Results 10,681-10,700 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

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

Leo Varadkar: I will revert to the Deputy before the end of the day with a further update on the matter.

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

Leo Varadkar: I agree with the Deputy on one point, namely, that providing home help is the right thing to do, which is why the Government has increased funding for home help by 50% in the past three or four years. On the occasion to which the Deputy referred, I was responding to an argument I often hear made, namely, that not funding home help is some sort of false economy because it then leads to higher...

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

Leo Varadkar: It is somewhat curious that the Deputy's solution to overspending by the HSE or in the health budget is to spend a little more. It is not just today but nearly every day and every week that Deputy McDonald or the Sinn Féin Party has another suggestion as to how we can overspend or breach budgets by even more. Whatever about the shortcomings that this Government may have, is it not a...

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

Leo Varadkar: On resolving this dispute, and I believe it can be resolved, what is needed is engagement between the employer and the unions. That can happen and has happened already under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. It can potentially happen now under the auspices of the Labour Court. The Government is very aware of the important role that support staff play in the health...

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

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure if there was a question in there but it is worth pointing out in the first instance that all of the staff involved in this dispute are receiving pay increases this year. It is pay restoration in some cases and pay increases in most cases. This dispute is about additional pay increases on top of those pay increases they are receiving under the public service stability...

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

Leo Varadkar: I have no difficulty with the Deputy raising questions. This is a parliament, a democracy and the place where the Leader of the Opposition asks questions and it is where I answer them. I am very happy to answer his questions but I think he needs to be a bit less querulous, less sensitive and much less precious. It is entirely reasonable for me to point out the hypocrisy of the position of...

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

Leo Varadkar: When it comes to concern about low-paid workers I would like to once again point out the hypocrisy and two-faced nature of Fianna Fáil's position. It is the party that cut the minimum wage.

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

Leo Varadkar: We have increased it four times. Fianna Fáil is the party that brought in the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, and slashed the pay of low-paid workers.

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

Leo Varadkar: It is entirely reasonable for me to point out the hypocrisy and two-facedness of the kind of positions that the Deputy and his party take. Getting back to the substantive issue of the threatened strike tomorrow, which it is important to talk about, as I said yesterday, the Government does not want this strike to happen. We are willing to work with the unions through the industrial...

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

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy made a very serious allegation. Perhaps he did not realise that. He did not make it against me, the Government or the HSE but against the Labour Court. He suggested that somehow it was possible for the Government to fix an outcome of the Labour Court or in some way seek to fix an outcome of the Labour Court. The Deputy knows better than that. The Labour Court is an independent...

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

Leo Varadkar: -----and they act independently and judiciously. To suggest that they would ever co-operate or somehow be involved in fixing an outcome is wrong and the Deputy should withdraw it.

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

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Martin should calm down.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Protected Disclosures Data (19 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides a robust statutory framework which aims to provide protections to whistleblowers who raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing in their workplace. In line with the Act, my Department has a policy on Protected Disclosures which sets out the procedure by which an employee can make a disclosure, what will happen when a disclosure is made,...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Offices (19 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: My Department does not rent, lease or hire any office space. The properties occupied by my Department and the National Economic and Social Development Office are provided and managed by the Office of Public Works. The National Economic and Social Development Office pays a contribution to the OPW of €322,329 per annum for its office space, with €241,746 paid to date in 2019.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens Assembly (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Another matter is the electrification of the railways. I know that the contribution that will make to improving air quality is small but there are other advantages to it too. Those are just a few examples of what is in train.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens Assembly (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 to 18, inclusive, together. The Government recently agreed that a Citizens’ Assembly be convened to bring forward proposals to advance gender equality that challenge the remaining barriers, social norms and attitudes that facilitate gender discrimination towards girls and boys, women and men; in particular, to seek to ensure women's full and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens Assembly (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions, which I will do my best to answer. In terms of an indicative timeline, we all appreciate that these things can change but the indicative timeline at the moment would be for the preliminary work on the Citizens' Assembly on gender equality to start immediately. We will want to put a resolution to both Houses before that, which we propose to do in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. Some of the questions are really questions for President Trump rather than me. I will do my best to answer the questions that I can answer and perhaps a mechanism can be found to pass on the other questions to President Trump through the Office of the Ceann Comhairle.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: He is arriving next month. I am glad that position has now been ratified by the US Senate and that the new ambassador will arrive in advance of 4 July. To answer the questions from Deputy Micheál Martin, I am not aware of any Government spending at properties owned by Donald Trump or the Trump organisation, either in Ireland or the US. I have met President Trump three times now,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (18 Jun 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I have explained on a number of occasions why EU membership is good for Ireland and why Brexit is bad for the UK, bad for Ireland and bad for the EU. I have also explained the peace process and a hard border, what that would mean and why we are doing all we can to avoid it. The issue of climate change was raised but his focus was more on air quality. He was keen to point out that, at least...