Results 14,021-14,040 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is curious and interesting that Sinn Féin now agrees with the fiscal rules when that party campaigned only a few years ago against the fiscal treaty, just as it campaigned against the Single Market and just as it campaigned against Ireland joining the European Union in the first place. I do not know whether it is just that one cannot believe Sinn Féin or whether it has really...

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: All of a sudden, it is a pro-European party committed to fiscal rectitude and the fiscal rules, even though it opposed the nine referendums which brought them about. I do not know whether one simply cannot believe them or whether we should believe them and accept that the party is very good at admitting when it is wrong, which is most of the time.

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: What I say to those families is that they should be very afraid of Sinn Féin.

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Sinn Féin's policy, at the worst possible time in the economic cycle, is to borrow more and increase debt, which will lead to a new financial crisis and a further economic downturn. The people who suffer the most during a downturn are the very people the Deputy is talking about.

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: First, I thank Deputy Martin for raising this very important issue. I also join him in thanking HIQA for doing this very thorough statutory investigation and doing it in just over a year, which is reasonably timely for a statutory investigation. I also want to commend the Minister, Deputy Zappone, for taking the initiative of commissioning this report in the first place. The Government...

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is important to stress the report is very clear that appropriate and timely action was taken where children were identified as being at risk of harm but, due to various failures in the way systems are managed, children at potential risk may have been missed, which is a very serious finding. It is also important to acknowledge that the report comments positively on the strategic direction...

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have increased resources for Tusla by €40 million-----

Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and also brought in mandatory reporting of child abuse, which had been promised for so long. Why would we ever want to go back to what was there before?

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Online Safety (20 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Action Plan for Online Safety being developed by a cross-Government team is well advanced. I expect it to be submitted to Government in the coming weeks for approval and publication.

Apology for Persons Convicted of Consensual Same-Sex Sexual Acts: Motion (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I move:That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that the laws repealed in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 that criminalised consensual sexual activity between men:— were improperly discriminatory, contrary to human dignity and an infringement of personal privacy and autonomy; — caused multiple harms to those directly and indirectly affected, namely men who engaged...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I have said before, I favour the politics of engagement rather than the politics of boycott or the politics of no platform. It is better to engage with people one disagrees with than to refuse to speak to them. If we are to get any outcome at all or any positive result, it is best done through engagement. We all have to talk to people all the time with whom we do not necessarily agree-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----or with whom we radically disagree on occasion. Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about the decriminalisation of cannabis. Canada has voted to do that and it plans to do it by next September. I am aware that a number of US states have legalised cannabis, all the way down the west coast in places such as Oregon, Washington state and Colorado. The predictions from those who opposed the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: This is being worked on by the Minister for Health. The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 was rejected at the Joint Committee on Health which decided the proposed legislation was not fit for purpose and should not go forward. Amendments have been promised, but the last time I checked with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, the amendments that had been promised from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It does not appear in the document, as published, but Global Ireland 2025 is costed. I gave the figure at the launch event. The plan is costed at €300 million. That is not in one year. That is €300 million increasing incrementally every year until it reaches €300 million in 2027. The expenditure will not necessarily be exactly one eighth of the total every year, if...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is a target to double our exports to the eurozone. There is a target to double the number of international students studying in Ireland. There is a specific target around tourism to treble the revenue coming from the new markets in the Gulf and Asia. I do not think Deputies need to be concerned about implementation. This is something that I am going to drive. My Department and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: No. Those ESRI projections do not relate to social housing. They relate to total house builds.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is mistaken about the content of both the capital plan and the ESRI report, unfortunately.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy put down a question on it that would help. I do not think cannabis was the question.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Global Footprint Initiative (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 14, inclusive, and 99 together. On Monday, 11 June I launched Global Ireland,the Government's strategy to double the scope and impact of Ireland's global footprint by 2025. This represents the most ambitious renewal and expansion of Ireland’s international presence ever undertaken. Investing in our international presence in this way will enable...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (19 Jun 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea was a good meeting. We now have an EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement in place which has been very successful and has helped us to increase trade between the two countries. The Republic of Korea is now the ninth largest trading country in the world and offers considerable opportunities for Ireland, particularly in the context of the free trade...