Results 16,081-16,100 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As I said in my earlier response, the Minister of State with responsibility for disability affairs, Deputy Finian McGrath, will produce the details of all of this in the next week or so, in part to do with the Health Service Executive, HSE, service plan for 2018 and then the operational plans which happen in the new year. When I mentioned examples of the incremental progress we are making...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not believe in that.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I believe in the philosophy of Prosser and Smith, and I believe in incremental progress. The first thing to do is to put the economy on a sustainable footing, balance the books and then deliver incremental social progress year on year in a way that is sustainable. That is something this Government is doing.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am not involved personally in the negotiations in Brussels but it is Government policy that we want to introduce paid parental leave allowing parents to share the leave among themselves. Currently, maternity benefit and paternity benefit are separate. We would like to have a parental leave with parental benefit attached to it, which would allow parents to share it, and we will be guided...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: To be very clear about this, we already have paid parental leave but we do it in a particular way. We have maternity leave and maternity benefit for the mother and paternity leave and paternity benefit for the father. As a Government, we have increased the cash payment in the last budget and will increase it again in March. We also brought in new rules, particularly around premature...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: On the first matter, I will check up on the issue of the social worker and the child protection officer; the Deputy has my assurance on that. Tusla has been given a €14 million budget increase next year to allow it to hire additional staff and social workers. I will certainly check up on that with the Minister, Deputy Zappone. As the Deputy knows, this week we passed a very...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Up until this year the Government was running a deficit - we still have a small deficit this year - and was not in a position to build as many homes as we would have liked to have built.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We are seeing that change now and housing is being built on a scale we have not seen in six or seven years. In social housing alone, this year we expect about 2,800 homes to be built. That is before voids, long-term leases, Part V houses and others are counted. Next year that figure will increase to 3,800, which will be as much as 7,000 when long-term leases, voids and purchase from the...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It cannot just go up like this. Housing construction has to be scaled up in a way that is sustainable. It requires sites, planning permissions, land, carpenters, plumbers and engineers. We also need councillors on board. That will take time.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the House may be aware from these interactions, Deputy Adams writes me an awful lot of letters; he is a very prolific pen pal. It takes some time to reply to so many letters.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly reply to it in the normal course.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have not had a chance to see it yet. He will receive an acknowledgement within two weeks and a full reply after that. Everyone is treated equally in that regard. I know the Deputy is a great believer in equality and so he would not want his letter answered any quicker than anyone else's-----

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----and it will not be. I am happy to confirm that the Government announced yesterday an extra €10 million for respite care. That will provide an additional 19,000 respite nights per year for people who need it, which is an important step forward, and nine new dedicated houses for respite will be established throughout 2018, with one in each community health area. The Minister...

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy has acknowledged, a number of Ministers have visited the centre in recent times. The Ministers, Deputies Harris, Coveney and Zappone, have attended so I do not know why a social worker or child welfare officer has not been appointed but I will follow it up. I was not aware of the issue until this morning. I will check up on it. In terms of issues more generally, it is...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Reviews (13 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The terms of reference for the review referred to are available on my Department's website, www.taoiseach.gov.ie.  The terms of reference include an examination of the actions taken by the Department of Justice and Equality in response to all requests for documents directed to the Department, including whether the Department has now carried out appropriately comprehensive...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Brexit Negotiations (12 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----what it was not was an attempt to-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Brexit Negotiations (12 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I think that is perhaps a matter for a historical symposium.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Brexit Negotiations (12 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We will discuss it another time but, to clarify, I was not trying to make a disparaging remark about the Fianna Fáil Governments in the past 20 years.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Brexit Negotiations (12 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of the joint report, it was formally adopted by Government this morning. It does not require a parliamentary vote but if one is possible I would be happy to accept it and welcome it. However, I am not sure that will be possible because I will be travelling on Thursday so that would have to be done today or tomorrow. On the question relating to the European Court of Justice, ECJ,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Brexit Negotiations (12 Dec 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is certainly in Ireland but it is not part of the State.