Results 7,381-7,400 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: There has been a deterioration in air quality recently. Some of that is down to meteorological conditions, but obviously the backdrop is pollution from cars, which has probably gone down because fewer people are travelling in their cars, and the increased burning of smoky solid fuels now that more people are at home. The difficulty is that this is not just because of smoky coal. A large...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We can certainly look at that. As the Deputy knows, however, the review is underway and I do not know what the outcome will be. The issue raised by the Deputy can certainly be examined.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: This is a matter for the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. I am not across the details, but I will let him know this issue was raised and ask him to contact Deputy O'Rourke.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I met with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, last night on this issue of school places in the Dublin 15 area, with particular emphasis on Edmund Rice College and Pelletstown Educate Together National School. Those projects need to go ahead. Work needs to start on the new schools on the new permanent sites. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has agreed to come back to me on the matter as...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, spoke to the Deputy about that this morning. I am advised that it cannot reopen as a district hospital because the infrastructure is too old and inadequate in the modern age, particularly now that the issue of infection control will be so important. However, it will be reopened as a community...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: While I am familiar with all those places, I am not familiar with any of the particular Irish Water projects in them. I will certainly inform the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that the Deputy raised them in the Chamber today. I will see if he can provide a written response as soon as possible. Next year Irish Water will get a significant increase in its capital budget, giving it...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: That is totally misleading. I said nothing in my earlier contributions about other European countries. I do not know where he is getting that from.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy knows well, the motion he tabled last week was not funded and was non-binding. Had it passed, it would not have been worth a single euro to a single student nurse. The Deputy has spun it in such a way that it created a false impression.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: He has to shout me down because he cannot hear the truth.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I very much agree with the Deputy's sentiments. We will do all we can to protect our fishing industry and our fishing communities around the country. As Deputies are aware, negotiations are still under way between the European Union and the United Kingdom. Among the issues still being discussed is the issue of fishing rights from 1 January onwards. We are in a difficult position. The...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I know the Minister, Deputy Harris, is working this issue. He has provided an increase in the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant and a partial rebate of some student fees. Different situations arise in different circumstances. In some cases, the accommodation is owned by the college and in other cases it owned by a company and people have entered into contracts. I know it is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is right about the major issue with poor customer service from telecommunications companies, which has been highlighted by all Deputies. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and I met the CEO of Eir to discuss this matter a few weeks ago. ComReg and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission need more powers to levy administrative fines. I will be preparing that legislation...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue on a very appropriate day. I have not seen the survey. I will take a look at it. I have no doubt that its contents are correct. It certainly rings true for me, given my experience, and I am sure it rings true for many in this House. There can be no doubt that Irish Travellers have, for generations, faced a huge degree of disadvantage and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I believe we have seen that leadership, namely, the decision made by the last Government, led by Fine Gael, to recognise Traveller ethnicity and identity, greater investment in public health, which the Deputy has acknowledged, more educational opportunities and the decision made by this Government, first to appoint a member of the Travelling community to the Seanad, which we all welcome, and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am glad that an agreement to implement the Irish protocol was reached this week. It is the coming to fruition and the outcome of the agreement we made with the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, three years ago. I said at the time that it was bulletproof, and it turned out to be bullet proof. Some people doubted that at the time but it has now proven to be so. All that was promised,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the vaccine task force report, we expect to receive it tomorrow but it has not been decided yet whether it will be published tomorrow. The Taoiseach is in Brussels on other business and it is unlikely that we will be able to convene a Cabinet meeting. We believe the report should be seen and approved by Cabinet so it may be Tuesday before it is published. However, that has not been...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, about this earlier today and am happy to set out the current position to the House. St. Brigid's hospital is a short-stay unit with 16 beds, including three palliative, two respite and 11 convalescent beds. The HSE-operated activity at the hospital and the design and layout of the building are largely...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: If there is one thing nobody would mistake Deputy Mattie McGrath for, it is a little person; he can be sure of that. We all recognise his stature. On the questions raised, I am advised by the Minister and the Minister of State that there are currently no residents or patients in the hospital. They are all being catered for elsewhere in higher-quality, more modern accommodation. The...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's response is again emotion over the facts, which is the typical conduct of populists, and it in many ways proved the veracity of my response. I set down five facts and the Deputy questioned none of them. The way he spoke almost implied that he was talking about a Sinn Féin motion but it was not. It came from People Before Profit and Sinn Féin had little or no role in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As I stated, where student nurses are filling in for staff nurses, doing the work of a staff nurse or acting up and filling in, I strongly believe they should be paid for that work-----