Results 121-140 of 40,270 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 10, inclusive, together. On 1 February, I attended a special European Council meeting in Brussels. The main item on the agenda was the mid-term review of the EU budget for the period 2021 to 2027, including agreement on a €50 billion assistance package for Ukraine. We had discussed the proposed package at our meeting in December. While it had...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I do not honestly believe there is "political resistance" to this, certainly not from the Tánaiste. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh and Senator Cummins have all been on to me about this important matter. The business case has been received and it is being examined. I believe Department officials may have met with the airport last week because they had...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: It is the case that there are almost 1,000 asylum seekers who have sought accommodation by the State and have not received it. We are just no longer in a position to provide State accommodation to every asylum seeker that comes into the country. We need to make sure people know that. If they are leaving another safe country where they have accommodation, they should know that it is...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for their questions. In response to Deputy Dillon's question on RTÉ, I acknowledge his work and that of Deputy Griffin on the committee. It is fair to say that Deputy Dillon is as clinical in the committee room as he was on the pitch. Yes, I believe there should be a cap. There usually is in these schemes. It is usually a maximum of one year's salary, two...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: For?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: Okay. I am sorry, I thought the Deputy had raised something else. It is not the amount they are paid but the numbers waiting for their training. I will follow that up with the Minister, Deputy Harris. Obviously, we are keen to get as many apprentices through as possible because they are pretty desperately needed, particularly in construction. With regard to Deputy Harkin's question,...

Consideration of Estimates by Committee: Motion (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 215A, the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach may complete its consideration of the Estimates for Public Services for the year ending 31st December, 2024, standing referred to it pursuant to Standing Order 215(2), later than the sixtieth day and not later than the one hundredth day, being the 22nd day of March,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cross-Border Co-operation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 1 go 4, go huile, le chéile. Yesterday, Tuesday, 20 February, the Government confirmed a range of funding allocations which affirm our commitment to working with the new Executive and the UK Government to implement cross-Border investment co-operation that will make the island of Ireland a better place to live for all communities. This is the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I am familiar with the case of Jean Tighe. I really feel for the family concerned. I know that the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs is aware of this case and has taken action on it. I know our embassy and our staff on the ground in Lisbon are doing all they can. If it is of any use, I will meet the Prime Minister of Portugal in a few weeks' time, around middle or late March....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I am happy to work on that. The general principle which was applied in other places, including County Donegal, was that once the Department had assessed the damage and the work that would need to be done, a special allocation would be made that was over and above the regular roads grant. What the Deputy is saying to me is that an allocation has been made but it is not enough. If the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. The dual-use option can be done because it was done in Blanchardstown and in Dundalk. I know it can be done. It will require a change to the contract. That is the truth of it but I think it can be done and it would be the best outcome all round. Perhaps that is what should have been done in the first place. I acknowledge that, but we are where we are now. We are...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I have been trying to get to the bottom of this for more than a year now. I have not received a straight answer or an adequate explanation. It would appear to be a Bus Éireann or CIÉ rule rather than a Government rule because we allow people to drive lorries into their 70s. People can be Members of this House into their 70s or 80s. It is not about age; it is...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We are working on the social housing passport and we want to do it. To an extent, it exists already in Dublin. A person can be on more than one list in Dublin but I appreciate that may not be the case-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: -----in this case. It makes sense to me that if people move county, or move back to their home county they are originally from, they should be able to carry the years they waited with them. However, there are safeguards we want to put in place. The Deputy will appreciate that people who have been on the housing list for a very long time - five, six, seven, eight or ten years - in Swords or...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. There are delays in An Bord Pleanála at the moment and that is particularly the case with SHDs. Some of that is linked to a court case, the outcome of which the board needed to know before it could decide on these applications. I met with the new chairperson of An Bord Pleanála about this and with the Minister. The board is getting the additional resources...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I am very familiar with the town of Clonmel as the Deputy knows. I am not familiar with the particular roads project so I will have to ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to come back to him directly on that. We have an issue around the country which we have to have a think about. There are a whole load of towns that have a bypass that are now seeking a bypass of the bypass. We have to ask...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We can certainly give that consideration. I would have to talk to the Tánaiste about it as it is, ultimately, his budget to manage rather than mine. However, we have increased funding for UNRWA, of which the Deputy will be aware. That was an important signal. Other countries suspended their funding. We said we were going to increase it. It is alleged that some...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: My office is trying to set up those meetings as we speak based on our conversation last Thursday or Friday. I put on record that Drogheda is a town that welcomes migrants and has done from all parts of the world for all sorts of different reasons. I understand the concern that taking out such a large hotel will have a major negative impact on a town, a town that has come on so much in...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: There is only one thing by which we are being led and that is the reality around the world and the realities on the ground. More people are on the move now than at any time since the Second World War. Millions of people have left Ukraine and people are leaving Africa and the Middle East for lots of different reasons such as poverty, conflict and war. Approximately 1.5 million or 2 million...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy again for his contribution. What is happening here is that the amount of resource for special education is increasing, but it is shifting from primary to secondary. That is the right thing to do because that is where the population is moving. As I mentioned previously, in the county of Galway alone, there will be 300 fewer children in primary school next year and ten...