Results 14,941-14,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I would hate to suggest Deputy Burton does not need to hear the reply before she asks her supplementary question.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 26, inclusive, together. I attended the European Council in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, 22 and 23 March. On Thursday, we discussed jobs, growth and competitiveness, touching on the Single Market, digital Single Market, capital markets union, the European semester, economic and monetary union and social issues. Given recent events, the need...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. The nature of these meetings is such that they tend to last approximately 35 to 40 minutes. In that period one may want to raise 20 matters and one tries to get through as many as possible. Often one can get through a lot, sometimes not so many. As the meetings to which the Deputies referred were neither recorded nor televised, I appreciate that...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----than that of the leaders in Congress, who are more for free trade and free enterprise. I very much gave my view that I would prefer for us to have a trade deal rather than a trade war and that we should have a free trade agreement, FTA, between the EU and the United States. President Trump did not dismiss this out of hand; he was actually quite open to it. This was one of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together. The questions take up three pages. My St. Patrick’s Day programme ran from 11 to 17 March, during which time I visited Texas, Oklahoma, Washington DC and New York. I had courtesy calls with Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, and Oklahoma Governor, Mary Fallin, in both cases discussing the deepening of links between the US...

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On a commercial basis, broadband is being rolled out across the country at a reasonably rapid rate at this stage and we should have passed approximately 75% of homes and premises later this year. As to the last 500,000 premises in rural Ireland, it remains our expectation to have that contract concluded this year.

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I ask the Deputy to accept the recommendations in the Dunning report, which provides us with a pathway whereby we can ensure that legislation is of sufficient quality to advance.

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If Deputies are unwilling to accept the Dunning report, they should accept alternative proposals. I understand the Ceann Comhairle has been working on those.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Noel Grealish for raising this important matter and for the constructive suggestion he put forward. I am advised that the Saolta University Health Care Group, which runs the hospitals in the west, is working with the HSE to examine the potential for a new day-services hospital block at Merlin Park. As the House will be aware, Project Ireland 2040 provides for ten new...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In fairness, a ten-year plan does not mean everything happens in year ten; it means that things will happen-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----over the course of a ten-year period. The Deputy will be aware that the new 75-bed, state-of-the-art ward block in Galway is now open. The construction of the new acute mental health unit in Galway is now complete. That is ready to open. When it comes to radiation oncology for people suffering from cancer, enabling works, including the demolition of the old mental health unit, are...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is merit in the suggestion. It does work. It works in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. Why would it not work in Galway, therefore? I will certainly appraise the proposal and discuss it with the Minister for Health and HSE.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will talk about what we can do about this, because I think we are largely in agreement that we need to take action in this area to support victims and ensure the perpetrators receive sentences they should receive. We can work together as parties in two ways. First, there is the Judicial Council Bill 2017, which Deputy McDonald mentioned. It is before the Seanad currently. It proposes to...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Yesterday was a busy day for Government. As on every Tuesday when the Dáil is in session we had a Cabinet meeting. There were 31 items on the Cabinet agenda yesterday, so many items that we had to have a morning meeting and an evening meeting. The items ranged from the Collins report to the discussion on Russia to abortion legislation, so while the Opposition may be obsessed with...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In the first instance, it is worth pointing out that for the last few quarters the CSO would not publish crime statistics. It is an independent agency and it rightly upholds statistical standards. It did not publish them for several quarters because it did not feel it could do so, given the quality of those statistics. The CSO is now in a position to produce statistics under a new category...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that much more needs to be done in the areas mentioned, whether in child mental health services or housing. The rising number of homeless children distresses us all and requires us to focus even more on the work that we do as a Government. One of the major investments we are making in the area of housing other than building houses - and it will be many years before our housing...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have not seen that letter, but there was an article on the front page of The Irish Timesduring the week which I believe covered the case the Deputy is referring to. I read that article. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed on any individual, whether on a man or a woman, and it is particularly serious and egregious when that crime is perpetrated by a husband, wife...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I cannot agree with the Deputy's thesis and assessment regarding this Government's commitment to children and our response to the needs of children and the need to support their families. I would argue that the needs of children are actually at the heart of what the Government does. We invest in children because we know it makes sense; investment in children gives them...

Leaders' Questions (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have introduced free GP care for all children under six. The National Children's Hospital, promised again and again by previous Governments and previous Ministers for Health, is now under construction. The third storey is up on the satellite unit in Blanchardstown. Child poverty is falling again, at least according to the CSO's survey on income and living conditions , having risen a...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff Data (28 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As at 31 December 2017, 4.6% of the staff of my Department (or 4.8% when expressed in whole time equivalent terms) voluntarily and confidentially disclosed a disability. This exceeds the minimum requirement of 3% for public sector organisations set down in the Disability Act, 2005.