Results 12,921-12,940 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: We all agree that tackling climate change requires a suite of measures that must all tie in together and speak to each other. It has to be about tax and regulation, but also investment. We have set out a large part of the investment piece in Project Ireland 2040, but that will only bring us about one third of the way to meeting our targets for 2030. It will involve measures such as...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The model proposed in Canada is very similar to the one Deputy Ryan is suggesting. The Deputy set out a trajectory for increasing carbon tax by certain increments up to 2030 to reach an agreed price, perhaps something like €80 per tonne, which is the amount suggested by the Climate Change Advisory Council.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: However, any revenues gained from the carbon tax would then be given back to the people in the form of tax credits and welfare. I think this is what the Deputy is suggesting and it is something to which I would be well disposed. We need to do the numbers.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Bruton, are working on that now.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The best way to get it done would be to agree it on a cross-party basis because that would take the politics out of the issue. Let us not be dishonest in any way about what a carbon tax means. It means that it will be more expensive for people to fill their cars with diesel or petrol. It will increase the cost of transport for the haulage industry, have impacts on agriculture and make it...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I agree that it is and will be an enormous challenge to meet our 2030 targets. We are starting at a pretty bad point because we did not meet our 2020 targets. The economic challenges we faced seven, eight or nine years ago were also huge. People were talking then about endless austerity and saying Ireland would never get out of austerity. They were talking about defaulting on our debts...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: People were saying we would have long-term unemployment for very long periods. However, we are now in a very different place. We have full employment, balanced books, a national debt which is decreasing, and an economy that is resulting in increased living standards for great numbers of people. When I compared this issue with the unemployment crisis and the Action Plan for Jobs, I was...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Instead of the old politics of "he said, you said, she said", let me now join with Deputy Ryan-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----and ask the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin whether they will sign up to a price for carbon in 2030-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----whether they will agree to a trajectory to increase carbon taxes over that period and whether they will agree to the principle that it will all be paid back through tax credits and welfare.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I have not read the report, nor seen it, nor has it been brought to Cabinet, so I am impressed that Deputy Wallace has. I imagine the Deputy would have come to his conclusions about whether it was a whitewash or not before he read it. I will read it and form my own opinion on it once I have. I am advised by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that the report will be brought to Cabinet this...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The Deputy and I will agree that we need both legislation and enforcement because only the laws that exist can be enforced, and if the laws are deficient or do not exist, obviously they cannot be enforced. It requires a combination of actions. I have given the Deputy examples of some of the legislation that we have brought through just in the past year to crack down on white-collar crime,...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Is Deputy Ryan talking to himself again?
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is entirely reasonable for a political party-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is entirely reasonable for a political party to set out its policy on income tax over five years.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Where is the policy on income tax and carbon tax from Fianna Fáil? I have not seen one. Where is the five year policy on income tax and carbon tax from Sinn Féin? It is entirely reasonable-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: We are probably the only party that is actually ahead in terms of setting out the trajectory.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: We are working on that at the moment and a time will come when we are willing-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----and ready to put forward a trajectory for increases in carbon tax. As I said at the weekend, if we are going to increase carbon taxes, which we need to do if we are serious about reducing emissions, we should follow the model being pursued in Canada, where the money is given back to people in the form of tax credits and welfare.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I remind Deputy McDonald and the House that we have a public sector pay deal, not just with nurses but with all public servants. That pay deal was only negotiated and agreed a few months ago and its cost is €400 million this year, another €400 million next year and €650 million the year after that. The deal comes at considerable expense to the taxpayer, is about at the...