Results 8,021-8,040 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court, which are agencies of my Department, are always available to intervene in such matters. I am not familiar with the details of the dispute, but if there is a willingness on either side to go to the WRC or the Labour Court, those agencies under my remit stand ready to assist.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The budget provides for a significant increase in spending on education and staffing levels next year, including a reduction in the staff-pupil ratio by one in primary schools, in addition to the €5 million fund mentioned by the Deputy. I will have to ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, to revert to the Deputy with details in that regard. I think I know the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: There has never been more funding for school transport either, but obviously we are in a complicated scenario given the requirement to reduce numbers and have social distancing and so forth on buses. I will ask the Minister for Education and Skills to revert to the Deputies on their specific comments.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies. Travel agents are required to close under level 4 or level 5 restrictions, so they were covered by the Covid restrictions support scheme from midnight last night. Whether they are covered under level 3 is a matter for debate, but that no longer matters as we are now under level 5. As such, travel agents are covered. They will now receive the weekly Covid restrictions...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The HSE is adding about 70 staff to its contact tracing teams each week. The tracing staff are very busy and are under a lot of pressure. They had to deal with a real surge in cases in the last couple of days. That recruitment is happening. We anticipate having hundreds of staff on a permanent basis contact tracing within the next couple of weeks. Off the top of my...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Nash. I think he is spot on. I met with representatives of the retail industry yesterday alongside the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English. We outlined the rules and received the industry's assurance that it would abide not only by the letter but by the spirit of the rules If a supermarket or other store is allowed to open that is because it sells essential products...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As far as I know the leaving certificate resits will go ahead. Schools are going to stay open, so I imagine the exams will go ahead as planned. If there is any change we will certainly alert the House. The appeals process was a useful exercise for the 18 students that got an upgrade, though not for the vast majority of students who appealed. There was a very different leaving certificate...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I will have to ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to respond to him.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy knows, the incubation period for this virus is 14 days so any cases that arose in the past five to 14 days would likely have arisen in any case, regardless of whether the Government had gone to level 3, 4 or 5. To answer the Deputy's question, the main focus has been on serial testing and carrying out regular testing in nursing homes to identify staff and residents who may...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and I will absolutely look into it once I am finished in the Chamber today. I am reassured to hear Deputy Naughten say the Minister for Health is already on the case, which is important. Much has been done and more is being done than was the case in spring in the protection of nursing homes. This includes serial testing, personal protective...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I fully endorse Deputy Durkan's remarks. He is absolutely right and what happens in the next couple of weeks is very much in our hands as a nation and society. We can push back this virus with our actions over the next couple of weeks, thereby protecting ourselves, each other and particularly those most at risk in our society. I am aware the hare coursing issue has been raised in the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I have been in many marts but the Deputy is correct in that such visits served electoral purposes. I have yet to have the opportunity to buy or sell a beast in a mart. Perhaps that time will come. We will look into this for the Deputy. At the start of the spring lockdown, marts were pretty much closed but we made arrangements to allow them to operate precisely for the reasons the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not have any information about the nursing home he raised or the current situation there. The Deputy will forgive me if it is not possible for me to comment on or answer his questions without knowing any of the facts. I will certainly make inquiries about it. Without knowing anything about the nursing home or anything about what is happening there, it would be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do not doubt the Deputy's sincerity or veracity for a moment but this is not an issue that I know about I do not know even the name of the nursing home. If the Deputy wants to provide me with more information, I will certainly make contact with the CEO of the HSE about it and follow up on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Fitzmaurice raised this issue only moments ago. I do not have any information about the particular nursing home but I will certainly look into it. I will contact the HSE personally and see what can be done.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As I understand it, since the start of the year, the number of people working in our public health service has increased by 5,000, a pretty big increase in any given year. This comprises approximately 800 extra nurses and midwives, as well as 800 extra doctors. We now have more doctors and more consultants working in our public health service than ever before. Up to 1,600 therapists and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I am not familiar with that particular research. Legislation approved by the Cabinet last night and to be brought forward will ban evictions during this level 5 period. There are, of course, some exceptions such as anti-social behaviour or where criminal acts are involved. The research that I have seen shows that evictions in Ireland are relatively uncommon compared to other...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I will certainly check that out or ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, to do so. The person concerned will be applying for both maternity benefit and child benefit. In most cases, that is when people get their PSC if they do not have one already. I am not sure what arrangements exist at the moment to facilitate people who do...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is very hard to be sure of things at this time. One thing I am sure of is that Christmas will not be cancelled, it will still be a public holiday. It will still be a religious festival. Christmas mass will still be said. Santa will still arrive and put presents under the tree. I am sure that families will still be able to meet up. It just might not be the Christmas that we are used...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Christmas mass will of course be said. Deputy Lowry asked if we are always rethinking and varying our strategy. We are. Anyone who speaks with absolute certainty about the coronavirus is probably bluffing. We have learned a lot about this virus, and we have a lot yet to learn about it. We have learned a lot about how to handle a pandemic, and we have a lot yet to learn about it. We...