Results 15,861-15,880 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Pretty much every country in the Western world has already ratified the convention and the Government is very committed to ratifying it, ideally next month. The majority of countries that have ratified it, just like us, have certain aspects of detailed legislation they have not finalised so we will not be out of line in any way in ratifying it with a few reservations and some legislation...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I will have to double check but I think Senator Bacik has legislation.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Next week so.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is a matter for the Citizens Information Board. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Doherty, to reply to the Deputy in more detail.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I accept that this is taking far too long and that it is enormously frustrating for everyone waiting for broadband connections in their homes. We anticipate that the contract will be signed this year and probably in the middle of the year. However, it is a very complex and complicated contract, much more so than people might have anticipated. Certainly, the best thing to do now is stick...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is a significant delay but the contract will be signed this year. We anticipate that it will be signed by the Minister this year.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: There is a process to be followed and it is a complicated contract which must be tendered. Notwithstanding that, when the Government of Fine Gael and Independents came to office, approximately 52% of premises in Ireland had access to high-speed broadband, which figure is up to approximately 66% now. It will be 75% by the end of the year.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Notwithstanding the fact that we are struggling to get this contract sorted for those really important 500,000 premises, we are making progress.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The purpose of the Bill is not to restore the mobility allowance, it is to create a new form of transport support allowance which complies with all of the different stipulations. Work is under way involving the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure. I have asked specifically that the legislation be done this year so that we can factor it into the Estimates for next year.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of any specific proposals in that regard and will ask the Minister, Deputy Creed, to correspond with the Deputy.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is a huge problem. I have come across many cases in the course of my constituency work where subcontractors have been left unpaid. It is always a problem if a bill goes unpaid for any reason. That has an impact on the person or business whose bill is unpaid. The norm is for people to seek recompense through the courts, but that cannot be achieved if the company no longer exists or the...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I am afraid I do not know but I will check with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and revert to the Deputy. It is possible that it is linked to the assisted human reproduction legislation, which has yet to be published but which is being work on by the Department of Health. I may be wrong about that. I will check for certain and revert to the Deputy.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The timing of a debate is a matter for the Business Committee. To reply to the Deputy's substantive point, however, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, answered that very well. If these schools and the college of further education had been procured by traditional means, namely, a simple contract with a private construction firm, it is equally possible that said firm could...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Companies of all types can go bust and as the Minister for Education and Skills pointed out, we are in a more favourable position because we have not paid over the money yet, and we have ownership of the schools. I am often a sceptic when it comes to PPPs. There is a role for PPPs to provide infrastructure in different ways. We built almost all our intercity motorways by means of PPPs....
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----but PPPs are certainly not a panacea to everything. They involve risks and we need to be wise in respect of them.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I will have a look at it. The ESRI is not a European body. It is a Government agency that has compiled this report on our behalf. The report is very good. It is also very realistic-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----because it says that if we do nothing, the vast majority of population and economic growth will happen in Leinster, in the greater Dublin area. It does not say that we should cap or stop growth in Dublin and Leinster. That is not practical. We all know that in a free country and in the real world we cannot tell people where to live, open their businesses or shop but the report states...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: In particular, the report recommends that we should focus on the other big cities - Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway - and that will be very much at the centre of the national planning framework when it is published. That will not be at the exclusion of growth in rural Ireland and other places but the ESRI report is clear and stark in that regard. If we do nothing, too much of the...
- Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: That is certainly not the case; I assure the House that we are not going to feature on that list. The positives will always be undermined if we only ever focus on the negatives, and it is important that we, in this House, acknowledge from time to time some of the positive things happening in this country and in the world. The "single malt" is a feature of Maltese law. It is not something...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jan 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I thought I misheard the Deputy for a moment and that he was suggesting that we need to increase civilisation in An Garda Síochána.