Results 8,241-8,260 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the issue of ICU capacity, as I outlined earlier, we went from 225 beds at the start of the year to close to 300 beds now. The number of patients in ICU with Covid-19 is around 25. We have the ability to go to 360 beds with surge capacity, and there is also the option of using the private hospitals. That option was available to us in the spring and it can be available again. Those are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Let us look at other countries. Two good examples are the Netherlands and Spain. Both those countries have a much higher incidence of the coronavirus than Ireland and fewer hospital beds per head than Ireland and neither is at this stage considering going back into lockdown. That is the position. In relation to the Chief Medical Officer, I did not say a bad word about him.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: He is somebody I respect immensely and someone I worked with very closely on difficult issues, such as Portlaoise and CervicalCheck, when the Opposition was taking lumps out of him, by the way.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I spoke to the CMO on Tuesday night, which was the first time I had a chance to speak to him in ages. I did not want to bother him while he was off because his wife is sick. We had a good personal conversation. We cleared the air and neither of us has any issue with the other. We spent most of that conversation talking about how we are going to beat this virus, and that is what we should...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: To answer the Deputy's first question, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, will make a statement today.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: His office has informed me that he will do that today. I cannot answer the Deputy's second question regarding whether public health departments have been contacted, but I am sure they have been. We all appreciate the amazing work the public health departments are doing in contact tracing. They have had the assistance of people who would never have known what contact tracing was until...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I think the Deputy's line of questioning is a distraction as well.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The way we will beat this virus is through collective action led by the Government and individual actions which people take in their everyday lives. We all appreciate that individual actions are required, with all of us following those public health guidelines, and Government action to ensure we put the infrastructure in place. Part of that infrastructure involves testing, and we are now...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Covid is nobody's fault. Nobody in the Government is engaging in any sort of blame game. That is the game of others. This is a virus. Nobody is to blame for it whether here or north of the Border. I will not speak for the Minister, Deputy Donnelly; I understand he is to issue a statement later in the day. I can, however, speak for the Government and for myself. I can give the facts....

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Export Credit Insurance (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: My Department continuously considers options for appropriate and effective assistance to businesses and this includes the possibility of supports to ensure the continued availability of export credit insurance. I will keep this issue under close review in conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Company Closures (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The decision by Aptar that it is to close its facility in Ballinasloe is deeply disappointing. My primary concern, as always in these situations, is for the workers and families who have been impacted by this decision. Many of these workers have been with the company for many years. The Government will make every State support available to those affected in order to help them transition and...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Contracts (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Details of contracts that my Department currently has with public relations agencies and consultants are set out in the attached table. Date of Contract Public Relations Agency/Consultant Purpose of Contract Total Value of Contract August 2019 (to run for two years) Insight Strategic Consultants Annual Employment Survey ...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Restart Grant and Restart Grant Plus Schemes are administered by the 31 Local Authorities on behalf of this Department. I have set out in the following table the value of Restart Grant and Restart Grant Plus funding drawn down and allocated to each Local Authority as of 2 October 2020. Local Authority Restart Grant Total Allocation Per County Restart Grant...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Staff (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Attached is an organisation chart maintained by my Department which details names and contact details for all staff from Assistant Principal Officer and equivalents to Secretary General, broken down by Division and respective business unit.

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Programme for Government (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that the Deputy’s Question relates to the establishment of a task force for north Kerry following the Programme for Government statement to withdraw the Shannon LNG terminal from the EU Projects of Common Interest List in 2021. I can advise the Deputy that the Government has committed to ensuring that local development plans are developed to stimulate economic activity...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Company Liquidations (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Debenhams is a court-supervised liquidation, subject to oversight of the High Court and accordingly is sub judice. Under the Companies Act 2014, I have no power to intervene in a court-supervised liquidation. Similarly, the Government cannot intervene with a liquidator, who has a statutory duty to realise assets and distribute to creditors in accordance with the law and who reports to the...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Company Liquidations (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government cannot intervene with a liquidator, who has a statutory duty to realise assets and distribute to creditors in accordance with the law. Equally the Government has no statutory power to intervene in a court-supervised liquidation that is subject to oversight of the High Court. The State guarantees statutory employment rights to the workers of Debenhams. If a company is...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Work Permits (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: In order to work in the State all non-EEA nationals require a valid employment permit or relevant immigration permission from the Minister for Justice and Equality which allows them to reside and work in the State without the requirement for an employment permit. Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Departmental Funding (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will appreciate that Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are both funded from my Department’s Vote whereas the funding of Udarás Na Gaeltachta is the responsibility of my colleague Minister Catherine Martin. Insofar as the funding of Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland is concerned, the following table sets out the original allocations for both Agencies as provided for in...

Written Answers — Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment: Trade Agreements (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, negotiations for an EU-Mercosur Agreement were concluded in June 2019, marking the EU’s largest trade deal to date. The Agreement includes a Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter, which the European Commission has highlighted builds on the highest standards found in other modern Agreements – such as those with Mexico or Japan. The TSD...