Results 18,061-18,080 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The difficulty in having pre-formed ideas and pre-prepared supplementary questions is that the Deputy then runs into a problem when he does not actually hear or like the answer to the question. We both agree that the fall in unemployment and the rise in employment is not the sole reason why the number of people on FIS has increased. There are other factors. We have changed the...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Places (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The proposal I am making in regard to community employment schemes is to relax the rules and widen the pool of people who can qualify. If there are supervisors who are opposed to that, it is news to me. I have come across supervisors who believe it does not go far enough but I have not come across anyone who is actively opposed to the measure I am putting in place, which is to widen the...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Places (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am not really sure what Deputy Brady was referring to when he spoke about jobseekers not being suitable for employment. If I said something like that, I would be accused of all sorts of calumny. The usual left-wing commentators and the usual suspects on Twitter would probably be in a frenzy this minute if the words the Deputy used in the past five minutes came out of my mouth. Of...

Other Questions: Treatment Benefit Scheme Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As outlined in the programme for Government and announced in budget 2017, I have extended eligibility to the treatment benefit scheme to include the self-employed, who were not previously covered. From 27 March, self-employed contributors with sufficient PRSI contributions at class S, or class S combined with other previously reckonable classes of PRSI, are entitled to a range of...

Other Questions: Treatment Benefit Scheme Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: What I have found really heartening about the current contest under way in my party is the number of people talking about ideas and the number of people talking about my ideas and who have read my paper. I am very grateful that Deputy Willie O'Dea took the time out to do so. He asked a pertinent question. It is, of course, an ideas paper, which is what it says on the cover. It is not a...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The direction of travel in terms of parental leave, if I have any influence over it, is that there should be more and a couple should be able to share it. It is important that there always be dedicated maternal leave for particular reasons, but couples should be allowed some flexibility in how they use their parental leave. If we can afford it, through a far more modern social insurance...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Places (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 31, 79 and 95 together. As the Deputies will be aware, my Department provides a range of activation supports catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include the JobPath service and the community employment programme. The JobPath service aims to place people in full-time sustainable...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Places (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Nearly 100,000 people have been referred to JobPath, but the Deputy did not mention that 25,000 of them are now in full-time employment, which is to be celebrated. They are older people, or even younger people, who have acquired a new skill and are now as a result in full-time employment. They include lone parents who have overcome many barriers to employment. There are also people who...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: All schemes and services, whether community employment, Tús or JobPath, are paid by participant. The payment model may be different, but they are all paid by participant. We do not allow in any case people to chop and change from one programme to another while on it. We can imagine how difficult it would be to organise services if people could chop and change from one to the next two...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: People are expected to be on it for its entirety. As I mentioned, a review is under way and it should be completed later this year. The results so far are very good and we must bear in mind what Turas Nua and Seetec aim to do. They aim to provide people with a system to get into full-time paid employment of 30 hours a week, which they sustain for more than three months. The results so...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The funding model is a registration fee of approximately €1,000 for each participant, and any payment that follows only arises if somebody finds full-time employment and stays in it for more than three months. Certainly if there are community employment schemes and local employment services which want to move to the JobPath model of funding I will be happy to entertain it.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have not come across any yet which would like to give up its block grant and move to that level of funding.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have been in Turas Nua and Seetec officers in various parts of the country. At a time when Government offices and post offices are closing down throughout the country Seetec and Turas Nua are opening offices all over the place, often in very rural locations. This should be noted and regarded as a positive. I accept there is an issue with transport costs, and it is something the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The reply I have before me relates to the carer's allowance, but the Deputy is speaking about something much broader so I will answer the question the Deputy has put. I am sympathetic to the argument the Deputy is making. It is important that we subsidise child care. The cost of child care is a major barrier to work for many people, men and women, but particularly lone parents. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We do care as a Government and I certainly care. We have child benefit in Ireland, which is at the higher end of child benefit payments throughout the world. It is universal and does not make any distinction between parents who decide to parent at home or those who decide to or have to work outside the home. It is not always a decision to have two incomes. Some people have to do so...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: State Bodies Mergers (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I have on my desk a draft response to the committee's report, but I have not yet signed off on it. I may not do so. I do not know what is going to happen in the next few weeks, but if I move on to a different office, somebody may want to look at it afresh. I have a particular view of Ministers signing off on things at particular points for reasons the Deputy will understand. However, I...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: State Bodies Mergers (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The position is that the board has taken its decision, as it was legally entitled to do. The consultation is about how best that decision might be implemented and how the transition can be organised. Having talked to people involved in the services, I note that there are mixed views. People on the various boards around the country do not agree with the changes. While some might agree to a...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: State Bodies Mergers (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I always listen to the advice of the Taoiseach and sincerely hope it will continue to be available to the Government and whoever takes up his position in the coming weeks.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I always listen, although I may not necessarily always take advice.