Results 7,861-7,880 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Regarding the Deputy's remarks, it is important to emphasise again that the negotiations had concluded. Some minor changes were made prior to publication, but none that required a return to Cabinet. It is in the Cabinet memo of 9 April that engagement had concluded with the IMO at that stage. The figure the Deputy used, regarding the potentially sensitive piece of information in respect of...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It was not something that was at issue. We had moved on to dealing with other problems and other things Government has to deal with. This was a deal that was done and accepted. I consider it to have been a success for the Government, for Ministers Harris and Donohoe and even for me. We then moved on to the next problem, and in politics there is always a new problem. Ten problems come up...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: That is not what I said.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No, Deputy.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No, Deputy, that is a misrepresentation.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The deal was done, we had achieved it and we had got acceptance from the GPs. We then moved on to the next issues on the agenda.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No, Deputy. If it had been at issue at the time and had I been asked about it, I would have put it on the record. I would of course have told the truth and given an honest answer to any question had it arisen at the time. I have heard the term "leak" being used, and I will not dispute anyone who wants to use that term in regard to this issue. Generally, however, a leak involves putting...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am not.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No, Deputy. When one is in government, a long list of people threaten to campaign against you. I guarantee the Deputy that. There is a very long list of people. If there is a live issue about which people feel passionate, national or local, one meets groups which will say that if they do not get their way and if what they want is not done, they will campaign against the Government....

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. First, I do not. Second, the premise of the Deputy's question seems to suggest that in some way I sought the head of Deputy Cowen or Deputy Calleary but I absolutely did not. The case of Deputy Cowen was handled by the leader of Fianna Fáil in the way he thought best. I found out the former Minister, Deputy Calleary, had resigned one morning when I woke up in bed...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Village magazine produced a photograph of us at a Pride march, although I am not sure which one it was. We all know the innuendo here. We all know what it is.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We all know it is a big part of what is in the article and what is online. I know what is being said and it is not true. This is somebody who is not a close friend but is a friend. He is in my wider social circle. I would say we have met twice in the past year - once at a Christmas drinks thing over a year ago and once when six people went out to dinner, and he and I were part of that...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: That is not what I am saying at all. I am saying it is not illegal, full stop.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I remember the Deputy raising a question about the primary medical cert and the Supreme Court judgment on that. I endeavoured to look into that and I have done so. I received a written briefing and I was not particularly satisfied by the answer I received. I wanted to know what was being done to solve the problem and that is why I have not yet reverted to the Deputy. The problem needs to...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is important to restate that negotiations were concluded on 3 April. If it had been before that, we would be talking about a very different situation. The negotiations were concluded on 3 April. That is what it says in the memorandum the then Minister for Health brought to Cabinet on 9 April. The salient details, including the financial information and the commercially sensitive...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: -----and phoning dozens of GPs to promote the deal, the details of which were widely known by hundreds of GPs, and that the fact that the NAGP did not know shows its amateurism. That is one view.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: To my recollection, I did not but, as I said, the negotiations had concluded at this stage. If we had got into a real battle about trying to get GPs to sign up, a repeat of 2015, the then Minister, Deputy Harris, and I would have many conversations about it. The fact, however, is that things had moved on. Things move on very quickly in politics, particularly in the Department of Health....

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I explained my motivation. My only motivation was-----

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I wanted the president of the NAGP to see, on a confidential basis, or a secret basis if the Deputy wants to use that term, that this was a good agreement, that there was nothing in it that had not been substantially announced publicly and that there was no reason for that organisation to oppose or agitate against it as it had in 2015. I wanted to do that confidentially, which is why I used...