Results 16,941-16,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Not yet.
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Just to add some clarity to what Deputy Martin said in regard to the 2012 State pension contributory changes, the question, as I understood it from Deputy McDonald, was about whether anyone had raised it personally with me in the context of the budget negotiations, but nobody from any party did.
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: However, I absolutely acknowledge that people from other parties, including Deputy John Curran and members of my own party, have raised it in the past-----
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----because it is an ongoing issue.
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I can, but that is a matter for the House surely, is it not?
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will give the Deputy the same answer I gave him at that time. There is a problem with averaging and there is a problem with the homemaker's scheme, but the solution is not to go back to where we were before 2012 because there is a problem with that as well. The proposal that the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has developed what is called the total contributions...
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier, the first thing that had to be done was an actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund because the way it works is that PRSI contributions go in and PRSI contributions go out. That is how the benefits are paid for. That was the first thing that had to be done. That has been done and it went to Cabinet a few weeks ago. The Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, will be in a...
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: It is a matter that was raised earlier. I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to engage with the County and City Management Association to see what could be done, but he will be occupied with more pressing matters for the next week or so.
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: They are not just words. I spoke about the record in the past because it demonstrates that we are serious. In 2002, 102 post offices throughout the country were closed. In 2003, 193 post offices were closed, but so far this year, under Fine Gael, with the Independent Alliance and Independent Members, only one post office has been closed.
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Deputy can see already that there has been a considerable slow down in the number of post offices that are being closed. It is not a coincidence that things have changed so much under this compared to previous Governments. I am committed to this, too, and it is something on which I will engage with the Minister in more detail in the weeks ahead to try to come up with a plan that will...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I reiterate that the Government is commitment to maintaining as much of the post office network as we can into the future. I read an interesting analysis not too long ago of politics in France. In France, those who are most likely to vote for the Front National, for extreme right or even extremely left parties, are those who live furthest away from the post office, a Garda station or a...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: For many people the closure of post offices across rural Ireland and the closure even of Garda stations across rural Ireland is the equivalent to the State retreating and the State and public sector abandoning them. I am aware of the sensitivities in communities that when a post office is closed they feel that the State has pulled away from them and no longer cares about them. That is one...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----maintain and secure the post office network into the future. I should point out that the rate at which post offices are closing has slowed considerably. During the period of 2000 to 2010, when Fianna Fáil was in Government, 721 post offices closed.
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Since the change of Government, in 2011, only 41 have closed. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae will be aware, under Fianna Fáil post offices were closing 20 times faster than they are closing at present.
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: With regard to the social welfare contract, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae did not mention one of the reasons the amount of money coming in from the social welfare contract to post offices has fallen so much is because unemployment has fallen so much. It has gone from 15% to 6%, and that will keep going downwards. There will be fewer people going into the post office to collect social welfare. ...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----because that is the way they have been paid throughout their working lives. The number of pensioners going to the post office to collect their pension is only going to continue to fall as well. There will be fewer people going to the post office to collect pensions and social welfare. There are also fewer people using mail. If post offices are to survive, they will need to change...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I am happy to give that commitment. This is the first time we have ever had a national red alert. We have had red alerts in individual counties or groups of counties before but not on a nationwide basis. If guidelines do not exist already, which I do not think they do, it would be a very good idea to issue guidelines as to what alerts mean in many different circumstances, particularly for...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: If Sinn Féin shares the view of these NGOs and campaign groups that we should get rid of contributory pensions and the contributory principle and tell men and women alike to pay PRSI all their lives but that it should count for nothing, then Sinn Féin should tell the people that that is the party's policy.
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Howlin for his kind words about our public servants and everyone who helped out yesterday and today with the clean-up. They will continue this in the weeks ahead. I echo his comments on that point. I was enormously proud of our public service yesterday and today and I think we saw the public service at its very best. I want to thank him for his kind words about the...
- Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I want to thank him for that. I would be happy to have a debate on that and on climate change more generally but that would be up to the Business Committee. We will need to examine what a national red alert means. It was the first time we have ever had a national red alert and the whole country only went red on Sunday, 15 October, at 1 p.m., when certain decisions had to be made. One...