Results 17,061-17,080 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: We had a Cabinet sub-committee meeting specifically dealing with disability matters last week. The task force has already been established and the budget has been piloted-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will of course ask the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to give Deputy Martin a detailed note on that.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is well aware neither the Taoiseach nor the Government has the authority to instruct the HSE to approve any drug. The way drugs are reimbursed or not reimbursed is set out very clearly in legislation and it is a matter for the HSE to decide which drugs should be reimbursed and which are not. I understand in the case of Translarna, the HSE has come to the conclusion, based on...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I know, and Orkambi is not. That is the point I am making. I could speak on behalf of people with cystic fibrosis in Northern Ireland and implore the Deputy and his party to use his influence to achieve that.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There is a further complication with Translarna with the quite unprecedented position that the pharmaceutical company making the drug has taken the Government to court. That is certainly making a solution much harder to find.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I like the new charm offensive from Deputy Smith. She called me well-known, media savvy and dynamic and I have not received such praise from the far left before.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank her nonetheless.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: No, but as always she was articulate and asked a very pertinent question. It is very much my preference that the referendum be held in May rather than June in order that we maximise the number who will be able to participate in it. I have met student groups and said this to them. There is an all-party committee which is to make a recommendation to the House on whether there should be a...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I have absolutely no doubt that there are individuals who have had bad experiences of these companies and that many of the complaints are genuine. Complaints are welcome and should be made. There is a system by which people can make them about issues to the companies and the Department after that. It is a couple of months since I was in the Department with responsibility for social...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will have to ask the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to give the Deputy a full update, but-----
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: To the best of my knowledge and recollection, the task force has been established and a personalised budgeting scheme has been piloted on a number of occasions. It is a tricky and difficult process because, essentially, it does not just involve giving an individual a personal account which he or she can use to purchase services he or she wants. It means taking money from the service...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: It is not straightforward.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: This, perhaps, would be a question better put to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection who would be more up to date on these details than I would be but I will try to answer the Deputy as best I can. First, there are two companies that have contracts under JobPath, one is Seetec and the other is Turas Nua. I am not sure what the UK company to which the Deputy referred...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I understand that the Bill is still under consideration. As to the appropriateness of any wording, I have not spoken to the Attorney General about it for some time so I will have to do so in the coming weeks and see where he is with it. I would point out, however, that any urgency on the referendum on the ownership of public water has gone. When Irish Water was set up as a semi-State...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I disagree with Deputy Collins's analysis of this. Irish Water is no longer a commercial entity. It requires a subvention from the taxpayer of €1 billion a year just to exist. Who is going to buy that? Nobody is. There are no plans and no realistic possibility of there being any privatisation of public water services in the future. The referenda which we have given an indicative...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----is just an impossible contradiction. The party says that it does not want Northern Ireland to leave the European Union and that it is against Brexit and yet it consistently opposes what is fundamentally at the heart of the European Union, which is economic integration, free trade agreements with other parts of the world, a Single Market and customs union.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Deputy Adams will be delighted to know that I am also an avid follower of his tweets.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There is one thing-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----that I absolutely agree with Deputy Adams about and that is the success of our agrifood industry. Why is our agrifood industry successful? It is not because we produce for own market but because we export. It is trade, and free trade, that makes agrifood successful in Ireland. It is the fact that we trade so much with the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe and increasingly, with...
- Leaders' Questions (4 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: First, I am glad that Deputy Adams is watching my video messages. They seem to be having some traction, at least in terms of getting accurate messages across, not only to the public but also to opponents. I have intervened already. I met President Juncker in Tallinn specifically to talk about Mercosur. I met the IFA about it. Deputy Adams can be sure that many of those at the ploughing...