Results 8,961-8,980 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On testing and tracing, the HSE will publish its revised plan on testing and tracing today, with updated key performance indicators. On the volume of testing, as I stated earlier, 44,000 tests have been carried out in the past seven days. That works out at roughly 6,000 per day, which I think is the figure referred to by the Deputy. As he rightly pointed out, the capacity is there to do...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is always a pleasure to converse with somebody who is another doctor as well as another Deputy. I was feeling a bit lonely in the previous Dáil. There have usually been a few doctors in the House and I think I was the only one in the previous Dáil.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Of course. I am sorry. He is gone. It was always a pleasure to converse with Dr. Harty as well. It is good to see Deputy Berry is here as well, so there are at least two of us. I look forward to a good, robust and positive relationship. As the Deputy rightly said, about 500 people have expressed an interest in rejoining the Defence Forces, which is really encouraging. Those 500 will...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not have any information or details on the companies or particular workplaces the Deputy has mentioned, but I will absolutely make inquiries with the HSA.There is a procedure that the authority will follow if complaints have been made. I will make inquiries with the HSA about it today.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As I said earlier, I will have to make inquiries with the HSA. Before coming to any judgments, I would like to hear its side of the story. I have heard the Deputy's in this Chamber but I have not heard the HSA's. I will make inquiries with the HSA and find out what the factual position is. As the Deputy knows, employers who breach the Safety, Health and Welfare at...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure if there was a question there. As I said, I will make inquiries with the HSA about this today.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We disagree on many issues but there are issues we agree on. One of the issues we agree on is that the best economic policy and the best social policy is high levels of employment and full employment where that can be achieved. That is the best economic policy. It is also the best way to reduce poverty and to reduce disadvantage. The best new deal for people who have lost their jobs is...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I have not been involved personally in any of those kinds of discussions but that may well have happened. There is a regular quad meeting involving Ministers from the Northern Ireland Executive and Ministers from the Government here. Under our memorandum of understanding, MOU, there is ongoing contact and co-operation between the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, in Northern Ireland and the CMO...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: It is both, Deputy. There are additional financial resources and additional staff, mainly redeployed from other areas in the public service. There are also real consequences. The approach that is going to be taken by the HSA, as is always the case, is one of compliance and working with employers to enable them to comply. The HSA will, however, be able to close businesses and sites, if...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. She raised the issue of the capacity of the HSA. Environmental health officers in the HSE will play a role. Capacity is a very real issue. We have had discussions about that at Government level. The Ministers for Health and Business, Enterprise and Innovation might be able to give the Deputy a more comprehensive answer than I can because they have been dealing with...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure that this issue will be ongoing. It is a matter to which we will have to give consideration as we work with the childcare sector to reopen crèches and childcare facilities by the end of June. We will examine, of course, what is being done in other countries and other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, to see if there are things we can learn from those because there...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. It is a matter of great regret that the childcare scheme for healthcare workers cannot go ahead. The focus of the Minister, Ms Zappone, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for the next couple of weeks will be to get crèches and childcare facilities open by the end of June for all essential front-line workers first, and then more broadly after that. I...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (14 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Gach lá bíonn an iomarca daoine ag fáil bháis de thoradh an víris seo. Tá an iomarca ag éirí tinn agus fós san ospidéal. Smaoinímid orthu go léir agus déanaimid comhbhrón leo inniu díreach mar a dhéanaimid gach lá. Is dea-scéal é, ámh, go...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Protected Disclosures (13 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides a robust statutory framework which aims to provide protections to whistleblowers who raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing in their workplace. In line with the Act, my Department has a policy on Protected Disclosures which sets out the procedure by which an employee can make a disclosure, what will happen when a disclosure is made, and...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The wearing of face masks and face coverings is still very much a matter of scientific debate. Some scientists speak about it with great certainty, but within the expert advisory group, the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, the World Health Organization, WHO, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, one...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I confess that I have not yet read the letter to which the Deputy referred. I am sure she appreciates that I receive thousands of individual items of correspondence to my office every week and it is not possible for me to read them all. If the Deputy wishes to pass on privately the correspondent's name and address, I will check out his letter and ensure he receives a proper reply. In...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: There is nobody on NPHET who is a voice for a particular subgroup in society, whether women or men, business people or workers, people with disabilities, older people or younger people. That is not how NPHET-----

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Decisions are made by Government, not by NPHET. The latter advises Government. At the Cabinet table there is a Minister of State whose responsibility is disability. He is the voice on these matters. Where NPHET acts entirely independently of Government it is on those matters that are solely matters of public health such as the clinical criteria for testing and so on. Political decisions...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am very aware of the difficulties our fishermen and fisherwomen are facing at the moment. I had a conversation with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, about that particular matter in the past couple of days. He, with his European colleagues, is working on a solution that can assist them at this particularly difficult time. Obviously,...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As is often the case, the Deputy suggested two new stand-alone Ministries but did not enlighten us as to which two stand-alone Ministries he would wish to abolish to make that possible. The Constitution provides for a maximum of 15 senior Ministers, and only 15. I would be interested to know whether it is rural affairs, agriculture, children and youth affairs or which...