Results 7,021-7,040 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: That will be led by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. I am not sure when she will start the review. I suspect it will be this year and I will find out for sure and let the Deputy's office know.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: This kind of falls between my Department and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. On my side, we are reviewing our schemes with a view to consolidating them. We have some very good schemes such as the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, which helps with payroll, the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, which helps with the fixed costs of running a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of eating disorders, which is much more common than people think and which probably does not get discussed enough in this House. I will have to get a report on the plan to meet that commitment for the Deputy from the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly but it is a commitment we are determined to meet.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is important to say that this will be the salary for the next Secretary General of the Department of Health. The incumbent does not receive it. That job will be open to competition and people will be able to compete for it and for that new salary. As is the case with any salary of this nature, the decision on it is made by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, but he made that...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: This was raised in the Dáil last week and I undertook to look into it. I have a report from the Department of Justice which I will send on to the Deputy. It is being worked on and the delays might not be as severe as people may think.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We have signed the contract for the national broadband plan. That is a €3 billion investment in rural Ireland, probably the biggest ever investment in rural Ireland and perhaps the most significant since rural electrification. With that plan, we are able to connect approximately 100,000 farms, businesses and homes across rural Ireland to high-speed broadband every year. We would...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has engaged with NBI on this. He and I together have engaged with Eir on it and we are exploring any possibilities that exist to speed up the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Unfortunately, it is running a little bit behind because of Covid-19. It is running a few months behind but we want to accelerate it and, if possible, make it a four- to five-year...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Parents' benefit or paid parental leave was brought in by the previous Government and is very much one of our proudest achievements to try to improve work-life balance and help parents. That legislation is supposed to be brought in during this session, which will then allow it to be introduced later in the year.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: That is priority legislation so we expect it to be in the House shortly.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Plan for Living with Covid-19 sets out the metrics we use to determine whether we can ease restrictions and go down a level or increase restrictions and go up a level. It includes deaths and five-day and seven-day average cases, the number of ICU beds available, hospitalisations and, of course, crucially, the trajectory. Is it getting better or worse, and if so, how fast? We have...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I know this is an issue of real concern to the Deputy. It has been raised with me by others as well. I do not know if there are any plans at present for financial packages for the industry. I will ask the Minister to personally come back to the Deputy in detail, however.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy mentioned, a memorandum of understanding, MOU, is in place between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It operates mainly at Chief Medical Officer, CMO, to Chief Medical Officer level, so it is Dr. Tony Holohan and Dr. Michael McBride who mainly operate the MOU, but of course there is close contact between the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister, Robin Swann, in Northern...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Certainly, when it comes to the religious orders, it is our view that they should make a substantial contribution. The State has to take primary responsibility for what happened in those institutions but the religious orders have responsibility as well. We will be, and have been, calling on them to make a contribution. Whether we are able to enforce that if they do not make one, we just do...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am really glad to hear that the medical cannabis programme is now a reality. There have been a number of false dawns over the years but I read the other day that it is now becoming a reality. It is a long time coming and I acknowledge the Deputy's role in bringing us to this point as one of the people who led the charge for legislation in this area early on. As for which conditions...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have an exact date but I am told it is almost ready and that it will be before the Houses in the very near future. Hopefully, that means it will be enacted by the summer recess, if not before. I do not know whether it is going to be retrospective. In general, unfortunately, legislation like that cannot be, but it will be important to get it done.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The prioritisation is assessed by the national immunisation advisory council, NIAC, and signed off by the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET. It is based on medical need and medical risk, with those most at risk of getting sick and dying being vaccinated first. That means residents in nursing homes, with those most at risk of contracting it - healthcare workers - getting it...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It may well be, and Irish Water has an increase in its capital budget for this year to carry out repairs and improvements in Dublin and throughout the country. It has been designated as essential construction, so it can go ahead with that.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not know the answers to the Deputy's questions as to how many people will be employed, but I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to give him an update if he can, as the Minister with responsibility for the port. I do not believe that my Department has received any application for funding for the business park, but if there is one, we will certainly look at it...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I appreciate the extent to which the ESB and Bord na Móna were the mainstays of employment in the midlands and how important this is to Laois and Offaly in particular and the region as a whole. Where there is a just transition, it has to be not just for workers and former workers, but for the communities as well. Somebody may get a good package to retire or become...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jan 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We need to act to stop climate change. If we do not, many more jobs will be lost through the climate chaos that would ensue. We need to think short, medium and long term when it comes to the trade-off between jobs and industry on the one hand and protecting our environment on the other. If we do not stop climate change, the impacts o Ireland could be severe on many of our industries, not...