Results 1,581-1,600 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to follow up on that with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. It is certainly our intention. It may require a change to primary legislation although I am not sure about that. That could be the reason for the delay. However, I will check it out. We certainly do want to encourage people, and particularly older people who often have a spare room or a number of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We are seeing an enormous and unprecedented level of demand for new passports and passport renewals at the moment. The Deputy will know of the problems that have arisen with regard to car parking at Dublin Airport. There is a lot of financial distress in the country but there is also a lot of money in the country and large numbers of people are travelling. It is...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am not familiar with this particular complex. It is probably a matter for Dublin City Council rather than one for central government.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: However, as somebody who lived for 14 years in an apartment complex which had a mix of owner-occupiers, private renters and social housing tenants, I know that access to the car park and other facilities was linked to the payment of a fee for those services.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know the details but there is generally a fee for these things.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly discuss that suggestion with the Minister for Justice. I will take it up with the Deputy later.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: That is a very good question. We put out a call to the universities, both the technological universities and the traditional universities, and asked them what could be done, within what timeframe and how much it would cost. The next step in the process is to action it. We are going to need all of these places sooner or later. The question is which do we open next year, the year after and...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: It is not my practice to agree to meetings in the Chamber. That would not be fair on the very many people who do not have a Deputy to raise a request in the Chamber for them. I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has already met with them on behalf of the Government. We are scoping out how best to carry out an inquiry into how Covid was managed in this State with a view...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will know, we have extended free GP care without fees to everyone under six, everyone over 70 and people in receipt of carer's allowance as well as people who qualify under the means test. The next step is six- and seven-year-olds and people who earn less than the median income. That is a very large number of people, hundreds of thousands. Negotiations are under way with the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I reiterate and restate the Government’s opposition to this legacy Bill. We think it is entirely the wrong approach to give former army servicemen and former IRA and paramilitary terrorists immunity from prosecution. We owe it to the victims to make sure we all do everything we can to make sure any information that can be given to the police is given to the police and that those...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----because we all have a role to play.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know when those regulations will be published but I will find out and get back to the Deputy in the next couple of days. The Government has agreed that there will be retrospection with regard to people who have already had to pay for defects to be repaired in their buildings.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I had a very good meeting yesterday with eight of the organisations that represent the LGBT community. The Tánaiste was present, as was the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. We discussed this particular issue. The Minister committed to do two things. First, once the hate crime legislation is signed into law, a public campaign will be run to inform people of the law and what...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his measured approach and for the very reasonable questions he asked. It is important we talk about this issue but in a considered way. We should never lose sight of the fact that what we are experiencing across Europe is the worst refugee crisis since the 1940s. Some 4 million people have been displaced from their homes in Ukraine and roughly 2% of them have come to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: We have a Cabinet subcommittee on Ukraine and migration. I chair that subcommittee and health is part of that. A pretty regular agenda item we discuss is the health impact and health needs of people who have come here from abroad.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: That is a fair point and something I will follow up on because the situation in each community is different depending on the needs and the capacity of the community and the profile of the people we are bringing into that area. One thing that can help is registering Ukrainian doctors and nurses. They have come to Ireland as well. Making sure their qualifications are recognised, allowing...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not seek to justify it. I explained to the Deputy what the major cause was and what we are doing to make sure there is not a recurrence of it this year. I do not dispute any of the facts the Deputy put across, but they are not the full facts. As a party, the Social Democrats preach honest politics, but that requires context and the full facts. Last year, 30,000 new homes were...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The fact is that we are now experiencing full employment in Ireland. Some economists say that we are beyond full employment and that there are more vacancies than there are people available and qualified to fill them. This is only the second time in our history that we have achieved that. While that creates real problems, some of which the Deputy has touched on, in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The answer to his question is "Yes". We intend to do that. As he will know, local authorities have to make a decision - I cannot remember if it is within four or five weeks.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: There is no statutory limit for An Bord Pleanála. Under the Planning and Development Act, we intend to introduce statutory time limits during which An Bord Pleanála has to make a decision on an appeal. That also means staffing up An Bord Pleanála to ensure it can actually achieve that because we do not want the refusal rate to go up as a means of satisfying the timeline....