Results 13,381-13,400 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Once approved, it will be one of the biggest investments in rural Ireland that has ever taken place, providing high-speed broadband to over 500,000 homes, farms and businesses across rural Ireland This huge investment in rural Ireland will allow people to access more services online. It will also allow business in rural areas to flourish and to embrace the online and digital economy. Since...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and the tender was not discussed. The minutes show that no official from the national broadband division was in attendance, which is an important fact and that it was not a meeting arranged to discuss the NBP. The engagement in question took place in a social setting and the engagement on the NBP lasted no more than ten minutes, with Mr. McCourt directing his comments to the officials...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is a single bidder so competition is not a factor here. Furthermore, the meeting took place on 16 July, when the evaluation stage had not yet commenced. The evaluation stage commenced on 18 September 2018 when the final tender document was submitted to the Department. The minutes of this meeting have been published.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Ministerial Communications (9 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of the Taoiseach has an ICT Policy which stipulates that where personal email accounts are used for business purposes, due regard must be taken of the sensitivity and confidentiality of the information being transmitted. The ICT Policy further requires that, where personal email accounts are used for business purposes, a copy of any record created must be retained in an...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Official Engagements (9 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Secretary General of my Department attended the 2018 Ryder Cup for one day at the invitation of the European Tour. The purpose of his attendance was to discuss the possibility of the hosting of a future Ryder Cup in Ireland. The European Tour requested that the meeting would be held at Le Golf National in Paris on one of the three days of the Ryder Cup, in order to illustrate the scale of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Gender Equality (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: No.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Gender Equality (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It will have to be brought to the Cabinet first.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Gender Equality (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure who Deputy Burton was referring to as being male, pale or stale. I am definitely not pale. When we talk about gender equality and gender diversity, whether in politics, the workplace or in any field of life, I do not think it is right to be diminutive or dismissive of anyone based on their gender, pallor or level of experience. I hope that when we talk about these issues, we...

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies very much for their questions. The confidence and supply agreement is an agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It has no expiry date as such but it has always been understood to last three budgets. The budget is taking place next week. There is also provision for a review before the end of this year, and we are now very much into the fourth quarter of this...

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----in comparison with last year. There are more doctors working in our public health service than ever before. Pay restoration is happening across the public service for more than 100,000 people. All those things cost money.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Waiting times are falling. There has been a significant fall in the number of people waiting for angiograms or for operations or procedures on hips, eyes, knees, cataracts and skin lesions. The number has fallen by more than 10,000 since this time last year. The average patient is now waiting less than six months for those operations.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is because money is being spent-----

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----on the National Treatment Purchase Fund and other things, including both insourcing and outsourcing.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is having a result. Free GP care has also been extended to carers because carers need to be cared for too. Medical cards are now a right for children with profound disabilities who are in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance regardless of their parents' income. That was resisted in the past but this Government decided to do it. Additional hospital beds are also being provided....

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----there have been fewer people waiting on trolleys. The nurses' figures suggest that was true last month, but not for the other months. Certainly hundreds of people fewer were spending time on trolleys this summer compared with last. These are among the reasons the Department of Health is running over budget. On tax, it is important to give the full picture. The Comptroller and...

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Approximately 30% of people, those on the lowest incomes, pay no income tax at all. He says that it is certainly not fundamentally flawed but that it does give rise to issues around so-called high-worth individuals. The Government is going to examine loopholes and reliefs to see what we can do to close any legal loopholes that are being abused or to take away reliefs that are allowing...

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----because he makes his income in the US. There would be many examples of people-----

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is just one obvious example of someone who owns property or has wealth in Ireland and who does not pay income tax here because he does not earn any income in Ireland and lives in a different country. He earns his income elsewhere. It is important that we not be misleading about these things.

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is also a difference between wealth and income. It is possible to own land or a business that is worth many billions of euro and not derive-----

Ceisteanna (Atógáíl) - Questions (Resumed): Programme for Government Review (3 Oct 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----an income-----