Results 9,081-9,100 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister, Deputy McHugh, to respond directly to the Deputy on the school in Mullingar. Hopefully we can get that school open as soon as possible. I point out that overall the schools building programme, the roads programme and the Irish Water programme are running on schedule and on budget. Of course, some projects are ahead of schedule and some are behind schedule....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I ask them to come, but they do not show up all the time. I imagine they are busy in the Seanad and other places.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am being serious there. Some attend better than others, but I have kept a record. I will check up on the matter Deputy Fitzpatrick raised with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Funding is available through the local infrastructure housing activation fund and I do not know why it has not been granted in that case. I also want to extend my...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There is no better man.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: This is a really serious issue and one in which I have a personal interest. In recent weeks, I read that more women were killed violently by men they knew - there have been more cases of femicide - than there are people killed as a result of drug-related murders, which is extraordinary and indicates how common murders of women by men who know them are in this country. I reject the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My understanding is that the registration is close to 100%. I am sure there are exceptions, however. The issue of insurance is a separate matter. That is the information I have. I am sorry I cannot give the Deputy any more information.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister for Health to give the Deputy a better explanation. My recollection is that when one takes the number of beds in the round, such as fair deal, transition care, acute and short-stay, there is an increase. I do not have the exact details of that. I will ask the Minister to provide the Deputy with a proper reply.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am not entirely sure as to what the Deputy is referring, making it difficult to respond. There are procedures within the Protected Disclosures Act which outline how they are managed. First, they are protected which means that the person making any allegation or disclosure cannot be identified, deliberately or inadvertently. Second, we are not allowed to be told about them because they...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Tá brón orm nach bhfuil aon dáta ann anois ach tá an Bille ag teacht. Is maith liom carbhat an Teachta.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot speak for the Minister for Health but I am sure there was engagement. There was certainly engagement from my office with Children’s Health Ireland which manages the children's hospitals. The children's hospitals are particularly busy at the moment because of the respiratory syncytial virus, RSV. As we do not have single rooms in our very old children's hospitals, when a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am sure I will have an opportunity to speak to all party leaders in the next couple of weeks, as I do regularly. I am conscious, however, that this is not necessarily a matter just for me and the Leader of the Opposition alone. The parties here make up an increasing number of people in the Dáil. If Deputy Howlin is indicating to us that he would be willing to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----or voting with the Government in future confidence motions, I am sure we would have something to talk about then.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I apologise to the Deputy, but I do not have any knowledge of that individual case, so it is impossible for me to comment on it. If he wants to raise it directly with the Minister for Health, I am sure that he will try to provide a reply.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The HSE service plan provides for an extra 3,000 posts in the health service next year. I am not sure how many of those are going to be clinical nurse specialists, but I will advise the Minister for Health that Deputy Mattie McGrath raised this matter and ask him to reply directly to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We had a number of questions that I answered earlier regarding insurance. I do not wish to add to that, other than to say that everyone in the House will be aware that the Government does not set the price of insurance, because it is a private market, but we can improve the environment in which the insurance sector operates. One of the big reforms brought in only this week is the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: No, that is fine.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: From my constituency office, we are not aware, or at least I have not been told by my constituency staff, that there has been any change in the turnaround times for medical cards. If the Deputy can pass on a few examples to me or to the Minister for Health, we will see if there is an issue. I had not heard that there is a problem, but if there is we will check it out.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I understand from where the Deputy is coming. I have an open mind on this but I do not believe that his suggestion is the panacea he may suggest it is. A constitutional right and a court judgment cannot build a hospital that does not exist, hire specialists who are not available or create resources that are not available. The Deputy mentioned that he has included in his terms a caveat such...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I became aware of that case this morning. For many good reasons, I am reluctant to discuss any individual case but I understand the operation has been rescheduled for later this week. I hope it will go ahead. I had the distinct displeasure as a junior doctor of having to ring people and tell them their appointments were cancelled. I remember it well. I am aware of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The reason we do not see the service plan before the budget is that it is not written until the budget is known. One cannot put the cart before the horse.