Results 461-480 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: If I stick to that, I can do this very quickly.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: In relation to the O'Meara case, we will need legislation on that. We are considering the judgment, which is about 160 pages in length. I should point out that the judgment was made on equality grounds. Sadly, the court confirmed that it does not see Mr. O'Meara's family as a family under our Constitution and nor can the State. That is another reason why we need to change the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: First, everyone should live in safe and healthy accommodation. Damp, mould and cold living conditions are not acceptable, particularly when it is State-provided accommodation. In relation to Oliver Bond, I am informed that Dublin City Council is working on a design in preparation for a Part 8 planning application for the regeneration of Oliver Bond flats, including blocks L, M and N. In...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: The issue of immigration and asylum is a very sensitive topic and one that needs to be dealt with sensitively in this House, so I reiterate my view and that of the Government that migration in the round has been a good thing for Ireland. We would not be able to run most of our public services without migrant workers. Many of the big companies that are here that pay billions in tax would not...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: Businesses, particularly small businesses, have received unprecedented support from Government over the past three or four years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we helped pay the wages and the overheads. During the energy crisis, we helped with the energy bills through TBESS. We reduced VAT to 9% on a temporary basis-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: -----we brought in tax warehousing and we also have a new grant which businesses will receive in the next couple of months. The sad reality is that there are a number of businesses in the State which have only got by in the past couple of years because of that State support and some of those are not viable. That is a sad truth but one no Government can simply subsidise forever. On the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: They are. The Deputy is entitled to his opinions, but he is not entitled to his own facts. The facts are that in the past three years, 80,000 Irish citizens left and went abroad for all sorts of different reasons. A total of 90,000 came back. That is a fact, Deputy.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I think the Deputy may be incorrect and we can check the record. I believe I said the Deputy's party only mentioned Hamas in the context of its crimes on 7 October which it says does not justify Israel's response.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: There is no condemnation.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: There is no call for the release of the hostages. There is no call for Hamas to cease fire. There is no call for that terrorist organisation to disarm.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know many Deputies have done so, in Government parties and Opposition parties alike. We are a Government that supports enterprise and wants to make work pay. We believe it is possible to reward enterprise and reward work. However, there are interplays and balances that have to be struck, and we have to strike them right. I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of clarifying the record, I think I have done that already by correspondence. Like a lot of things, investment depends on how you count it, that is, whether you count the spend when it is actually spent, which often happens after the building has been built, or when it is announced or when it is under construction. What the Deputy and I do not disagree on is that Waterford and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: There has been considerable investment in University Hospital Waterford under this Government. Just since 2019, there has been a 40% increase in staffing at the hospital. The hospital's budget is now approximately €270 million. There has been a 33% increase in the budget since 2019. There has been considerable investment in Waterford. That includes the second cath lab, which...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned earlier, the Attorney General will travel to the ICJ in The Hague on 22 February and will make Ireland's intervention in respect of the case relating to Israel and Palestine and the actions happening in that regard in person. This demonstrates that we take these matters seriously and that we take the ICJ seriously. On the genocide convention case, we will adopt the same...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: Like everyone in the House, I am appalled at the ongoing violence that is occurring in Gaza and, indeed, in the West Bank and Israel, where millions of people have been displaced and tens of thousands killed, mostly women and children. We should not forget there are two sides to this conflict. It is the case that many more Palestinians have died than Israelis and many more Palestinians have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I do not like to see investment funds buying up family homes en masse. I know the Deputy does not either. I have said that before. However, what she has represented in the Dáil today is not the full story. As is so often the case, she has engaged in a degree of misleading behaviour. The Government did change the law. We changed the law back in May 2021 after the events in Maynooth...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: I have not seen the detail of the advice to the Minister, Deputy McGrath. I expect that when I see it, I will find out that Deputy McDonald has not told the full story or given the full picture to the Irish people and that she has engaged in a degree of misrepresentation and misleading behaviour. I suspect that the advice will also say that the number of family homes bought up by investment...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: -----but I will double-check that. As I said earlier, the Government does not want to see family homes being bought up by investment funds. That is not the case at all. It is something we think is undesirable socially and economically. That is why we changed the law in 2021 to stop this happening. It does not apply to old permissions. This is an old permission from 2019. The Deputy's...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: A comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed COVID-19 will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences in dealing with a pandemic. It will include a review of the whole-of-government response to the pandemic and how we might do better and be in a stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur. It will include a consideration of the...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (23 Jan 2024)

Leo Varadkar: The Cabinet Committee on Brexit and Northern Ireland is one of ten Cabinet Committees re-established in January 2023. It last met on 29 November 2023. The Cabinet Committee is intended to oversee implementation of Programme for Government commitments in the areas of Brexit and Northern Ireland, and ongoing related developments. Northern Ireland and related matters are also discussed at...