Results 17,181-17,200 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That is the kind of thing that we want to change, to move away from that fragmentation. It is something that has been done in Holland, where they took 200 different logos and identities and moved them into one so that people knew what was part of central government and what was not. It is something as well that they have done in Britain where they have saved money overall in having a single...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of the kind of information that may be of interest to Members, if they look at the total communication and marketing spend across Government it runs to about €170 million a year. A lot of that is totally legitimate. It includes the tourism marketing fund for Tourism Ireland. It also includes Bord Bia promoting Irish food abroad. It further includes public health messages...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I would like us to have a single central government identity so that people know what central government is and what it is not, what it is doing and what it is not, and what it is responsible for. I believe there is a deficit there and that deficit can be best addressed by being much more strategic in the way that we let people know what we are doing as a Government. It was absolutely my...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, absolutely it was my idea to establish it but, obviously, it is a Civil Service unit so the staffing was done by the Secretary General.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I suggested the head.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, but I did not suggest any other staff and I have not been involved in tenders for research or making any particular decisions on staffing. In terms of the question on the subhead, the subhead is obviously the administration subhead of the Department.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is not my role to decide how units are staffed within the public and Civil Service.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Those are not points of order by that way.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I will not be so presumptuous as to tell you how to do your job, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but it is of course within your authority to rule them out of order.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That is fair enough.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I stand corrected, again. I have forgotten the questions now. They are so much more obsessed with my public relations than I am interested in them.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know why.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is pretty normal for people within Departments to be reassigned to different roles.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That has been the practice since the foundation of the State. Every role within a Department is not advertised.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Government Information Service (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Not that I am aware of.

Ceisteanna - Questions: British-Irish Co-operation (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 14, inclusive, together. I met Prime Minister May in London on Monday last. We discussed the political situation in Northern Ireland and both the Prime Minister and I agreed on the need to have the power-sharing institutions restored as soon as possible. We repeated our strong message to the Northern Ireland parties to redouble their efforts to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Regarding people awaiting outpatient appointments, it is important to have a fuller understanding of what waiting lists and waiting times mean. More than half of people, who are now waiting either for an outpatient appointment or for surgery, wait less than six months. By the way, I do not think six months is anything to be proud of, but it is important to point that out. About a third of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----for individuals is how long they wait.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It would actually be possible to have greater numbers on waiting lists, but people waiting less time.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (27 Sep 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The key thing to look at is the number of people who have been waiting more than three months or more than six months as the case may be. It is encouraging that in August we saw a fall of 2,000 in the number of people waiting for inpatient operations and day-case procedures. It appears that traditional funding for the HSE and the dedicated funding for the NTPF had an impact on that. I...