Results 17,121-17,140 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I have not met MSF, but I have agreed to a meeting which is in the process of being scheduled. The way European Council meetings work is there is an agreed agenda with certain points; it is not a case of being able to raise anything one wants to raise. It is unlikely that it will be possible to raise the matter formally at European Council, but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Charles...
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The heads of the Bill were approved by the Cabinet in April and it is intended to refer them to the relevant committee for pre-legislative scrutiny this session, with a view to the Bill being drafted and going through the Houses next year.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I am not the only Member of the House getting a little mixed up today. This is a matter for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, not the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine -----
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: -----but I will ask the relevant Minister to reply to the Deputy's question.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: As I am on my feet, I want to extend the Deputy's constituents in Ballingarry my particular compliments on a really excellent National Famine Commemoration.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for being there also. It was a very appropriate location for the commemoration and I pay tribute to the people of Tipperary for putting on a very fitting occasion.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: It will come before the House this term.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will forgive me if I am giving him out of date information but when I checked on this matter some weeks ago, it was still the intention that the Irish Aviation Authority will be the relevant body and discussions are ongoing between the Office of the Attorney General and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport regarding the appropriate legal mechanism. It could be a Statutory...
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Unfortunately, I cannot tell the Deputy that. I will ask the Minster, Deputy Ring, to update him as soon as he can.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to contact the Deputy.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Government is very much committed to achieving a target of 9,500 personnel in our Permanent Defence Forces. In doing so, we are going to recruit 800 personnel this year, but as the Deputy points out very accurately, a large number of people leave the Defence Forces every year. Roughly 580 leave every year, and that has been the case for the past decade. Other militaries, such as that...
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I offer my profound apologies and stand corrected. I am getting my Kerry road projects mixed up.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There are so many of them, of course. I opened the three bypasses at Dingle, Castleisland and Tralee myself a few years ago. I would have to check with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport what is the exact status of the project. There will be further allocations for road spending as part of the ten-year capital plan. Under what we are planning already, there will be an...
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: We have solved the problem at Newland's Cross. We have upgraded the N11 at New Ross and Enniscorthy. It is under way.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Gort to Tuam motorway opened last week.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Tralee bypass opened in the past five years, as did the new section of the road to Dingle. There have been 50 primary care centres opened and hundreds of new schools have been built across the country or extended. A national sports campus has been built. A national children's hospital will soon be under construction.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: If that has been done in the past five years when we had almost no money at all, imagine what we will do in the next ten years.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for referring to a very important roads project. The House will know that between 2011 and 2014 I had the pleasure to be Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Therefore, I know the road very well having travelled up and down to Killarney many times. I have also been stuck in Macroom having had to pass through Ballyvourney and other towns.
- Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: If I remember correctly, when I was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, the project got stuck in legal issues. There was a heritage case or a case involving property that held it up. The Government is keen to progress the N22 bypass project which would connect Killarney, Ballyvourney and Macroom, but I cannot make any commitment to the Deputy today. However, we are in the process of...
- Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I have heard the allegation on a number of occasions that the Government is putting style ahead of substance. I have even seen in the speaking points of one of the Opposition parties that this is something its spokespeople are instructed to say when giving interviews. Congratulations to the Deputy on having some success in getting commentators and others to repeat his speaking points.