Results 16,661-16,680 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----regardless of the issue. In terms of the Government's actions to date, I draw the Deputy's attention to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017. It is legislation introduced by the Government that was enacted on 22 February this year. It enhances and updates laws to combat sexual exploitation and the sexual abuse of children, including new offences related to child sexual grooming...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have never been a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance. I do not know if the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was present at the EGM but I do not believe he was. With regard to the Paradise Papers, there are 13 million documents and I do not think anyone has had a chance to read all 13 million yet so I imagine the story is still very much evolving. Tax avoidance is very much...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is quite correct that there is a difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. Tax evasion is a crime and tax avoidance has a wide spectrum ranging from tax incentives set up by the Government, which we encourage people and businesses to avail of, to the other extreme which is people using aggressive tax planning to exploit loopholes in the law - loopholes which the Government...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have the exact figures to hand but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to provide them to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I was in Hansfield, not Hanstead. It is in the administrative county of Fingal. Hanstead may be in the Deputy's constituency. Perhaps it is in Lucan or somewhere like that. The Deputy is, of course, misinformed because the houses that were behind me are not for sale. They are social housing.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: This is getting to the point of triviality. For anyone interested in the facts, there are approximately 1,000 homes under construction there. They include social housing that is not for sale and apartments that are specially adapted for people with disabilities.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The development includes private housing. The whole point of what we are trying to do in places such as Hansfield is to have a mixed area with apartments and houses of different types. What we want is integrated communities. We want social and affordable housing and housing for people who are a bit better off all in the same area. The Sinn Féin approach, of course, is totally...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: They want social housing-only communities. They want segregation in our cities.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We know the social consequences that derive from that.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We know how Sinn Féin votes in the councils on which it has councillors across Dublin.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is to keep the property tax down, cut the budget for homelessness, cut the budget for housing and support only segregated communities, with people living in social housing in one district and people living in private housing in the other.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The reason Sinn Féin wants that is because it wants segregation. It wants to divide people so it can brew up discontent and disadvantage.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am afraid the Deputy is misinformed. I was asked two separate questions. One was on sexual harassment, and I gave a very clear answer to that. It was an unequivocal condemnation of sexual harassment and sexual assault of any sort in any place, not least workplaces. I was asked a separate question about macho behaviour in the House, to which I gave a separate answer. I will assume the...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: First, I reject that allegation and the language which Deputy Martin has just used in this House. I think using that sort of language in the Chamber is unbecoming of the Deputy's office as Leader of the Opposition.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The unparliamentary language which the Deputy used. It is unbecoming of his office to use-----

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: No, I will not repeat the Deputy's language.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Ceann Comhairle may wish to examine whether or not that is one of the words which is prohibited and considered to be unparliamentary.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Whether it is unparliamentary language or not-----

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----it is certainly beneath the dignity of this House, of the Deputy's office and of his party to use that sort of language in this House.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Leaving aside the particular utterance, I reject the substance of the allegation. Let us not forget the history of recent years. Under this Government of Fine Gael, the Independent Alliance and Independent Members, we have increased spending for health two years in a row. In the five previous years we held health spending at the same level or increased it slightly. There were three years...