Results 5,301-5,320 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Flexible Work Practices (5 Oct 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ‘Making Remote Work’, the National Remote Work Strategy, was published in January 2021. The objective of the Strategy is to ensure remote work is a permanent feature of the Irish workplace in a way that maximises the economic, social and environmental benefits. The Strategy contains 15 actions to progress remote work into the future. Each action has been attributed actors...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Revenue Commissioners (5 Oct 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Any dealings that the State agencies under the remit of my Department have with Revenue are operational matters for the agencies themselves and I do not have any direct function in these. I have been informed by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) that NSAI made an unprompted voluntary disclosure to Revenue in 2019 in respect of the application of Relevant Contracts Tax...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (5 Oct 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I do not have responsibility for educational skills development or cultural exchange programmes in the farming sector, my Colleague, Charlie McConalogue, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is the Minister responsible for the farming sector. The Work Safety Protocol, which was updated on the 16thof September, reflects the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Data Centres (5 Oct 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Neither I nor any officials in my Department have met with the company or the individual in question in relation to the data centre industry in Ireland.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Missions (5 Oct 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I travelled to Washington DC on 26th September for a series of high level business and political meetings on 27th and 28th. During the mission I met with the US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, two of my counterparts as Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment. I also engaged with representatives from multinational companies...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have had a chance to visit University Hospital Kerry in Tralee on a number of occasions and it is a very fine hospital. However, like many hospitals, it is under a lot of pressure at the moment. I am told that this morning there were more than 19 patients on trolleys, which is a lot for a relatively small hospital. As is the case in most hospitals across the country, we have seen a big...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The national broadband plan, NBP, is an enormous undertaking. It is a €3 billion investment in rural Ireland. It is one I strongly support and one I fought to ensure would happen while I was Taoiseach. It is now very much under way. However, it takes time and the objective is, or at least was, to connect approximately 100,000 homes, farms and businesses every year but even at that...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy and absolutely agree with her sentiments. On 22 October, we are going to remove almost all legal restrictions that were introduced as a consequence of the pandemic. No social distancing will be required. Hospitality venues will be able to return to the capacity they had pre-pandemic. People will be able to order a drink at a bar. In that context, it is hard to justify...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I appreciate this is an important issue for him and for the people of County Wexford. I am aware Deputy Kehoe and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, have an interest in it too. I do not have an up-to-date note with me but I will certainly let the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, know he raised it today and ask her to get back to him directly.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: On the housing adaptation grants, I agree it is a useful mechanism to enable people to stay at home, which is what we all want people to be able to do if they have a disability. In the medium term, it can save costs for the Government and the taxpayer because it reduces the need for residential care. There have been increases in the housing adaptation grant in recent years. I do not have...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As he mentioned, we have ambitious plans to retrofit as many as 500,000 homes between now and 2030. This will be hard to do, particularly at a time when we need to build hundreds of thousands of new homes as well, but we are determined to press on with both objectives. I am not as up to date on the issue as maybe I should be, but I know some work is being done on a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have not had an opportunity to study that research. I have seen some news reports, but I do not know about it in any detail. In almost every budget and finance Bill there are proposals to close loopholes where tax avoidance and tax evasion is occurring. I am confident the Deputy will see some measures in that space in the Budget...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I was struck by the CSO data as well and by anecdotal evidence from people telling me about an increase in the number of scam attempts to which they have been subjected. I am not entirely sure what the Government can do about it, particularly when so much of this originates from overseas but I will discuss it with my colleagues at...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I do not have an update on that important matter, but I will let the Minister for Justice know it was raised and ask her to come back to Deputy directly on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am frustrated about this too, but not in any way as frustrated as someone who is pregnant or their partner must be when it comes to this issue, which has been going on for a long time. Our vaccine programme is an extraordinary success, with more than 90% of over-16s fully vaccinated and the number of cases stable, albeit still high. We are on track to open the remaining parts of our...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Once again, I wish to state clearly on the record of the House that I am confident that the Attorney General will avoid any conflict of interest. As I said earlier, he is a man of the highest integrity and I am confident he will avoid any such conflict.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of the detail of any particular case in which he is involved. I am certainly not aware of any agreement made prior to his appointment of the nature the Deputy mentioned.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will say to every Deputy in advance that I cannot make commitments today in respect of the budget. The budget will be announced by the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, shortly. Regarding data centres, the Deputy is right. Data centres and, more importantly, the retention of data - it has to be retained somewhere - are contributing to the increased demand for...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: There are many lessons that the pandemic has taught us, one of which is the value of migrant labour to Ireland, be it people from Brazil or people from central and eastern Europe coming to Ireland to take up employment. That labour has been significantly reduced in large part by the travel restrictions that were in place and the number of flights that were cancelled or air services that are...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I agree with the Deputy that community welfare officers around the country do an excellent job helping people at a time when they need help the most. My understanding is that they are trying to move towards a more efficient service that involves greater use of telephones and electronic communications but will still provide for in-person clinics where necessary and even home visits on...