Results 19,201-19,220 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In addition, we have given consideration to training all staff members in mental health first aid. This is costed at €350 per participant, so it would cost approximately €2 million to train all staff members in basic mental health first aid. However, perhaps it is something we could do for all new staff or all staff over a number of years. That probably would not be...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As Deputies in the House will be aware, my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, recently announced a new approach that will be taken to reviewing current departmental expenditure in advance of budget 2018. The purpose of this review is to ensure the best value for money for the taxpayer. It is quite distinct from the savings reviews in...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy makes a very valid suggestion. As we get down to very low levels of unemployment, with long-term unemployment now under 4%, people will need a different type of support because the profile of these people is different from what it was when unemployment was very high. To answer the Deputy's previous question, one of the programmes is already closed. JobBridge is closed for new...

Priority Questions: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The answer to the Deputy's first question is "Yes". It is still intended that we will have a new scheme in the latter half of the year, which will provide people who do not have work experience with the work experience they need, but it is intended that there would be an employer contribution and they would be paid, at the very least, the minimum wage rate. It will be quite different from...

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, the usual practice is that a social welfare Bill is brought before the Oireachtas each year, in spring or early summer, to provide a legal basis within the social welfare code for policy, administrative and operational changes that may be required. My Department is developing the heads of a Bill which will address legislative needs in a number of operational...

Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am very much open to the idea of a stakeholder forum involving employers, unions and perhaps people who represent pensioners. I would propose to start it off with the new Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which was recently established. I will bring proposals to LEEF in the spring. However, I would not be averse to a different form of stakeholder forum, perhaps similar to that which...

Priority Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not recall ever using the term "smashing" about any target. Perhaps it is in a Government press release or something but it is not a term I have used. Sooner or later, Sinn Féin will have to face up to the fact that the story it has been telling Irish people for the past couple of years is just not true and does not stand up to the statistical facts. What also came out today was...

Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to schools and organisations benefiting over 200,000 children at a total cost of some €47.7 million during 2017. For the current academic year, 2016-2017, a total of €44 million has been allocated to schools under the scheme. Funding for the scheme was increased this year, as part of budget 2017, by...

Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know why that is the case. If the Deputy wants to give me the names of the schools now, that is fine. If not, he can give them to me afterwards. Overall, the funding provided for the scheme was increased substantially by the former Minister, Deputy Burton, and was increased again for this year so I do not understand why that is the case. I am not saying it is not the case but if...

Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We do not anticipate an underspend or an overspend in this area so the funding is there. When it comes to the additional funding being provided to the DEIS schools participating in the scheme, the provision is for breakfast and lunch for up to 90% of children. That has been the case for quite some time. It is not a change or cutback in any way. That has been the case, as far as I can see,...

Priority Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I suppose I am disappointed to one extent that things are not improving faster than they are, but I am encouraged that there can be no doubt now that in 2015, living standards improved, poverty fell and the country became more equal. We have heard from other parties - parties of the left and the parties opposite - that that was not the truth. We have been fed the story that the recovery is...

Priority Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The straight question I would like to ask the Deputy is whether he would like to take back and stand corrected when it comes to the Sinn Féin narrative for the past two or three years that incomes are not improving, that living conditions are not improving and that poverty is not going down. If he wants to use these statistics against me, he cannot be selective about them. He cannot...

Priority Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 29 together. I welcome the latest Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on income and living conditions results for 2015 which show improvements in living conditions and reductions in poverty overall. In 2015, incomes rose by 6.2%, mainly due to rising employment, the deprivation rate fell for the second year running, and 13,000 children were...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s primary strategy to reduce youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and the availability of productive employment for young people. This strategy has been succeeding; by the third quarter of 2016 the number of people in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Reviews (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: During the Dáil report stage debate on the Social Welfare Bill 2016, I agreed that I would ask my officials to examine the issue of jobseeker’s benefit and the treatment of part-time and seasonal workers, including those categorised as having subsidiary employment. Work has commenced with a view to having a report ready by the end of March / early April 2017. This report will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions Payments (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 41 and 45 together. The overall concern in recent years has been to protect the value of weekly social welfare rates. Expenditure on pensions is approximately €7 billion per annum. Due to demographic changes, my Department’s spending on older people is increasing year on year at an approximate rate of €1 billion every 5 years....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The rent supplement scheme is supporting 47,000 tenants for which the Government has provided €253 million in 2017. The scheme is generally available to people whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and do not have alternative accommodation available. Rent supplement is subject to a means test which is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Projects (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 74 together. As Deputies will be aware, my colleague Paschal Donohoe T.D. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, recently announced a new approach that will be taken to reviewing current Departmental expenditure in advance of Budget 2018. The purpose of this review is to ensure the best value for money for the taxpayer. It is quite distinct...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Administration (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There are no plans to introduce a surcharge on the free travel pass and I am fully committed to its retention as a service provided without charge to passholders. The free travel scheme provides free travel for those with eligibility on the main public and private transport services which includes road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (21 Feb 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48, 52, 56, 63 and 76 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 employment schemes such as Community Employment (CE) and Tús. These schemes provide part-time temporary work in local...