Results 16,801-16,820 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will give the Deputy the figures for the total mental health funding over the past number of years: 2012, some €711 million; 2013, some €737 million; 2014, some €766 million; 2015, some €791.8 million; 2016, some €826.6 million; and 2017, some €853.1 million. For next year, it goes up to €912 million. Those are the facts. In the past six...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: These are very important matters, and probably matters that would be better answered by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport than me. I am very encouraged by the fact that we are seeing a significant increase in the number of people using public transport this year and last year, and a lot of that is down to the improvements in the economy and the fact that there are more people...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: It is good to see those improvements happening but, on a more serious point, I certainly would share the Deputy's concerns that any industrial dispute or any strike in Irish Rail would impact very seriously on taxpayers, passengers, and working people. Strikes, unfortunately, in the transport sector happen too often. They are always resolved in the normal way with the engagement of the...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I am advised that the heads of this Bill will be published in this session.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I cannot give Deputy Harty any such commitment, but I am meeting the Minister, Deputy Harris, tomorrow, so I will certainly raise it with him and ask him to respond to the Deputy directly.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: We do not have a timeline for that legislation at present, but I will come back to the Deputy in writing as soon as I can.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Again, I think that this question would be better answered by the Minister for Health because I may not have the most up-to-date information. I understand that a mobile cath lab is now in place in Waterford. I will be interested to see in the coming months the impact that that has on wait times for patients. If it has reduced wait times for patients, I think that strengthens the case for...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I do not think any legislation has been brought in on this but I shall endeavour to check it out and will write to the Deputy about it.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister, Deputy Ross, to correspond with the Deputy about the matter. I am not familiar with the details of the particular report in question but there is absolutely no need for the Deputy to either put up or shut up. I can assure her we are very committed to expanding rural transport routes and, indeed, the number of rural transport routes this year is 1,300, whereas only...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The heads of the assisted human reproduction Bill were agreed by Cabinet in the last few weeks and we expect it to go to committee for pre-legislative scrutiny as soon as possible. It is a complicated area. Legislating for and regulating assisted human reproduction is not straightforward but plenty of other countries do it and we should do it, although we are well behind others in that...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: As that is subject to negotiations with the Irish Medical Organisation, it will depend on the success of those negotiations.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: That was actually the Social Welfare Bill, which I introduced last year. I can confirm that the changes to the dental benefit scheme will come into effect from 28 October, that is, in a few days' time. From that date, dental benefit will provide for a payment towards either a scale or polish, or, if clinically necessary, protracted periodontal treatment, in addition to an existing free...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I understand from the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, that the report will be published in the near future although I do not have an exact date for it. It indicates that bogus self-employment is a real issue but perhaps not on the scale that people may have previously thought. That, of course, is evidenced by the fact the number of people in self-employment has not increased dramatically...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There is no legislation promised on the matter but I will ask the Minister for Health to respond.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I assure the Deputy of my absolute commitment to this legislation, which I published as Minister for Health. This is a free country and people are free to lobby their local Teachtaí Dála and Ministers as they wish but I absolutely guarantee the Deputy that no one has changed my mind on this. The legislation will be reintroduced to the Seanad on 8 November.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Discussions involving the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform are under way on the design of the new scheme, how it will be administered and the costs associated with it. We intend to legislate next year to have the new scheme up and running in 2018 and then have it introduced towards the end of...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I am not sure specifically what is the question. All I can say is that the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics is based in St. James's Hospital and is staffed by medical people, pharmacologists and economists. They receive information from the drug companies, assess the claims made by the drug companies as to the efficacy of a medicine, assess whether the cost proposed reflects the...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: No legislation is promised on that matter-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----but I am aware that the Minister, Deputy Creed, is aware of this issue, and both he and the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, will examine it.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Our intention is to have the new scheme up and running in 2018, but the timeline is obviously not solely determined by the Government. Once the legislation is produced, it will have to go through the Dáil and Seanad-----