Results 6,741-6,760 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The family do not support it and our Defence Forces-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Our Defence Forces would be particularly offended that the term "Óglaigh na h-Éireann" is being used in relation to this.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I call on Sinn Féin to disassociate itself from the commemoration, to call for it to be cancelled-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: -----and to condemn the violent crime which this bus bomb was.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have any detail on the different pay rates being offered to people who will be working in the vaccination centres, but like I said, we will have a subcommittee on Covid this afternoon and I will take that up with the HSE then.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not saying we will not extend it. I am saying that the Minister is giving that consideration. If we do extend it, we want to know that it will serve a purpose and help us solve the problem that has arisen around deleted audio recordings. We do not know if they are recoverable and an answer to that question would be helpful.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: A lot of extra staff have been hired and a lot of resources have been provided to schools to adapt to Covid by purchasing screens, sanitisers and all of those things. A lot has been done in that regard. The advice we have from NPHET and our public health doctors and scientists is that schools are safe places but no place is 100% safe. Any place in which people are going to interact carries...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am told there is no date yet for that Bill but I will take up the matter with the Minister for Finance today when I speak to him. We need to be frank and honest with people. Banks have a responsibility to engage in prudent lending and they should only lend money to people or businesses where there is a reasonable confidence that they will be able to pay it back. The Deputy talked about...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Most people do their banking online and they do it on their phones, and one does not need broadband for that. If the Deputy asks around in his constituency and community, people will tell him they mainly do their banking on their phones. Leaving that aside, I will meet NBI in the coming weeks to discuss the acceleration of the national broadband plan. As the Deputy knows, this is a huge...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier on, the development of a third banking force that is able to compete with Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, AIB, would be welcome. It is something the Government would support but any decision on Ulster Bank will be a commercial decision for NatWest. With anything we do in trying to put together a third or a new banking force, we would have to make sure that entity...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his questions. I support the greater use of antigen testing in Ireland. I am on the record as having said that on a number of occasions. However, that has to be subject to public health advice and the approval of NPHET and HIQA, which also advises on this. It is now being used in outbreaks and has been tested in some clinical scenarios, such as outbreaks in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Nobody likes to see a bank branch close in a town. We need to be honest and realistic, however. The world has moved on. The number of people who go into a bank branch now is a fraction of what it was ten or 20 years ago, and the number will keep falling. Most purchases in Ireland now are happening electronically. Even places where a person could not use a card before and where they only...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Certainly not, no.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We need to be honest with people about that. One thing I saw last year and was really impressed with-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy should have a look at one of the old banks in Edgeworthstown and how that has been turned into an enterprise hub.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I checked before I came into the House and, to the best of my knowledge, NIAC has not yet come back to us on that matter. It is under consideration, however. As we move down the list to more and more groups of people, we have asked NIAC to give consideration to groups that could be prioritised, not just family carers but also people under 70 who may have a medical...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We will certainly try to do the right thing by the survivors, taking into account all the issues at play. I think the commission did a good job. It did what it was asked to do, in many ways. It spent five years examining all the documentary evidence, spoke to lots of people who spent time or worked in mother and baby institutions and did its best to come up with a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot make that commitment here but I will take up the matter again with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. I do not know if it is possible to retrieve the audio recordings. Knowing the answer to that would be crucial at this point. The commission has said that each witness at the confidential committee was given a guarantee of complete anonymity, and for this reason the tapes were deleted....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. Parents and students asked for clarity, choice and some compassion, and that is what we have provided in making the decision yesterday. A decision from the Government gives students the choice to opt for either a calculated grade or an accredited grade, or to sit the traditional examinations, which include written, oral, aural and practical examinations. They can make...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We will certainly take on board the suggestion and request from the Labour Party on a hybrid option but I understand there are some difficulties with it. One reason we want to have the calculated grade or accredited grade system is in case, for some reason, schools close again and oral, aural and practical examinations cannot go ahead. I am not saying they will close...