Results 6,881-6,900 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I only heard about that the other day and was quite surprised to hear it, quite frankly. It is something I know the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is now aware of and it will be a decision for him as to whether it makes sense to further extend the term of the commission. It is important to say once again that the mother and baby homes...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this important issue. Senator Ahearn and Deputy Cahill have been in touch with my office about it also. The Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Unit needs to be upgraded and modernised to meet Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, standards. I have been informed that it has been asked to make a submission to the review of the national development plan...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I will certainly check that out. Every day there is a new problem when it comes to Brexit. There are many teething problems, as the Deputy says, but it is important to admit that they are not all teething problems. Britain has left the Single Market and the customs union. Frictionless trade with Britain is over. Checks, charges, controls and paperwork are now the new...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. Again, I will check that out with the Road Safety Authority, RSA. I do not see why it could not be done online but I can see an obvious difficulty. How would one know that the person who is doing the test online in their own home is actually the person who is supposed to be doing the test? There would be a difficulty with that. I will definitely make contact with the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will do that. I will contact with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, today or tomorrow to raise this. I agree that if the Department writes a set of guidelines it should follow them. I will definitely look into that and see what the situation is. I very much agree with the Deputy that community employment schemes, rural and urban alike, do really valuable work that needs to be done,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As I said, I will check out this with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys today or tomorrow. Hopefully I will get back to the Deputy with some clarity.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly give it consideration, If the Deputy wishes to write to me or to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on the details, we will give it some thought. As the Deputy said, the pubs versus FBD Insurance decision is expected tomorrow. These are significant test cases. It will be interesting to see what decision the courts make. It will have a significant impact potentially on lots of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As he knows, the Oireachtas some time ago decided that the management of medical negligence cases should be delegated to the State Claims Agency. That is the law. I think it might even have been brought in by Deputy Brendan Howlin as Minister, giving that power to the State Claims Agency to manage medical negligence cases on behalf of the State, so these are not dealt...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. More than 3,000 people in this State and nearly 5,000 people on this island have lost their lives as a consequence of, or at least with, Covid-19, and our condolences go to all of those families, and all who are still grieving in Ireland, North and South. Sadly, it is the case across the developed world that a very high proportion of people who have died from Covid, or...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The sad fact is it could have been worse - it could have been much worse. Many countries around the world have not even started their vaccination programmes yet, and most EU countries are well behind us. We are in the top three or four European countries now in terms of the speed of the roll-out. Yes, there are countries ahead of us, the United Kingdom, the United...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am advised that the vaccination of those aged over 85 will begin in the middle of February as planned but because we will have to use the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, of which there is less supply, as opposed to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the roll-out will be slower. I cannot give the Deputy exact timeframes and dates on it at this stage. It will allow us to speed up...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is the case that on occasion, and on more than one occasion, the facts are disputed. Scientists and doctors say they were not negligent.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy can come up with a solution to resolve this, I am all ears. Unfortunately, there will be individual cases where the facts are disputed.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Therefore, there has to be some sort of hearing, hopefully at a tribunal rather than in court.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy very much for raising this issue again. I agree with him that it is not something we should be sparring about. It is too sensitive for that. My thoughts are with Lynsey Bennett today and particularly with her daughters Zoe and Haley. I hope her treatment goes as well as possible and that she gets as much time as is possible with her daughters. I do not know the details...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is important to say that the nation's vaccination programme is well under way. More than 200,000 vaccines have been given. Compared with our peer European countries, we are among the top countries in the EU in terms of getting the vaccines out to people once we have received them. By last Sunday, we had received 207,000 doses, 200,000 of which had been given. The only constraints at...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The employment permits regime is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. In order to ensure that the employment permits...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Meat Processing Plants (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Health and Safety Authority does not disclose information regarding inspections at specific workplaces.   However, the Health and Safety Authority has carried out an extensive inspection programme which has focused on all meat processing plants which are registered with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I understand that the meat processing plant which is the...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (3 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We know the significant effects on business of the current Level 5 restrictions. Budget 2021 provides a significant package of tax and expenditure measures to build the resilience of the economy and to help vulnerable but viable businesses across all sectors. My Department and its agencies have been focused on coming up with solutions to help businesses overcome the difficulties caused...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19, only essential retail outlets will remain open.  Further information can be found on https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2dc71-level-5/.  The decision to move to full scale Level 5 was not taken lightly and all factors were considered. All measures in Level 5 will stay in place until at least March 5 2021. S.I. No. 701 of 2020 Health...