Results 14,241-14,260 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I said, it is a matter for the Business Committee.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I should say the Minister for Justice and Equality is not available today.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to send the Deputy a brief explaining why the habitual residence condition needs to apply.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will have to acknowledge that when the Government that includes Fine Gael and Independents took office, just over 50% of premises in the country had access to high-speed broadband. That is over two thirds and will be at approximately 80% by the end of this year. Much progress is being made. On the national broadband scheme, we are down to one final bidder and that is currently...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I extend my sympathies to the family of Shane O'Farrell who have suffered such a terrible loss arising from the road traffic incident in 2011. We all know that his tragic loss of life could have been prevented and he would still be with us today had some avoidable errors and events not happened. We are also aware, sadly, that no investigation can bring Shane back. A Garda...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Often these investigations take time, and public inquiries and commissions of investigation also take many years.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Often they do not produce-----

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----the results or the outcome that people may want. We know this experience also. I understand that the investigation is now complete and the report has been received by the O'Farrell family, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner. GSOC intends to publish its report in the coming days. It is appropriate to allow this to happen so that people can read it...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----to determine whether there were breaches of the Garda-----

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----disciplinary code.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I assure the Deputy that Sláintecare is Government policy but it does require an implementation plan. It lacked such a plan and the Minister and the Government have been working on this for quite some time. I also assure Deputy Harty that the greatest vested interests in healthcare are not the HSE or the Department of Health. We can talk about this another time if the Deputy wishes. ...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Project Ireland 2040 sets aside €10 billion for investment in healthcare, building, equipment and ICT. These are just ten examples of implementation that are happening.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Sláintecare plan does not have an implementation plan. It is being developed by the Minister for Health and the Government. We have taken ten concrete actions already to implement it. Both of the Deputies are a little bit naive about losing the support and confidence of the medical profession. There are many members of the medical profession who are not very enthusiastic about...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There are many in the medical profession who are not very supportive of the proposal to extend free GP care to an extra 250,000 people per year. People are very naive if they think that the medical profession is fully behind this because it is not.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We propose to have a number of referendums concurrent with the presidential election, if there is one, in October of this year and a number of referendums concurrent with the local and European Union elections, which I believe will be held next May. We have a bit of time yet to agree the wording but that remains our plan.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I understand there is a dispute about the facts here. CervicalCheck believed that the information had been passed on to the patients because it had been passed on to their treating clinicians. We know now that in most cases the information was not passed on, but it was in some, whereas the State Claims Agency asserts that it was informed that the information had been passed on to all...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, you do.

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, was in touch with me this morning. He cannot be here as he is attending a conference but he mentioned to me that the Deputy might raise this matter and asked me to pass on two messages. Essentially, he is very supportive of the Bill. The Government believes it is a very good Bill and it is keen to work with the Deputy to have it enacted. The Minister has...

Leaders' Questions (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Perhaps the best way to progress the further passage of the Bill is for the Minister, Deputy Zappone, to meet with spokespeople in the coming days to see if we can resolve some of the issues. There are a number of quite complex technical issues and the Minister would be very willing to brief spokespeople on them. Tusla already operates an adoption information and tracing service and does it...

Leaders' Questions (30 May 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I have said in response to others, the Deputy is absolutely right in his second point. As Fergus Finlay said this morning, this does not come as a surprise because people have been aware of illegal registrations and illegal adoptions in Ireland for a very long time, perhaps longer than 20 years. The number of people who participated in it, often the receiving parents, must add up to tens...