Results 1,861-1,880 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to double-check that but it might not be the case. Obviously, it is the programme for Government from 2020 that applies now and not things from previously.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: There is a difference between something being proposed by a Minister or Department and an actual Government decision or commitment. Again, I will come back to the Deputy on that. The Deputy made some fair points in her remarks but it was only one side of the story. She mentioned the €12 increase in the weekly pension payment, which came into effect in January, but she did not...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Cairns for raising this very important question. I join with her in condemning the violent protests, the intimidation and the racism we have seen occur by some people at some protests in the past few weeks and months, and also the blocking of a public road. Restricting people's freedom is never acceptable. I also condemn the alleged assault of a man in his 70s in County...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is working on a range of new equality strategies. The Deputy will be aware that the national action plan on racism has already been published. Work is also being done on a migrant integration strategy, a Traveller and Roma strategy, a new national strategy for women and girls, and the process of developing a new migrant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I think I set that out in my answer-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----but allow me to set it out again. As regards individual cases, it is difficult and I do not wish to speak to individual cases in the Chamber because I do not know all the facts. I know from my constituency service that on many occasions I have been able to help people to get exceptional needs payments for funeral expenses and that is available. Maybe it is not happening in all cases...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----is paid out to a lot of people, and rightly so. How is the Government acting? We brought in energy credits, with €600 already taken off the bills of every household in the country. There is the business scheme. We decided today that we are extending it to July and introducing a special scheme for businesses that use kerosene, particularly in rural Ireland. We have reduced the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As regards the retail price of electricity and gas, as the Deputy knows and has described, it is done through hedging. Companies buy electricity and gas ahead of time. They do not buy it today and sell it on to customers today; they buy it in advance.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: That is why retail prices will fall but there will be a time lag in when they fall.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. At the outset I acknowledge that electricity prices have gone up a lot in the past year or so. What generally happens is wholesale prices go up first on the international markets. After that companies put up their retail prices for businesses and customers. After the prices on the wholesale markets come down, the reductions at retail level, to customers, businesses and...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together. Expenditure incurred directly by the Shared Island unit, the Department of the Taoiseach, relates primarily to the Shared Island research programme and dialogue series. Expenditure by year to date is set out in tabular form below. This administrative expenditure by the unit is mainly in this jurisdiction, with the research programme work...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Wildlife Conservation (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Implementation of related actions set out in my Department's Resource Efficiency Action Plan are overseen by the Department's Green Team. The plan includes the provision of a wild garden/meadow in the courtyard area of Government Buildings which is under consideration by the Office of Public Works, who provide and maintain the building. The installation of a beehive is also under...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The table below shows the total number of prosecution files received by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) from 2006 to 2021. YEAR FILES 2006 14511 2007 14714 2008 16144 2009 16074 2010 15948 2011 16127 ...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff (23 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and asylum seekers have arrived in recent times with over 84,000 successfully accommodated, but the ongoing situation is very challenging. Listening to and communicating with local communities is essential as new accommodation centres are opened. The Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth and...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (16 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Taoiseach's diary for quarter 1 of 2023 has been published and is available on the Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/collection/e0fb8-taoiseachs-diary/.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Commissions of Investigation (16 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The IBRC Commission of Investigation engaged four independent experts to assist it in its work. Details of the amounts paid to each to date are set out in the table beneath. 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 John Goodwin €83,947.50 €156,456.00 €123,984.00 €251,742.00...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Social Media (16 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The information sought by the Deputy in relation to the Department of the Taoiseach and the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) - which incorporates the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) - is set out in the tables below. Percentage of organic content posted on MerrionStreet.ie social media accounts either exclusively in Irish or bilingual Channel ...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Equality Issues (16 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: My Department and the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) - the body under my Department's aegis - actively support diversity and inclusion in the workplace including the employment of people with disabilities and the provision of reasonable accommodations to employees where required. Recruitment to my Department and NESDO is, in the main, undertaken through the Public...