Results 8,061-8,080 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Appointments to State Boards (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Labour Court is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. The Court is the court of last resort in industrial relations disputes and since the enactment of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, is the appellate body for appeals arising from decisions of Adjudication Officers of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under employment rights legislation. The...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. The WRC’s broad mandate includes the inspection of employment rights compliance, the provision of information, adjudicating on complaints under employment protection, equality and industrial relations legislation and the provision of mediation, conciliation, facilitation and...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Health and Safety Authority (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The additional budget allocation of €4m to the Health and Safety Authority is an additional pay allocation to increase the staff available to the Authority, including the recruitment of additional inspectors, to deliver on its mandate. The 2021 funding being made available to the Health and Safety Authority will enable the Authority to assist businesses to comply with workplace...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Return to Work Safely Protocol (Protocol) was launched on 9May 2020 and came into effect on the 18May 2020 to coincide with Phase 1 of the Government roadmap to ease COVID-19 restrictions and commence the reopening of the economy. Between 18th May 2020, and 7thOctober 2020 the Health and Safety Authority carried out 3,855 COVID-19 compliance checks. The table below shows...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Apprenticeship Programmes (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My Department supports the development of the apprenticeship system on an ongoing basis as a means of providing for the broad range of skills needed for the growing economy. As part of a longer term vision for apprenticeships, the Government has committed to the publication of an updated Apprenticeship Action Plan to look at new ways of structuring, funding and promoting apprenticeships,...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Health and Safety Authority (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The staff of the Health and Safety Authority is comprised of both administration and inspector grades. The inspector grades comprise of Grade I (senior inspectors) as well as GII and GIII inspectors. Inspectors operate across all mandates of the Health and Safety Authority including occupational health and safety and market surveillance of products and chemicals. At the end of August...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Offices (20 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Accommodation for my Department and its Offices is provided by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in buildings which are either State owned or leased by the OPW on our behalf. The Department and its Offices are located in 11 locations across the country, six of which are in Dublin and five regionally. Typically, the Department and its Offices are in shared accommodation, either with other...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Carroll MacNeill for raising the issue of pregnancy loss and infant loss. I know it is a deeply traumatic experience for so many people whom we know. When I was the Minister for Health, I had the privilege of producing Ireland's first national maternity strategy, which is being implemented and there is funding for it in the budget, which I am delighted to see. The Minister,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The budget announced on Tuesday provides an extra €36 million for local authorities. I do not know exactly how it will be allocated. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to come back to the Deputy with more information on it and to respond to his query directly.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I am not familiar with the individual case so I am not able to comment on it but if the Deputy provides the details to my office or to the office of the Minister we will follow up on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly take it up with the Minister, Deputy Foley. I do not have detailed knowledge of exactly how the staffing schedule works. I will certainly let the Minister know the Deputy has raised it and ask her to come back to him on it. I understand the point he is making but it is equally worth pointing out that most disadvantaged children do not attend DEIS schools. DEIS schools are...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is fair to say the scheme did not work out as well as we expected or hoped. Notwithstanding this, more than 5,000 people were recruited to our public health service this year, including 800 doctors, 800 nurses and 1,600 therapists, healthcare professionals and healthcare workers. A lot of direct recruitment has happened in the past eight or nine months. In the budget announced this...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to come back to the Deputy on that. I will ask the Minister of State to correspond directly with him on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: At the moment, and indeed for many years, the Christmas bonus is paid to pensioners and to those who are on a long-term social welfare payment for more than 15 months. In the budget we changed this so that the Christmas bonus will now be available to anyone who has been on the PUP or jobseeker's allowance for four of the last nine months. As such it is being opened up to many hundreds of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will deal with the two matters separately. On the matter raised by Deputy Sherlock, the news that Ryanair is closing its bases at Cork Airport and Shannon Airport for the winter comes as a huge blow to Cork and Shannon, to both regions and particularly to staff in the airports and the Ryanair staff affected. It is happening as a consequence of the fact that so few people are travelling...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As these cases are before the courts, perhaps the less I say about them the better. The case mentioned by the Deputy was settled without admission of liability. The person taking the case withdrew most of her claims and it was settled on that basis, unfortunately with the vast majority of the money going to legal people rather than the person who was affected. However, perhaps it sets a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. An Post has transformed as a company in recent years. A few years ago, it was losing a lot of money but it has really transformed its business and its service since then. The whole parcel delivery service has become very lucrative for it and of course it is getting back into financial services and banking. As such I am very encouraged...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Regarding face coverings, the advice we are offering the public is that face masks and face coverings are vastly superior to visors, which are not particularly effective. There are certain circumstances when people genuinely cannot wear a face mask or face covering. They are few, however, and in all other instances we advise people to use a face mask and not a visor which is not...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is correct. There are particular exception and circumstances. With regard to rapid testing, I share the Deputy Kelly's view. Rapid testing, antigen testing, has a role to play in getting on top of this virus. Unlike polymerase chain reaction, PCR, which costs nearly €150 to €200 per go, rapid testing is approximately €5 to €10 and one gets a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to speak to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, about that and see whether it can be accommodated within her budget. There are administrative issues every time one changes a social welfare scheme such as this. However, the sooner it can be introduced, the better. I hear what the Deputy is saying in that regard. I will speak to the Minister about it and see if that is possible....