Results 11,701-11,720 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. There are a lot of Cabinet meetings. I very much believe in Cabinet Government, collective responsibility and including all Ministers in decision-making.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: That is the best way, particularly when there is only a small number of Independents at the table. The best way to include them in decision-making is to make all the big decisions at Cabinet meetings when they are present.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: They would not all be present at every Cabinet meeting. The best way to ensure a cohesive Government - with everyone present when the big decisions are made - is to make them at Cabinet meetings when every Minister is present. I really did not like the Economic Management Council, EMC, system which operated under the previous Government. I appreciate that two former members of the EMC are...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I very much disliked it because it created an inner Cabinet made up of members who made decisions. They bounced them at the last minute on the whole Cabinet, without an opportunity for due consideration. Documents of 20 or 30 pages would often arrive in front of Ministers at 1.10 p.m. on a Tuesday. That is no longer the practice in this Government.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is a vast improvement on what we had in the previous Government where collective decision-making is concerned. Everyone is actually involved in making the decision. People get papers before the meeting happens rather than big decisions being made at the last minute, often following a diktat from the EMC and its members. Cabinet meets once a week, sometimes more frequently. We will have...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----on a hip, an eye or a cataract or for a knee replacement was at a four-year or five-year low. It went up in January as a consequence of the time lost around the nurses' strike and it will go up in February too for the same reason. In March, it will once again be on a downward trajectory. That means that most public patients waiting for an operation or procedure in Ireland now wait...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions and their interest in this matter. The project is being led by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, OGCIO. That is not in my Department, so I have only a limited knowledge and role in this matter. That role relates largely to my Department’s website migrating over to www.mygov.ie.Turning to public opinion research, that is...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is not happening at present.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is suspended.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I announced it several months ago. I am not sure whether it is international best practice but I will dig out the evidence and provide it to Deputies.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It seems to be common sense to have a single website for an organisation with different departments.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Many large organisations, such as RTÉ, have different-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----departments. I do not think each department has its own website. The same applies to most organisations that are broken down into different departments: they have a single website and the different departments are accessed within that. The same applies to universities. It makes sense, particularly with www.mygov.iebeing developed and more people using it. About 250,000 have their...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It goes back to a Government Department.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, that is correct.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have a figure. It is not my Department.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: It is the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 13, inclusive, together. I chaired a meeting of Cabinet committee D, which deals with infrastructure, on 31 January and a meeting of Cabinet committee B, social policy and public services, on 21 February. Cabinet committee D works to ensure a coordinated approach to the delivery of work and the ongoing development of policy across the areas of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Appointments to State Boards (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: With regard to circular 12/10, while I may have clarified this last week, I am happy to do so again. It has been clarified that the responsibility is to report to the line Minister of the Department under which the board is established, not the Department in which the relevant public servant works. For example, if it is a health board, the responsibility is to the Minister for Health, and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Websites (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, together. Departments are currently represented online by multiple distinct websites and platforms, each providing different visual styles and user experience. A Government decision was taken in December 2017 to migrate all primary Department websites to one single portal, gov.ie. This aligns with international best practice. Gov.iehas...