Results 16,541-16,560 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have a date for that but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to provide it to Deputy Howlin.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The report the Deputy refers to has only been published in the last hour or so. Neither I nor my staff have had an opportunity to read it. I am informed it is a ranking assessment published by three NGOs. It is not an official report and has no status other than as a commentary on individual countries' climate policies. In this respect, the commentary, while it purports to assess...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome the fact that Deputy Howlin has clarified that he is not making an allegation against anyone in this House. I accept the Labour Party's-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am very pleased to hear Deputy Howlin, the leader of the Labour Party, say that neither he nor the Labour Party is making allegations against anyone in or outside this House. That at least puts this story into perspective. No allegation is being made against anyone. The answer I have given Deputy Howlin is the one that has been given to me. I spoke to the Tánaiste who told me that...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot give the House that answer but what I have been told is that the Department was not made aware of it until after the fact and the Tánaiste did not become aware of it until around the time it entered the public domain. I am answering Deputy Howlin's question as best I can. It is very difficult to answer questions for third parties or unnamed parties.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will bear his comments in mind in my remarks. I have spoken to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice and Equality. I have not spoken directly to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality. The information I have, which I believe, is that the Tánaiste had no hand, act or part in determining the legal strategy of the former...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: If it is not willing to do that, it should give any evidence it possesses to the tribunal.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is my role - and very much my role - to be Taoiseach for everyone in the country and that is exactly the way I intend to govern. This includes increasing funding and facilities for people with disabilities and we have done this. There was a €90 million increase in funding for disability last year and there is a further €75 million to come this year. For the first time ever...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----and exploit this content-----

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----and to try to use that for political gain. Instead of putting forward solutions, what it does is exploit human misery and our country's problems in an attempt to gain votes.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That is not the type of politics this House will ever see from my party or those on this side of the House.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Adams. I am glad he was able to join us today. I understand from his Twitter account that he took yesterday off to prepare his Ard-Fheis speech and I can see he is already practicing it here today.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Adams took most of last week off to travel to the United States to raise funds from very wealthy Americans, which is something we will come back to at another stage. The Deputy's contention is, of course, incorrect. All of the problems that we inherited from Fianna Fáil do not still remain. Unemployment, for example, is down from 15% to 6% and falling. The public finances...

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Martin is absolutely right to point out the extent to which housing was built in the past. However, he should not stop with the 1950s and 1960s, forgetting what happened in the 1990s and at the turn of the century when 80,000 houses were being built every year and up to 90,000 in one year. I recall my own county of Fingal building more houses one year than the entire country of...

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It ended in a property bubble, a property crash, the collapse of the construction industry and the collapse of the banking sector. That was very much a consequence of Deputy Martin's party's period in government and his own role as a Government Minister. As a consequence of the mismanagement of our country when Fianna Fáil was in office, our construction industry and banking sector...

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: What we need to do now is ramp it all up again.

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: What we need to do now is ramp it all up again from a very low base. That includes both a significant increase in social housing and a significant increase in houses being built by the private sector. We estimate that the number of new homes built in Ireland next year will be between 20,000 and 25,000, which is a very big increase on this and the previous year. It is going to take time,...

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We all recognise the severity of the housing shortage in this country, the impact it has on people's day-to-day lives, as well as the human impact on young people who are not be able to afford their own home or on those who are living in overcrowded accommodation and sharing rooms when they need better housing. I do not believe that anyone in the House doubts that impact and the Government...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: IBRC Investigations (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The IBRC Commission is due to report on the first module of its work, in relation to the Siteserv transaction, by the end of December 2017. However, as I informed Opposition representatives when I met them yesterday, the Commission is now of the view that its investigation into Siteserv could take a further twelve months i.e. until December 2018 and that it will be seeking an extension of...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: NAMA Investigations (15 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In accordance with its terms of reference the Commission is due to provide a final report on the the first module of its work, the sale by NAMA of its Northern Ireland loan portfolio known as Project Eagle, by the end of June 2018, subject to section 6 (6) of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004.