Results 9,001-9,020 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

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

Leo Varadkar: People need to see through this. Everyone in this Chamber does.

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

Leo Varadkar: The temporary wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment of €350 per week have protected those who have lost their jobs in a way that was appropriate and was right to do. I think we all acknowledge that it cannot last forever. It was an unprecedented action and it is not affordable for it to last forever, and I think the vast majority of people in the country...

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

Leo Varadkar: No decisions have yet been made on the rates or on the timelines. That may yet be a decision to be made by the next Government, if we have a new Government by then. If we do not, then obviously this continuing Government will have to make that decision, and it will make it well before mid-June and will give people plenty of time for that. It is a great thing that people provide food...

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

Leo Varadkar: Gabhaim buíochas le muintir na hÉireann as ucht na difríochta móire a rinne siad chun dul i ngleic le Covid-19. Tá an cuar á mhaolú againn agus tá an chuid is measa den ráig thart. Tá na mílte daoine sábháilte againn. Níor sháraigh obair na foirne ospidéil agus an lucht cúram sláinte orthu. In...

European Council Meeting: Statements (6 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On Thursday, 23 April, I joined other members of the European Council by video conference to discuss the coronavirus emergency and to chart a path towards economic and social recovery. This is the fourth such meeting, with previous meetings having taken place on 10, 17 and 26 March. I welcome the opportunity to provide an account of these meetings to the Dáil and to exchange views and...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly seek advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, on mayfly fishing. The issue of solitary fishing in general - people fishing on a local lake or river on their own - has come up on a number occasions. It is something that I will seek advice on. Deputy Harkin mentioned the issue of domestic violence. There is a concern at present that the fact that...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: On the regulations, I asked the Attorney General, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice and Equality to examine this issue several days ago, which they have. Having looked at the different options, it is their view that the regulations do not need to be amended. However, what is required is greater co-operation between the PSNI and An Garda Síochána. People coming...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Lowry for reminding us about Brexit because it has not gone away, you know. In many ways, we planned for a potential shock to our economy to occur in early 2020. We thought that might be Brexit and managed to avoid it, and instead we found ourselves dealing with a much sharper shock in the form of Covid-19, which has affected the economy in the way that it has. The joint...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Government has not taken a formal position on the matter of vouchers or refunds. There may be something at Department level. I will have to check, but, even so, I doubt that any law could be changed retrospectively. I may be wrong about that but I have never come across anyone changing a consumer protection law retrospectively. It might be changed prospectively but I do not see how it...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: -----is because of a virus. Regardless of whether they are national carriers, public companies or private companies, they have all been downed because of a virus, not because of any ideology.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Murphy. If he is fair to us and looks at all the major actions that have been taken by the Government to date, he will find they have been taken in order to bail out people and workers. There has been a massive expansion of the welfare budget in the past couple of weeks in order to provide the pandemic unemployment payment of €350 per week. If one compares that to the...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy but I am afraid I do not have the details of that. That is new information to me so I will have to check up on it but as far as I understand it, anyone is entitled to access the provisions of the Unfair Dismissals Act. That is a law that applies to all workers and obviously there are sick pay and sick leave arrangements in place for everyone at the moment who needs to...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Just to go back to what the Deputy mentioned earlier, NPHET has agreed to publish the minutes of its meetings and its advice to Government is already published. In terms of the expert advisory group, that is not advice that I ever see and it is not in my possession. There may or may not be reasons it can or cannot publish it. The CMO is the best person to answer that question. There...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I do support the proposal to have corona bonds. That is not a secret. I think I said that a week or two ago. Everyone should know that. It is essentially a mechanism by which we would collectivise European debt solely for the purpose of paying for the cost of the crisis. It could be just health spending or go beyond that to include the money necessary to re-stimulate the economy. As...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. There is no big reveal here. This has been on the record for days if not weeks. The target is to have the capacity to carry out 100,000 tests per week and to do so within a good turnaround time. We are not going to carry out random testing just to hit a figure of 100,000. The target is not to carry out 100,000 tests. It is to carry out as many tests as are necessary....

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: -----HIQA which goes through that in detail. However, we may have-----

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Roche Diagnostics may have done so as well. However, they have not done so yet. I want to answer Deputy McDonald's question. The Deputy did not leave any time to ask any.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: We may get to the point in the next couple of weeks or months where a company produces a serological test which works, in which case we will raise the 100,000 figure to a much higher one. However, that test does not exist yet. The number of tests is based, as always, on the clinical criteria.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I counted more than that, a Cheann Comhairle, but I will get straight into answering them. On the question about the roadmap for reopening Ireland and the roadmap to a new normal, I confirm it is our intention to share that with the public tomorrow, but that is subject to the outcome of a National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, meeting in the morning and subject to a Cabinet meeting in...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Not just yet, a Cheann Comhairle.