Results 10,141-10,160 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy always shouts a Minister down when he knows that he himself as not quite told the full truth. The €3.7 million being saved due to this change is being put back into disability services, specifically to provide 140 additional full day placements for people with disabilities who need them and 370 enhanced day places. The reallocation is ending an inequality and putting more...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: At the Deputy knows, the number of SNAs has been dramatically increased by this Government. We now invest as much in special needs education as we do in higher education, and there has been a significant increase in resources in that area. I do not have any information on the schools the Deputy mentioned. If the Deputy wants to raise the matter with the Minister for Education and Skills, I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I think I answered this question yesterday and today. Perhaps I can elaborate a little on what I said earlier. The purpose of the strategic housing development scheme is to speed up the planning process. If somebody wants to build an apartment block or a housing estate, there is a two-step process. When one submits a planning application to the council, people can make observations on it....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: They are houses and apartments, or whatever the Deputies want to call them.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is making two assumptions that may not be correct. First, he is assuming that if the developers had gone through the old two-step process, somehow these dwellings - homes, houses or whatever you want to call them - would be under construction. He is assuming that, but he does not have evidence to back it up. Second, he is saying that landowners and builders use the fast-track...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up question. This fast-track planning process has already resulted in 6,000 new homes being built, with another 10,000 to come. They are some of the 45,000 new homes that have been built since I became Taoiseach.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There is already a one-step planning process for social housing. It is called Part 8. It is not necessary to bring in a one-step planning process for social housing because that already exists and has existed for many decades. Only private housing had to go through the two-step process. There is a one-step process for social housing, and it is called Part 8. We are now well into the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Having come from a base of almost nothing, we are now up to over 10,000 every year. The vast majority of them are new-builds by local authorities and housing associations.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I promise not to overrun.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Government has committed to reopening Fitzgibbon Street Garda station. I do not know the reason for the delay. I will find out and get back to the Deputy in the next 48 hours. It will be reopened. It is not the opening of Garda stations that reduces crime, rather it is gardaí on the streets. The number on the streets has increased not only in Dublin but also all over the rest of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I absolutely agree with the Deputy that the banking sector owes a huge debt to the people but he might be getting his history a little muddled. With respect, he is confusing the bank guarantee with the bank bailout. It is indeed the case that his party opposed the bank guarantee. There were two bank bailouts, however. There was the bailout carried out by Fianna Fáil when in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Really, no.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am of the view that the cap on bankers' pay should remain in place. I have said that previously. We have recovered all the money from Bank of Ireland. We will in time recover all the money from Allied Irish Banks. It will not be possible to recover the money that was put into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide because those institutions were dead. I do not believe anyone will ever...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I did. I am explaining the decision now. Those banks were bust and the consequence of the guarantee was to protect the savings of Irish people and Irish businesses. In countries where a different course of action was followed, such as Iceland and Cyprus, it was not just the bondholders who lost their money. Savers did also. That is what would have happened here.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. As I said earlier, it is entirely reasonable to look back on a policy change after three or four years to see if it was successful or not. We know that 16,000 homes were given fast-track planning permission through this process.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I need to study the research but I have not seen whether the authors looked at a counterfactual analysis or at whether developments that went through the old process commenced at a faster rate. The Deputy is right to point out that I have been in government since 2011 but he has been in Government too. Let us not forget that. Let us not forget his party's record when it comes to housing....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The reason we have a housing crisis in this country-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----is that Fianna Fáil broke the banks and the construction industry and bankrupted the Government.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We had a seven-year period during which almost no new homes were built in this State. There should have been approximately 200,000 houses built during that seven-year period, but none was built. That is why we have a housing crisis.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Oct 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The responsibility for that lies with the Deputy's party in government. It broke the banks, the construction industry and public policy.