Results 15,261-15,280 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (28 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I said that I would not offer a blank cheque in such circumstances and I did not do so. Second, some of the Members opposite were among those who made the constructive suggestion that we should pay a double week of the fuel allowance. I did not dismiss that. The record of the Dáil will show that I said I would endeavour to speak about the matter to the Ministers for Employment Affairs...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: For clarity, I will restate the fact that the commission is an independent commission of inquiry. My Department has an administrative role but does not run the commission. It is not operating as our creature in any way, so I am not in a position to answer questions that can only be answered by Mr. Justice Cregan, who is heading up the commission. It is, as Deputies will be aware,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It will work yet. I noted the speech made yesterday by Mr. Jeremy Corbyn on the customs union and his proposal that the United Kingdom negotiate a new customs union arrangement with the European Union. He put a caveat on it by saying the United Kingdom would still wish to have certain state aids. That would be a problem if, say, a pet food factory in Wales, receiving state aid, wanted...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It was the case, however, that the questions were almost the same. That is why they were grouped together.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is interesting that the Deputy should say that because Parliamentary Question No. 3, in his name, asks about both Northern Ireland and Brexit. Perhaps he might not put Brexit and Northern Ireland in the same question in the future.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 18 together. Following consultations with the Opposition parties by the then Minister for Finance, the commission of investigation into IBRC was established in June 2015. Mr. Justice Brian Cregan, a judge of the High Court, is the commission's sole member. In November 2015 the commission made determinations that banker-client confidentiality...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will reply to as many questions as I can. First, I thank Deputy Burton for her good wishes as we enter the next and very intensive phase of Brexit negotiations in phase two. Regarding the delegation at Stormont, the Irish delegation included Sarah McGrath, the director of Northern Ireland political affairs, but she was not in the particular photograph in which the Deputy took such a deep...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, would attend as well, particularly when EU affairs are being discussed. EU affairs were being discussed but due to the short notice for that meeting they had other business to which they had to attend. As regards the photograph, this might be a revelation for Deputy Burton but perhaps I do not spend as much time concerning myself with photographs...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I have explained on many occasions, the SCU runs public information campaigns and trains civil servants. It does not travel with me-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----to Belfast, Europe or elsewhere. That is not its remit. It does not seem to matter how many times I explain the remit of the unit. People still wish to imagine that it is doing everything from taking photographs to running my Twitter account-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----which it obviously does not. With regard to my presence at Stormont, I was there because the Prime Minister was there. She was keen to visit Belfast. She visited Shorts and then joined the talks. There is a protocol for these matters. I had other plans for the day. As Members know, the First Minister of Wales was in town and I was due to meet him and do some other things. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As Deputy McDonald correctly said, it was initiated by the British side and once it decided that the Prime Minister was going to attend we thought it appropriate that I should attend as well. It was understood at that point that the two major parties had reached an accommodation, even though everything may not have been signed off at that stage.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I met her there at the event. It would not be the norm for me to have an engagement with another Head of Government about whether I am going to meet him or her the next day. That is not the way it works.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: That is done at official level-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----and, of course, there was engagement at official level. The current position with the talks is that both Governments have asked the parties to pause for reflection. We think that is advisable at this stage. As I mentioned earlier, the Brexit negotiations are going to enter a very intense phase over the next couple of weeks. It starts with the publication of the withdrawal agreement...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together. I met British Prime Minister May on Monday, 12 February, in Belfast. We were joined in our meeting by the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, and the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Karen Bradley. In our discussions we assessed the state of play in the negotiations to restore the Northern Ireland Executive and...

Order of Business (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On the promised legislation, I acknowledge that the Bill in question is long overdue. I have asked the Ministers for Health and Public Expenditure and Reform to work together to allow us to get the legislation done in this calendar year in order that it can form part of the Estimates process and any new scheme will be introduced next year. On the Deputy's other question, questions to the...

Order of Business (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: If they relate to promised legislation or the programme for Government, I will answer them.

Order of Business (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to issue a reply to the Deputy.

Order of Business (27 Feb 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I will give some consideration to Deputy John Brassil's helpful suggestion that we bring forward the extra week's payment already planned for April. I will have to discuss the matter with the Ministers for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Public Expenditure and Reform. I suggest to Deputy Pearse Doherty that if we were to assume that leaving the heating on 24/7 would cost...