Results 5,761-5,780 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I cannot give him a date here. I would like to be able to give him a date and a clear commitment but it is just not an area directly under my responsibility. I am very aware of the Deputy's advocacy on this issue and his commitment to it. I will certainly let the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, know it was...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The best way to bring this forward is probably for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to meet with the group. I will let her know he raised this matter today and ask her to do that.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I have not yet seen the report to which the Deputy referred, which was released in the past couple of hours by the Minister, Deputy Foley. It seems that his long-standing advocacy on this issue has borne some results. I am glad to hear there is some welcome news for school pupils and families in the Limerick area. Public transport capacity will be reviewed in the context of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: These are separate but connected issues, as I am sure the Deputy will appreciate. I do not know when it is intended to publish the Indecon report but I will check it out and get back to her by correspondence. The Government is keen to build on our ratification of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities by opting into the optional protocol as well, but we need to make sure...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know something about the very sad case she raised but I do not know all the details of it. That is why I will be restrained in my comments. It was obviously an enormous tragedy for the family and I can only imagine what it is like to be told your child will be born with a severe disability, or perhaps not born alive, and to go ahead with a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have read a little in the newspapers about this development but I do not know the details of it and I do not, therefore, want to comment on it. A lot of apartment buildings would not be built at all were it not for the fact there was an investor willing to invest in them and pay upfront to provide the finance for them. Nobody would win if there were fewer apartments built. It would drive...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to come back to the Deputy on that question as I do not have an up-to-date note on it. I certainly share his concerns about increases in knife crime incidents in our cities and elsewhere in Ireland. It is a complex problem and it does not always respond to simple solutions.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We are taking a number of actions in this regard. The Deputy will be familiar with the new personal injury guidelines that have just been agreed by the Judicial Council. We anticipate that this guidance will bring down awards and should, therefore, also bring down premiums. We are advancing the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Bill 2018 to enable us to take a harder line...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that we are now up to approximately 50,000 tests per month. The driver testing services is scaling up again, both in terms of the online theory tests and the physical tests, and will be hiring more drivers to do exactly that.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is currently carrying out a broader review of SUSI. I appreciate the issues the Deputy has raised in the Chamber. I am not 100 % briefed on them so I will not say any more than that. I will certainly tell the Minister, Deputy Harris, that the Deputy raised the issue...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My expectation is that we will approve the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children and young adults aged between 12 and 16. It is already approved for those aged over 16. We will aim to vaccinate them later in the year. I cannot give a date on that just yet. Obviously, the aim is to move down through the age groups and vaccinate people in their 30s now, moving into those in their...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We had our best flu vaccine programme ever last year and, ironically, it was the year in which we had zero flu. That is the way these things go sometimes. It is probably the first time in a very long time, if not generations, that no case of influenza was recorded in the State during the winter period. We are not making the assumption that will be case this winter. There is a real risk,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I join the Deputy in welcoming the fact that the State's appeal was successful and now gives us assurance that SEOs are constitutional. We plan to have some more of them. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy English, has launched the process to have one quite soon in the area of childcare. I will be happy to receive that evidence and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy and do not disagree with what he is saying. There are many different bottlenecks and points where one can run into trouble in terms of housing construction. All of those bottlenecks must be dealt with to allow for a clear and flowing pipeline of houses, which is what we want. I agree with the Deputy that every town and village in Ireland should be able to expand. I do...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of any plans to look at alternative sites for the national maternity hospital. The Government considered it some time ago and decided, for good, clinical, patient safety and patient quality reasons, that all four maternity hospitals should be relocated and co-located with adult hospitals. That is the case in Limerick, with University Maternity Hospital moving to the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will appreciate, the IBTS makes its decisions based on scientific and medical evidence. There is no reference to the Government in that regard and the service does not require the approval of the Government and it is not a Government decision. However, I echo the Deputy's comments and ask the medical people, scientists and experts in the IBTS to have regard to what is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My view is simply that a TRIPS waiver is not enough to do what needs to be done, which is to make sure that the global south can manufacture vaccines and administer them across their populations. A TRIPS waiver is not enough in that regard. It is proverbially like giving somebody the recipe but not the kitchen. They have not been given the materials or know-how to produce vaccines. The...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I would prefer not to comment on any individual case that is before the courts. I can say that any inappropriate cancellation of 999 calls is a serious issue. The Garda Commissioner has assured the Minister for Justice that when somebody calls 999, they can expect and trust that a member of the Garda will help. That should always be the case and should always have been the case. The Garda...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. This matter has been raised by Ministers in our interactions with the banks. As the Deputy knows, it is a tricky issue. If somebody is in receipt of the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, by definition, the company he or she works for must be down 30% or more in terms of turnover. While that does not mean that person's job is at risk, it means it is more at risk...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I hear the Deputy and I am sympathetic with what he has to say. As I said earlier, many people are paying €1,800 or €2,000 in rent per month. They could afford a mortgage of €1,500 and would be better off if they could get that mortgage but they cannot do so. I hear what the Deputy is saying and I hear that from people all of the time but I am not passing the buck in...