Results 9,601-9,620 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I acknowledge there are some rural areas, and also some urban areas, where we are struggling to recruit GPs. Often, individual circumstances are the reason that is the case. Much of this has to do with the fact that the world has changed and GPs are much less willing to be single-handed in the way they were in the past. They want to...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and more GPs have contracts with the HSE than ever before. What are we doing about it? We have increased the rural practice allowance and made it easier to qualify for that. A sum of €2 million has been set aside for a particular effort to recruit and retain GPs in urban areas. We have an agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, to reverse the reductions in fees,...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is entitled to his opinion but there is only one set of facts.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy asked about when and where this would be rolled out. The Enniskerry road project is under construction and the Deputy can take a look at it now.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is a cost-rental scheme under construction. If the Deputy wants to see a large one, the Emmet Road project at Inchicore is an example.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Those are two projects the Deputy can visit, either now or whenever he wants, in order to see cost-rental being delivered. The scheme at O'Devaney Gardens will be 50% private, 30% social and 20% affordable purchase. My understanding is the Green Party councillors on Dublin City Council voted for that. If the Deputy has a problem with it, he should speak with his party's councillors.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The national childcare scheme comes into effect on Wednesday. I encourage people to apply. People who already receive childcare subsidies will see their subsidies increased and some parents will qualify for childcare for the first time. We will have to see how things pan out in the next couple of weeks. As the Deputy's queries are very specific, I suggest she raise them directly with the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is referring to a document which I do not have before me. My understanding is that we are not proposing to buy these homes at market price from the developer. However, as this is a detailed question about a particular scheme, I will ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to come back to the Deputy on the matter. I think he may have mixed up the Dublin...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: On a point of information, will the Deputy give way?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I can assure the Deputy that we have no proposals to abolish the RSA, nor will we be repealing any of the legislation we introduced over the past seven or eight years, which has been successful in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. On a point of information, there is a big difference between talking about the Central Bank amending its macro-prudential guidelines and...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is pretending that it can intervene and tell the Central Bank what to do when it comes to macro-prudential guidelines-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----pretending that it can ignore EU law by changing VAT law and then calling for a scheme that already exists. What a lack of substance. It is just unbelievable.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My understanding is that in advance of the vote some councillors, representing the so-called "Dublin Agreement" group of Fianna Fáil, Labour, the Social Democrats and the Greens, entered into a side agreement with the developer to purchase 30% of the units at O'Devaney Gardens at a market price for affordable rent. However, that deal had no status and no validity. What the local...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I believe that public lands should be used for the benefit of the entire public, not just for social housing.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is an ideological view that public lands should only be used for one form of housing, ie, social housing. I believe that public lands should be used for the benefit of all of the public.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, for social housing for people on the housing list but also private housing for people to buy because people growing up in Dublin 7 and Dublin 1 want to be able to buy a place near to where they grew up-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and also affordable housing and cost rental as well. That is our position - delivery of all forms of housing on public land.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The ideological position is only to build one type of housing for one group of people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: To reassure the Deputy, and as I informed Deputy Micheál Martin earlier, this year between 10,000 and 11,000 homes will be added to the social housing stock in Ireland-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Nov 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----with two thirds to three quarters of those being new builds. More homes will be added to the social housing stock in Ireland than in any year this entire century. During the boom, during the bust, we did not build as many social houses as we are now. This is the biggest social housing programme in a generation.