Results 1-20 of 430 for 5 million speaker:Leo Varadkar

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (20 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...delivery of the equipment Ukraine so urgently needs. I very much welcome the recent agreement on the Ukraine Assistance Fund, which will sit within the European Peace Facility. It will make an additional €5 billion available for vitally needed equipment for Ukraine. Ireland's contribution under this mechanism will continue to be non-lethal, given our policy of military...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...and made available to the committee. That can be done in a matter of the next few weeks. I hope we can move on from this. We need a strong RTÉ in this country. We are a small country of only 5 or 6 million people. We need to produce our own news content, our own current affairs content, our own drama, our own entertainment and our own children's and Irish-language programming....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (13 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: ...of housing, particularly social housing, is critical in responding to homelessness. We are now seeing record levels of investment being provided through Housing for All. In 2024, more than €5 billion is being provided for the provision of housing and we anticipate more social housing will be provided this year than in any year since the 1970s. Budget 2024 also allocated...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...homes has gone down considerably in recent years precisely because home support has improved and people can stay at home for longer. The overall budget for home support this year is €723 million. That is an increase of €228 million since this Government came to office, so nearly a 40% increase in funding for home care just under this Government. Far from being cut, the...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...with higher costs, like wages and energy to protect jobs and ensure they do not have to pass all these costs on to the consumer; one-off measures to help households with high energy costs this winter, including three €150 energy credits; tax credits to help struggling mortgage holders, renters and small landlords; more investment across the board in healthcare, education and...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The decision on the moratorium with regard to energy is made by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and not by the Government, as the Deputy may know. This will be a budget for the 5 million people who live in the State. It will include an income tax and USC package, which will reward work and ensure that more people get to keep more of the money they earn. There will be a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2023)

Leo Varadkar: As I said earlier, rare diseases taken all together are not that rare but some rare diseases are very rare. When we have conditions that are one in a million or one in 5 million, it is not possible for us to treat those patients on our own; we have to co-operate internationally and particularly at European level. We definitely need better patient registers. There are many conditions for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. He is right that more than 1 million people pay the highest rate of income tax in Ireland. One hits the highest rate of tax at a much lower level than would be the case in the majority of our competitor countries. We have raised that threshold. Not so long ago it was €33,000 a year and it is now €40,000. We want to raise it further in forthcoming...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (26 Sep 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. As Deputy Dillon mentioned earlier, Cabinet today signed off on the tender and gave approval for the N5 Scramogue to Ballaghaderreen road project to go ahead. It is an investment of about €450 million and will dramatically improve access to and from County Mayo in particular. It will also have huge benefits for towns like Strokestown,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Advertising (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together. In the past ten years, the Department of the Taoiseach has incurred expenditure of €3.7 million on advertising with RTÉ. The bulk of this expenditure relates to Government Information Service, GIS, campaigns in 2020 and 2021. All expenditure is placed through a media buying company procured through an Office of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (4 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 13 together. The Cabinet committee on health last met on 19 June and is currently scheduled to meet next on 24 July. The Cabinet committee on health oversees the programme for Government commitments relating to health and receives detailed reports on identified policy areas. It considers the progress of health reforms including Sláintecare, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (14 Jun 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...beds, with further additional beds planned for this year and next year. We have increased the total public health sector workforce by more than 20,000 since the Government came into office. That includes 6,500 extra nurses and midwives, 3,200 social care professionals and 2,000 doctors and dentists. There is a strong pipeline of capital projects, including several new hospitals...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Strategies (24 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 17, inclusive, together. The priorities set out in the Department's Statement of Strategy 2021-2023, reflect the role of the Department to assist me as Taoiseach and the Government to ensure a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland’s interests abroad, to implement the Government’s programme, and to build a better...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...of the Commission on the Defence Forces, we are going to build up our Air Corps and radar capability so that we have an air force but it will be a small air force, appropriate for a country of 5 million people. Even then, not just on an interim basis but long term, we will need to have arrangements and co-operation with our neighbours and also our partners in the European Union,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Northern Ireland (3 May 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...we could better share the island; and commissioning research to deepen understanding of the whole island in economic, social, cultural and political terms. The Government has so far allocated €191 million from the fund. With this resourcing, we are moving ahead with long-standing commitments, like the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water bridge, and with new investments that meet...

Confidence in Government: Motion (29 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...time in our history, we have full employment and a job for everyone who wants one. For a country that knows the painful experience of centuries of emigration, we are now once again home to more than 5 million people, with people coming to Ireland from all over the world to avail the economic opportunities here. Under this Government, there are more Irish citizens returning home than...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (28 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...by 11% in 2022 at a time when waiting lists are increasing in almost every other developed country in the world. The 2023 waiting list action plan was published on 7 March. For 2023, the Government has allocated €443 million to build on the work already done, with a projected reduction of slightly more than 10% in waiting lists by the end of the year. This includes €123...

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

Leo Varadkar: ...said we would get the North Quays development under way. The Deputy was there for the sod-turning, in the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and me, not too long ago. This €200 million investment in the south east will transform that city and make it the vibrant urban centre of the south east that it should be. I said we would invest in Waterford hospital and we...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised) (9 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ...of my Department. I will, therefore, mainly focus on the work of my Department in light of the proposed 2023 Estimate. On Vote 1, the Estimate for the President's Establishment is just over €5 million. This includes €3.4 million for pay and administration, with the balance used to fund the centenarians' bounty. On Vote 3, the Estimate for the Office of the Attorney...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Northern Ireland (8 Mar 2023)

Leo Varadkar: ..., cancer, paediatric services, or cardiothoracic surgery in Crumlin hospital. It is a really good example of co-operation. We are a very small island and we can treat conditions as an island of 7 million people in a way we could not as jurisdictions of 5 million and 2 million people. I would love to see more co-operation in that regard. I agree with Deputy Brendan Smith's comments on...