Results 4,781-4,800 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (1 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The right to request remote work is part of the Government vision to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all – economically, socially and environmentally.  The commitment to introduce legislation to underpin employees' right to request remote work was made in the national Remote Work Strategy. On 25 January the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Centres (1 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My Department plans to complete the review of the 'Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland's Enterprise Strategy' in the first half of 2022. It is clear that the Statement needs revision to align enterprise policy with the programme for government renewable energy and climate targets.  My Department will continue to work closely with the Department of the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (1 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The right to request remote work is part of the Government vision to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all – economically, socially and environmentally.  The commitment to introduce legislation to underpin employees' right to request remote work was made in the national Remote Work Strategy. On 25 January the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Expenditure (1 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: On 2 December 2019, a request for tender for an Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment of the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement was published by my Department. The tender was placed on the Ireland e-tenders website and the Official Journal of the European Union. The tender specified that the budget for the contract, including all costs, would not exceed EUR 200,000 plus VAT for its...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Legislative Process (1 Feb 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The following Acts or sections of Acts under the remit of my Department have been signed into law but not commenced. Act Section not commenced Reason Action The Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021 This Act was signed into law on the 22nd December 2021 Work is underway to develop the relevant...

Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Bill 2022: First Stage (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I note the Central Statistics Office housing figures came out earlier today. They showed that 20,000 new homes were built in Ireland last year. That was not as many as we needed but it was a reasonable performance, given that construction was shut down for a long period last year. We expect that figure will go well above 20,000 this year. We know that we need more...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware that many dentists around the country have withdrawn from the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, which is the medical card scheme. I am not sure about the details in Mayo specifically but many dentists have withdrawn from the scheme in different parts of the country. The budget for the scheme is being increased and discussions with the Irish Dental Association about getting...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The energy credit requires legislation. We anticipate that will be done quite quickly and, with the help of the Houses, it will be done within the next couple of weeks. It is intended that €113.50 will be knocked off people's bills by the end of March.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: Waiting lists are far too high. That was the case before the pandemic and they have got considerably worse as a result of the pandemic and the cyberattack. We need to turn the tide in that regard and ensure those waiting lists and waiting times improve over the next couple of years. I absolutely agree that we need to look at the regional disparities. There will always be regional...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: My engagement with the company has been done through the IDA, which manages the relationship with National Pen. Unfortunately, some jobs are going to be lost. The operations are being outsourced to eastern Europe, to either the Czech Republic or Hungary. These redundancies, unfortunately, cannot be prevented although there will be job increases in other parts of the company. National Pen...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I have not seen the tender documents so I am not sure if they have been prepared yet but my understanding of the Government decision is that there will be four bases. The four bases are named as the existing bases of Sligo, Shannon, Waterford and Dublin.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: It is valid question. I had this experience myself recently. For years, I have been using Internet banking and phone banking and using my card reader at home and so on, which I have found very good. I had not been in a bank for a long time, but I recently visited a bank on Baggot Street because I had to change the PIN for my card. I had to interact with this very strange large machine...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy raised an important and sensitive issue. I do not have up-to-date information for her, but I will let the Minister know that she raised the matter and ask him to come back to the Deputy directly on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier, one of the things we absolutely have to make sure happens now, if it has not happened already, is that the children affected and their families get not only the supports and services they should have got in the first instance, but also any additional help they need to undo the harm and remedy the situation. We need to try to make things better for them in any way we can....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy rightly acknowledged, the budget provided for a social welfare package and a pension increase across the board, in addition to targeted increases for those who need them most, in particular, the fuel and living alone allowances. The budget also provided for reductions in income tax, increases in tax credits and widening of the tax bands so that people on middle incomes who are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: That is the reality of that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: There has also been the real rent freeze of 2% or less, the freeze on childcare fees, in addition to improvements to the Student Universal Support Ireland grant, which will come in later in the year. As I said, when it comes to the specific issue of energy costs, the energy credit will be legislated for quite soon. We will deduct it from people's bills, hopefully, by the end of March. We...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I have not had a chance to read that article. The report is being done at the moment by the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is entirely appropriate that he should do that; he is the Accounting Officer. We should wait until we see that report. We will pass judgment when we have it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jan 2022)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is working on the legislation at present. There will be a chance to debate and tease out these issues. One issue that has come up is that if we start to exclude or exempt particular types of residences, it makes it much harder to do. It seems it is quite straightforward to knock €100 or €113.50 off every domestic bill, but when we start to...