Results 161-180 of 2,668 for long speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...of my jobs was to go to a clinic once a week and look after the health needs of newly arrived asylum seekers in Kilmacud at the time. It is tough because the consultation takes two or three times as long compared to what it would with an Irish person because of language difficulties, the need for a translator, and even cultural differences in how people describe their symptoms. That...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...not the full facts. As a party, the Social Democrats preach honest politics, but that requires context and the full facts. Last year, 30,000 new homes were built, more than any year for a very long time. When my party came into office, only 7,000 new homes were being built. There has been a more than fourfold increase in new home building since my party came into office. Under this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...the full facts to the public. I think the public deserve the full facts. If this were solely a matter of money, political will or care and compassion, the housing crisis would have been solved a long time ago because there is no lack of money, political will or care, concern and understanding from the Government. There are very real constraints to building new homes in Ireland. These...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...who are most responsible for these deaths are the human traffickers - the criminals and criminal organisations that put people on unseaworthy vessels and do not care whether they arrive alive so long as they get the money. They are the people the Deputy should be turning his fire on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...it, it is because the budget is so large. That is evidence of the Government's commitment to dealing with the housing crisis. There are 9,000 apprentices this year, which is the highest in a very long time. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is leading on that and making sure we increase the number of apprentices. Work permits and visas are being issued to allow people to enter the State...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ..., advice on job searching and options for the employees. However, our main effort will be to get the mine back open as soon as possible, on which we will engage with the company, and to secure its long-term future through Tara Deep. We are working on that as well. I do not know the exact timeline of the engagement between the company and the Government, but I heard the Deputy say that...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy said in her remarks, these schemes were closed to new entrants back in 2011 and 2012 on foot of Ombudsman reports but the establishment of new schemes is long overdue, which I accept. A working group reported recently and it was made up of people from: the Department of Finance; the Revenue Commissioners; the Department of Health; the HSE; the Department of Social Protection;...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: They have had the right to work in Ireland for a long time, once they achieve refugee status, and anybody coming from Ukraine, as beneficiaries of temporary protection, also have the right to work from the moment they arrive in the country and get a personal public service number.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I am cognisant of the Ombudsman's report published today. Coming up with a solution that works is not straightforward, but I agree this has been going on far too long. A lot of work has been done by various Ministers, Departments and working groups. However, I accept it has been going on far too long. As a consequence of that, I will be convening a meeting in the next few weeks of all the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...closure and that the mine can be reopened and staff can return to their jobs as soon as possible. There has been ongoing engagement with the company for quite some time. I visited the mine along with the former Minister of State, Deputy English, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, when it was flooded many months ago. There were concerns at the time about the future of the mine. I met...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cross-Border Co-operation (13 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...Ireland Women’s Coalition, NIWC. I agree with the Deputy that it made a real and undervalued contribution to securing the Good Friday Agreement. I had a chance to meet Monica McWilliams not too long ago and I expressed in some of my contributions how I often wondered how the Northern Ireland Assembly might have evolved had the electoral system been different and had it allowed the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Strategies (13 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...Houses of the Oireachtas. The NRP is an element of the European semester, the annual cycle of economic and social policy co-ordination among EU member states. As part of the semester, Ireland, along with all other member states, is required to prepare and submit an NRP to the European Commission each year. The NRP provides an overview of economic reforms and policy actions under way in...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...measures, which can make a big difference in people's lives. I have seen noise measures be put in place and noise reduced, although only so much can be done, unfortunately. It has been a long time since I engaged on this issue, but the Deputy has raised it and it is important to people in Limerick and elsewhere, so I will endeavour to come back to him with more information when I get it.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ..., as all disputes are resolved. To answer the Deputy's question, we have a system by which we bargain public pay centrally with the Government. It is a good system and it has existed for a very long time. We have an agreement between the unions on the one hand and the Government on the other hand to give several pay increases across the course of this year to all public servants. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Offices (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...Airport Knock as to how we can invest there. There is also the national broadband plan. Hundreds of millions of euro of investment are going in every year. More is needed and it will continue for so long as the parties in government are in government. If the Opposition parties get into office there will be a fundamental change of economic policy and we will be in a recession within...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Tóibín raised the difficulties we have had with so many commissions of investigation taking so long and costing so much. I often meet people who request a commission of investigation into some matter or other. I am often very upfront with them and I say it will take years and could cost many millions of euro and they might not be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...but probably does not even do that. What does it do? It makes the situation worse in the medium term. When the ban is lifted, there is a glut of eviction notices that then get affected. In the long term, it makes it even worse again because fewer people are willing to offer properties for rent on the private rental market. It is a policy that, at best, might work in the short term but...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...of the problems, of course. We had a short-term ban, which did not reduce the numbers in emergency accommodation, and the inevitable happened when it was lifted. It does not work in the medium or long term and barely works in the short term. That is what we have learned from the second eviction ban. For the first one, the circumstances were different. Pandemic restrictions were in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...into a secure tenancy as soon as possible. Approximately half will spend six months in emergency accommodation and most will spend less than a year. In the life of a child that can be a very long time and I acknowledge that. It is important to point out that it is not the same 12,000 people all the time. People might spend a few weeks or a few months in emergency accommodation and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (24 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...and security policy, I can be very clear to the House that the Government has no plans whatsoever to apply for NATO membership. We are NATO partners through the Partnership for Peace, we have been for a very long time and that will continue. We will continue to be involved in PESCO, which is the European Union's common security and defence policy. I believe that is to our benefit and to...