Results 15,181-15,200 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If I am not shouted down, I would like to answer some of the questions.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If I am not shouted down, I would like to answer some of the questions.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is interesting that people who demand answers to questions will never allow one to answer them.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The decision to establish a strategic communications unit in the Department of the Taoiseach to modernise, professionalise and streamline Government communications was made by the Global Irish Forum in 2011. The decision to do so was first announced to the Dáil in February 2013 by the former Deputy and then Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore. It was not followed through on at that point....

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As a result, there are hundreds of external consultancies and these are very expensive. There are too many websites, logos and little empires. Ireland is an outlier when compared to other European countries in this regard. The idea was to streamline things; that is all. It was not to centralise everything in the Department of the Taoiseach. There was no proposal that specialist...

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Rather, the intention was to collapse dozens of websites into one, namely, gov.ie, to train-up a dedicated press corps across the public service, to develop a single identity for the Government, which is the Government of Ireland, to run cross-Government information campaigns - such as Healthy Ireland, the campaign relating to the self-employed and others - and to empower the Government to...

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that the unit that I set up to better explain how Government works and what it does has now become a distraction from the work of the Government. I appreciate that mistakes were made, that controls were too loose and as a result, problems arose. For that reason, the unit is under review. The Secretary General is undertaking that review and will conclude before Easter.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is welcome that Deputy Micheál Martin has unequivocally dissociated himself from the remarks made by Deputy Marc MacSharry. I am disappointed that Deputy Joan Burton did not do so also. She specifically referred to remarks made in the House. The remarks of Deputy Alan Kelly were made on the "Morning Ireland" RTÉ radio programme rather than in the House and I am sorry that she...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There will be ample opportunities between now and the next Question Time for the Deputy to listen to the radio interview she claims not to have heard or to read the coverage of it which she claims she has not seen. It is to be hoped there will be time between now and next Tuesday or Wednesday for her to inform herself of what her deputy leader said, reflect on it and, it is to be hoped, do...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On the basic rules and principles that should apply, I have made it clear that any commercial content should be clearly identifiable as having been sponsored and as commercial content.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have made that instruction clear to the staff of my Department. If it needs to be made clearer, so be it. Such content may need to state it is a sponsored advertisement or an advertorial. I have no difficulty with that. I have previously stated a person being interviewed for a commercial feature should be told that is the case.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: None of the interviews was carried out by me or the staff of my Department

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As a matter of general policy, that should be the case. I have no control over such issues when the interviews are not carried out by me or my staff but rather by third parties. On the content of the advertorials, as I stated, the only information provided by my Department was the factual information contained in the national development plan. No persons were put forward by us for...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ------I can only give truthful answers.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Does Deputy Martin associate himself with it?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Does Deputy Martin disassociate himself from it?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Nearly, every minute, I-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: For context, there is no election on and there is no election campaign. We may all be candidates but I am not aware of any plans for an election anytime soon unless somebody else does. I understand from the newspapers - this may or may not be correct - that Fianna Fáil has lodged a complaint with the Standards in Public Office Commission and another party has lodged a complaint with...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition, the leader of Fianna Fáil, said he had no problem with advertising so long as it is identifiable. I agree with that and it has been. I see the analysis that was carried out of the regional newspaper advertorials by The Irish Timestoday, which showed that 20 out of 20 contained a strapline stating that this was done in partnership with Project...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Communications (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----the Transport 21 campaign and the e-voting campaign, all of which were approved by a previous Government. I note from the Deputy's comments that he does not have a difficulty with officeholders appearing in advertorials. This, indeed, was done in the NDP advertorials - in fact much more frequently than any of these advertorials. The complaint seems to be that some of the content -...