Tag Archives: Leo Varadkar

This afternoon.

In the Dáil.

During Leaders’ Questions.

Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin raised the housing crisis and asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar if he could explain “the absence of delivery [of housing] across the board” and if he accepted Ireland was in an “emergency”.

Mr Varadkar said he’s already on record as saying there’s an emergency and said he knows people across Ireland are frustrated with the pace of delivery of houses and that he’s frustrated, too.

He said he could “speak for hours” about all the things the Government is doing to fix the crisis but he said he’d mentioned the five main strands of the Government’s response to the crisis.

He said Ireland will undergo the “biggest social housing programme in decades in Ireland” with “over 100,000” social houses to be provided over the next ten years  and “8,000 this year alone”.

He said the Government is also “accelerating the supply of homes for people to buy” with 20,000 new houses and apartments to be built in Ireland this year and 25,000 next year.

Mr Varadkar also mentioned how the Government brought in rent caps in urban areas to “put a stop to the spiralling double digit rent increases”.

And he said “rough sleeping” is down by 40 per cent and “that didn’t happen by accident”.

He said: “It happened because we worked with NGOs and charities to get people off the streets.”

And, finally, he spoke about the recent launch of the Land Development Agency.

Further to this…

Dáil proceedings can be watched live here

Earlier: Rising Slowly

 

From top: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

This afternoon.

In the Dáil.

During Leaders’ Questions.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke about homelessness and raised her party’s pending motion of no confidence in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy which will be debated at 8pm.

Ms McDonald called Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “delusional”.

She said:

“Taoiseach, I can only surmise that you’re delusional…you seem to believe that everything is ok, that you’re on track…despite the facts, not opinions, not speculation, the facts – that homelessness has risen. That houses prices rise, that rents are out of control and beyond the reach of even people at work.

“You seem to be entirely immune to the fact that people are now taking to the streets and taking direct action, to give voice to the anger and, in fact, the desperation that they feel.

“You’re plans are not working, your minister has failed and is failing in his duty to the tens of thousands of people on housing lists to the ten thousand people who are homeless, to the children that I referred to earlier, who will sleep tonight and the next night, and the night after, and the night after that, in emergency accommodation.

“And by the way, we make no claim to have a monopoly on empathy but we certainly on these benches have plenty of exposure to those families and those very real, despite experiences and yet you are immune to them and delusional. Because you stand up as head of Government and you claim that you’re plan is working and that Fianna Fail assists you in that regard.

“You have failed, your minister is failing and on behalf of the people at the weekend who came out, desperate people, desperate people, with real stories, they want an answer from you and they want someone held to account and I suggest to you again Taoiseach that the person to be held to account in the first instance is Minister Eoghan Murphy.”

Mr Varadkar responded:

“We all know what this is about. The Dáil is back, Sinn Féin is looking to score political points so they put down a motion, a motion that is just pure politics. A motion that is just pure politics, tactical, cynical, personalised and ineffective. And there’s one thing that’s absolutely certain.

“There’s one thing that’s absolutely certain. The Sinn Féin motion put down tonight, if passed, will not house a single person. Nor will it help us to build houses any quicker than we are already. And this is all we have from Sinn Féin – oppositional politics, cynical politics, personal politics. They don’t really care about people who are homeless. They don’t really care about people on the housing list.

“They don’t really care about young couples who are struggling to buy for the first time. That’s why they put forward no solutions. When they put forward solutions, they’re solutions that don’t work. All over the country, all over the country, when they can help, all over  the country, when they can help, their councillors vote down social housing.

“Whether it’s in South Dublin or whether it’s in the North Inner City…This is the truth of Sinn Féin.”

Watch Dáil proceedings live here

UPDATE:

This afternoon.

United Nations, New York, United States.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar addresses the Nelson Mandela Pea Summit.

Snow peas or sugar snap peas: will we ever reach consensus?

Taoiseach hails Good Friday Agreement in UN speech (RTÉ)


From top: Danielle McLaughlin, who was murdered in Goa, India in March, 2017; a letter this week from the Taoiseach’s office to Danielle’s mother, Andrea Brannigan

Columba writes:

I though you might like to post the reply received from the office of an Taoiseach today to the mother of Indian murder victim Danielle McLaughlin.

It states in the most callous way that she wasn’t an Irish citizen and shouldn’t bother contacting the Irish government and goes on to provide contact details of the British Foreign sec.

Danielle was indeed an Irish citizen, and as such an Irish passport holder. She was also a British citizen and passport holder.

She was born in Scotland and moved back to Donegal with her Irish mother as a young child, thus qualifying for both citizenships.

The Department of an Taoiseach doesn’t seem to know this, or indeed care about it at all….

Danielle McLaughlin’s Mother Shocked By Disgusting Letter From The Taoiseach (DonegalWoman)

Previously: In Goa

Rachel Lavin, of The Story, reports:

Over €50,000 has been spent making videos promoting government policies go viral on social media, in which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar features heavily.

A sample of 15 such videos were paid to reach 14 million views on Twitter and Facebook, with the Taoiseach featuring heavily in nearly 20% of the footage as he informs the public about topics ranging from the Budget and Project Ireland 2040 to softer campaigns such as Bliain na Gaeilge and the Rugby World Cup bid.

The government under Leo Varadkar has increased its self-production of media, with the use of videos on social media having increased nearly 250% since his taking office.

Varadkar star of Government’s paid-for Viral Videos (Rachel Lavin, The Story)

This afternoon.

Supply and FIGHT!

Update:

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has rebuffed a request from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to open talks seeking to extend the Confindence and Supply Agreement between the parties to summer 2020, with an election to be held then.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil will discuss the review process around the Confidence and Supply Agreement once the Budget is announced next month.

Ooh.

Martin reiterates position on no talks before Budget (RTÉ)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

“I think that has an impact on people’s mental health and not in a positive way.”

He said politicians have to expect “a certain level of abuse” if they are willing to put their picture up on lampposts.

“That is often reflected online. It’s worse online and on social media because people can use the cloak of anonymity. To me, that’s cowardly but that’s the way people behave,” he said.

Varadkar lashes out at ‘cowardly’ anonymous trolls on social media (Independent.ie, July 17, 2017)

The book outlines how Mr Varadkar brought a team together to make his bid to succeed former Taoiseach Enda Kenny as Fine Gael leader. It describes how the campaign’s social media strategy was devised.

The book says: “At one point, Varadkar floated the idea to one TD of creating anonymous accounts to make positive comments under online stories on popular news websites. It’s unclear how far the proposal was pushed.”

Varadkar ‘suggested creating anonymous accounts online to make positive comments on news’ (Independent.ie, September 3, 2018)

Earlier: A Limerick A Day

Dunne & Crescenzi, North Frederick Street, Dublin; Leo Varadkar as a student

During his Trinity days, Varadkar often organised social events for Young Fine Gael, at which he would insist on “good quality wine and canapes“.

One night in the Dunne and Crescenzi restaurant, an unnamed female ex-minister caught him taking some beer from the bar.

Instead of apologising, Varadkar launched an attack on her personal performance. “It was carnage,” says an eye-witness.

“The former minister was not at all pleased and would remark about the incident for years to come.”

From yesterday’s Evening Herald [link below] via Leo: A Very Modern Taoiseach

*soft cough*

Leo was seven when he told a shop owner ‘I want to be health minister’  (Andrew Lynch, Evening Herald)