Results 6,821-6,840 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I agree with the Deputy on his essential point. Antigen testing has a greater role to play in Ireland's battle against Covid, but it is one of those areas where we are very much led by medical and scientific advice. The Deputy will be aware that HIQA carried out a health technology assessment on this and NPHET has given advice on it quite recently which reaffirms the use of antigen testing...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is certainly not a Government priority but it is an option, one that I think is worthy of consideration. It is the norm, or at least commonplace, across advanced European welfare systems to have pay-related benefits such that if a person who has been paying PRSI into the system for many years loses his or her job, that person gets a higher payment, at least in the initial weeks and months...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I stated earlier, I am not aware of the details in that regard but I will let the Minister, Deputy Ryan, know that the Deputy has raised the issue here today. We need to be frank with the public and each other on this issue. No matter how quickly we develop renewable energy and renewable sources, we will still need to burn gas for the foreseeable future. If we were to turn off the gas...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I think we are making some really significant progress when it comes to establishing a technological university for the south east. The previous Government passed legislation making technological universities possible. We have two already, one in Dublin and the other in Munster. I am confident in and strongly supportive of the possibility that the next one will be in the south east. It...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: There is no promised legislation on that issue but I will certainly mention to the Minister that the Deputy has raised the issue and I will ask that a reply be forwarded to him.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for pointing out that anomaly. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is leading a review of the SUSI grant system at the moment. I appreciate that it may not be completed in time for these students, so I will make sure that he is aware of the issue that has been raised.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I can confirm that the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences does not apply to existing licences or concessions, only to new ones. The ban on gas exploration was announced by me, as Taoiseach, about a year or two ago. We are now going to legislate to ban exploration for oil and gas but existing licences and concessions will still be honoured. However, that is not the way of the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have heard about and read about the Barryroe project but do not know the details. If the Deputy wants to pass them on to me I will certainly take a look at them and see if the suggestion he has made that it could be carbon-neutral stacks up. If it does it is something to which we would have to give good consideration. I do not know that, however, but if he wants to pass on more...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. What we have done thus far is to reduce international and oversea travel into Ireland by about 95%. Anybody arriving in the country is required to have a PCR test taken three days before arrival. There is 98% or 99% compliance with that which is very good. Mandatory home quarantine is now the law. Next week we expect to have legislation on mandatory hotel quarantine....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure the Deputy will agree and appreciate that the way things are heard is not always what was said or what was meant. That applies even without being misrepresented. Something a person says or means can be heard in a different way. Anyway, I am happy once again to clarify the point. Anything that will save hundreds or thousands of lives is proportionate in my view. We may run into...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I absolutely agree with Deputy Canney that the value of the work done by people on CE schemes is extraordinary. I remember the day we visited Caherlistrane together in County Galway and saw some of the phenomenal work being done. That is replicated in communities, urban and rural, throughout Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, who has...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: This is an issue that, as the Deputy will know, has been going on for a long time. It has been grappled with by four or five Governments at this stage. It has not been brought to resolution because there is a real difficulty around it. CE supervisors are of course entitled to the State contributory pension based on their PRSI payments. However, to be entitled to a public sector pension in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The situation is, and he knows this full well, that the Government cannot interfere in court cases, full stop. His attempts to call on Government to interfere in court cases is totally disingenuous. Nor can the Government direct the Central Bank-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The only reason the Deputy needs to shout me down when I answer is that he does not want people to hear the truth. That is the only reason that he has to try to shout me down every time I try to answer. He knows full well that the Government cannot interfere in court cases. He knows full well that the Government cannot direct an independent regulator like the Central Bank. The Central...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for her questions. To clarify, and I have clarified it before, when I used the term "disproportionate", what I was referring to was the fact that it could be argued, and I think it will be argued, that it is disproportionate to impose mandatory hotel quarantine on people who do not have Covid when we do not do that to people who do have Covid. At the moment, there are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The decision of the High Court last week is very significant. The High Court ruled in favour of four pubs that have business interruption policies with FBD. There is yet to be a decision on the quantum. That will be adjudicated in the courts later this month. In that sense, this case is still active and we need to bear that in mind. The ruling could have implications for other small...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Credit Guarantee Scheme (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS) has €2 billion in lending available for Irish businesses and is the largest guarantee scheme in the history of the State. Its function is to add certainty to businesses that funding is available for working capital and investment purposes. Loans of up to €1 million are available for up to five and a half years at reduced interest...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I would like to highlight some of the help currently being offered by my Department to businesses which includes those within the hospitality sector, including those businesses offering take-away food activities and registered under the Stay & Spend scheme. These are in addition to other schemes offered by different Departments such as Pandemic Unemployment Payment, Employee Wage...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS) has €2 billion in lending available for Irish businesses and is the largest guarantee scheme in the history of the State. Its function is to add certainty to businesses that funding is available for working capital and investment purposes. Loans of up to €1 million are available for up to five and a half years at reduced interest...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Trade Union Recognition (11 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It has been the consistent policy of successive Irish Governments to promote collective bargaining through the laws of this country and through the development of an institutional framework supportive of a voluntary system of industrial relations that is premised upon freedom of contract and freedom of association. There is an extensive range of statutory provisions designed to back up the...