characterise the three options presented in the same way as she did. I would have to read the Sláintecare report again to remind myself exactly how prescriptive the report was in terms of how the regional health areas should be structured. I heard the Deputy say on the radio that she did not think they should be a recreation of health boards,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have not gone for that. Rather, we have gone for something in between, which is establishing regional health areas within the HSE on an administrative basis with the intention of devolving power and budget to them. That is the plan.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The plan is to have a hassle-free home energy upgrade scheme. One-stop shops are being established to take the stress and hassle out of the process so that people can get this work done quickly. At the moment, there are two one-stop shops registered but there are another two that will be approved shortly, bringing us to four. There are a further 15 companies in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I understand the Deputy's passion on climate action and I believe you are sincere on it. Not everyone in this House is but the Deputy is. I would love to know what she would do tomorrow to allow us to reduce our emissions suddenly and dramatically. You cannot replace everyone's car and all the heating systems in the country overnight, and you cannot just turn off all power stations. It...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is absolutely the case that the ESB is a very profitable State-owned company. It generates very significant profits each year. It may well be the case that it will generate larger profits this year than in previous years. It is important to put on the record of the House what it does with its profits. Its profits form part of its balance sheet. With them, it invests in the grid to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is where the money goes. It is open to the Government to take a bigger dividend if it sees the ESB is making windfall or excessive profits and give it back to people, be it in the form of the fuel allowance or further reductions to bills.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Fundamentally, what drives the price of electricity in Ireland is the price of gas internationally. We make most of our electricity from gas and that is what determines the price point. The wholesale price of gas, which used to be 60p per therm, is now nearly £3 per therm. Therefore, we have seen an almost-fivefold increase in the cost of gas in international markets. Thankfully, we...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We would be having a very different conversation if we were in that position today. What we see-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: -----across Europe, including in Northern Ireland and Britain, are price increases in the region of 30% to 40%. Unfortunately, Ireland is no different. We are not immune from the dramatic rise in the price of gas that is happening internationally. We totally acknowledge the impact it is having on household budgets and the cost of doing business, and that is why we are trying to act....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We have reduced excise. It is in addition to VAT. It €200 when the VAT is included, to be exact. Of course, we are examining other measures and things that we might do to help in the future.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I agree that the best way to examine the situation is using purchasing power parity. That is fair. Irish people are paying more on average than our peers in Europe or across the OECD. We do have a higher cost of living and that needs to be factored in. What I do not think we should do is use relativities, because they can distort the picture. A small number of people who are paid an...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I certainly agree with her initial statement that the IPCC report that came out the other day did not get the attention it deserved. It was very alarming, quite frankly, to read the summary, which I did. The Deputy is correct in her analysis that the war in Ukraine, the pandemic that still rages around the world, and the shocking rise in the cost of living meant it did...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I understand where the Deputy is coming from but I am just not sure what she is suggesting we do in practical terms. We have a really ambitious retrofit programme which is very much under way. The constraint there is not money. We will find it difficult to spend the money we have allocated towards retrofitting that comes from carbon taxes paid by businesses as well as households. Those...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: No matter what response I gave to Deputy Doherty just now, his answer was going to be what he said. It is his catch cry-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: -----and his standard line. No matter what anybody says to him, he is going to say they are out of touch and do not get it. Of course we get it. As I speak, €200 is coming off people's electricity bills because we understand the burden people face from increased energy costs, albeit ones caused by factors outside of our control. This is why we have had the biggest cut in excise...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: -----with 20 cent taken off petrol and 15 cent taken off diesel.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is why we increased the fuel allowance. It is why we had a pension increase in the budget.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is why we reduced income taxes for middle-income people, despite opposition from the Deputy's party. That we have acted in that way is evidence of the fact we get it. More than €1 billion is being used to reduce the cost of living for people, but we are not in a position to chase every increase and to fully compensate people for every increase.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Apr 2022)

Leo Varadkar: We must be honest about this aspect.