Results 10,081-10,100 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----in the health budget but that would not have been possible, had it not been for how well the economy has been managed by the Government in recent years. For the Deputy's information, approximately 1.27% of the health budget next year will go on the children's hospital, with 98% on everything else. On the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, some sections relating to promotions and advertising...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will. We are keen to address minimum unit pricing in 2020 but we have a genuine concern about cross-Border trade. It is a real concern-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----if one lives along the Border or retails along the Border.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Little is achieved for public health if people just cross the Border and buy cheap alcohol in the North. We want everyone to do it at the same time. It has been done in Scotland, but it is not capable of being done in Northern Ireland because of the problems there.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: However, a second point that is valid is what the Deputy did not acknowledge is that for the poorest in our society, we have increased welfare payments. There is a €5 a week increase for those living alone - 250,000 people will get that increase. They are protected from inflation. That increase will be double the rate of inflation next year. For the poorest families, we have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: For families working on low pay, we have increased the working family payment and the lone parent disregards. The poorest families, those living alone and those on welfare with children have been protected.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that some have not but taking the four budgets in the round we have increased the weekly rate of the pension and the weekly rate of welfare payments by three or four times the rate of inflation. I am proud to have led a Government that did that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of the various anonymous briefings we are reading of in the newspapers about me, Ireland and Chancellor Merkel and I do not want to make much response to anonymous briefings of that nature. I do not think much of anonymous briefings, whether from Downing Street or from my own ranks. If people want to brief, they should do so publicly and openly. There has not been any change to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I read the article written by the Green Party leaders in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago. I thought they made a helpful and constructive suggestion and their case was well made. We do, however, need to bear in mind that referendums are unusual tools in politics and sometimes when it comes to a referendum, people do not necessarily answer the question that is being asked. One concern we...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy and her party are not serious about climate action, and the same applies to the far left. She proposes solutions that make no difference because they are not unpopular, yet she will not support climate action that might be unpopular because it works. It is an entirely cynical and hypocritical approach to climate action to only support actions that do not make a difference because...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and see how left-wing and populist politics is actually anti-environment and how Sinn Féin is trying to hijack their movement to promote a philosophy that is profoundly anti-environment. What we are doing by increasing the carbon tax and setting a trajectory to reach €80 per tonne is saying that while the tax will rise, we will ring-fence it. We have ring-fenced it to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We have no plans for a supplementary budget or an emergency budget. The budget was framed on there being a no-deal Brexit, with the economy growing by only 0.7% next year as opposed to 5.5%, which was the rate this year. Since this is the budget that protects Ireland from the worst consequences of no deal, there will be no need for a supplementary budget or an emergency budget next year. ...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Let me say a final word. Deputy Howlin mentioned the term "austerity" and seemed to suggest that, in some way, the budget produced yesterday was an austerity budget. He and I know what austerity budgets are like. He and I had to bring in austerity budgets.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: He and I had to talk about how much we were going to take out of the health budget when he was Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and I was the Minister for Health. This is not an austerity budget.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We are increasing expenditure on services and public infrastructure by €3.3 billion next year. This is more than an extra €1 billion for health services alone. This is not an austerity budget; it really is not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy should start by withdrawing the nonsense in his question.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We introduced a measure in relation to the bank levy only last night, and I know the Deputy is supportive of it. He mad a point that is worth answering, on the fact that there being no increase in weekly welfare payments and pensions in the budget means they will not keep up with inflation. That is a fair point and that is true but I have two points to make to the Deputy with respect to it....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I absolutely agree that the fact that the tobacco industry is involved in producing, marketing and selling this equipment is a cause for concern. It does appear to me as well that young people are being targeted through advertising, through flavoured devices and products and through colours. It has all the hallmarks of what we saw before with flavoured cigarettes, the type of advertising...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid the Deputy is just wrong on this. She is out of touch with the facts and the science. She is out of touch when it comes to the enormous demand from people across Ireland, particularly younger people, that we should take action when it comes to climate change. I do not think for a second that increasing any tax is ever going to be popular or welcomed but sometimes it is the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: This is what the ESRI research says. If the Deputy does not want to believe me, he should listen to the facts, the experts and the scientists. The ESRI research indicates that an increase in carbon tax will cost the poorest households about €44 a year. The increase in the fuel allowance is €56 a year so in fact the poorest one fifth of households in Ireland are actually...