Tag Archives: Leo Varadkar

From top: Independent TD Paul Murphy and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Earlier today.

During Leaders’ Questions in the Dail.

Solidarity–People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy recalled the “Welfare Cheats Cheat Us All” campaign previously launched by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Readers will recall how at the launch of the campaign, Mr Varadkar – then Minister for Social Protection and not leader of Fine Gael – stated a range of anti-fraud and control measures in the Department of Social Protection saved taxpayers more than €500million in 2016.

The campaign was later referred to as a ‘mistake’ by the Secretary General of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection John McKeon.

Mr Murphy also spoke about JobPath.

He said since the ’employment activation programme’ was introduced in July 2015, €84million has been paid to two companies Seetec and Turas Nua.

Following on from this, Mr Varadkar spoke about welfare fraud and criticised the “hard left”, again.

Paul Murphy: “‘Welfare Cheats Cheat Us All’ you said, Taoiseach, in a campaign now universally recognised as being based on false figures which your own department questioned. You cynically used public money to enhance your appeal to Fine Gael members.

“That campaign may now be largely forgotten but the agenda behind it remains. It was more than just a dog whistle campaign for votes. It was part of an ideological assault on social welfare…”

“140,000 unemployed people have been turned into opportunities for profit for private companies. In the process without significant debate the provision of social welfare has been partially privatised. I’ve spoken to a number of people who’ve been through JobPath, they say they’re not given any real training, they’re just supervised while looking for jobs on a computer meaning that it’s pointless travel for many, they describe it as demeaning, as patronising, as infantalising.

“And what hangs over all of their interactions with private companies is the threat of having their social welfare cut by more than €40, leaving people to try to survive on €150, or less, a week.

“Since JobPath has been introduced, the number of people who have had these so-called penalty rates applied has increased from 5,000 in 2015 to 16,000 last year. That is in one year alone. Some 6,500 JobPath participants have had their dole cut.

“On the other hand, €84 million of public money has been paid to just two companies, SeeTec and Turas Nua. They get money each time someone signs a personal progression plan and they get paid job sustainment fees.

“Both SeeTec and Working Links, which is one of two companies behind Turas Nua, have been accused of fraud in the operation of similar schemes in Britain. Last October in the Dáil, Deputy Catherine Murphy raised a very serious case of fraud by SeeTec in Ireland.

“All of that has been justified up until now on the false basis that the system works and gets people into employment. That has now been completely exposed by the Government’s own figures which came out three weeks ago. Only 18% of those who engage in JobPath end up in full-time employment.

“Some €84 million has been given to these private companies to get people jobs which they would have got themselves. Will the Taoiseach now read the writing on the wall for JobPath? Will he agree that the scheme needs to be scrapped and that instead of handing money over to private companies, he should invest in proper education and training and in real jobs for unemployed people?”

Leo Varadkar: “Welfare fraud is very real. And it is a real problem in this country and in every western society. Even if we take the lowest estimate of the scale of welfare fraud in this country, it is about €40 million a year. That is a lot of money in my view. Let us not forget that people who engage in welfare fraud are not the poor and vulnerable. They are people who are pretending to be poor and vulnerable. They are people who are working and claiming.

“They are people who are working, not paying their taxes on that work, and also claiming welfare at the same time. I do not believe that is defensible or acceptable. There are people who are pretending to have a disability they do not have or pretending to care for someone for whom they are not caring.

“People are claiming to be somebody they are not to claim pensions for people who are long dead. It really disappoints me to hear left-wing politicians in this country constantly defending fraudsters as though they are entitled to the benefits that they are stealing. They are not — to prevent and crack down on welfare fraud in any way we can.

“One only needs to look at the court reports every other day to see the detail of some of those cases and what people have been doing to defraud our system. The reason we cracked down on welfare fraud is not ideological. The reason is that fraud is wrong, whether it is tax fraud or welfare fraud, and we act against it.

“In doing so, we ensure that the welfare budget is protected for those who are entitled to it, including our pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, the unemployed, lone parents, blind people, widows and others. As a result we have been able to increase in two budgets in a row the State pension, payments to carers, payments to people with disabilities and payments to people who are unemployed. It is Government policy to crack down on welfare fraud in order to protect the welfare budget for those who need and deserve it, particularly pensioners, the disabled, carers and people who are unemployed.

“I am very disappointed to hear politicians on the left continuously equivocating on this issue and not condemning welfare fraud. I note that the Deputy did not do so on this occasion. Tackling unemployment is one of the areas in which everyone acknowledges we have seen a real turnaround in recent years.

“Unemployment peaked at 15% and is now down at approximately 6%. Long-term unemployment is down to 3%. That is not just because of a recovering economy. Unlike many recoveries, we saw unemployment fall rapidly once our recovery started. That is not the norm in recoveries. There is usually a lag. The reason unemployment fell very rapidly in Ireland once the recovery started is the kind of active policies in which the Government engaged both on the enterprise and welfare sides.

“Had we listened to the Deputy and had we pursued the policies which he advocated, which have been attempted in Greece, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and other countries, not only would we have mass unemployment, but we would have a mass refugee exodus from this country similar to the current exodus from Venezuela to Colombia.”

Murphy: “It is like Deputy Enda Kenny is back. The Taoiseach managed not to answer the question at all. Instead he attacked something which I did not say and then went on an ideological attack about Venezuela. I think he might have even referenced Colombia and Greece.

Varadkar: “Colombia is where the refugees are.”

Murphy: “Let us go back to the question. The question is on the Government’s JobPath scheme, which has failed in its stated aim of getting jobs for people. That is what the facts now demonstrate. Only 18% of participants get jobs, which is no higher than the rate for people who do not have access to JobPath. These companies have been accused of fraud in Britain. What is the Taoiseach doing to make sure that they are not engaged in fraud here? To deal with the curveball which the Taoiseach has thrown, which is that he will stand over and double down on his rhetoric about welfare fraud, the Taoiseach gave the figure of €40 million two minutes ago, but his advertising campaign said €500 million. Which is it? Who is engaged in fraud here?

Mattie McGrath: “It is the spin machine.”

Murphy: “The Taoiseach is engaged in fraud against unemployed people and is using public money to demonise them in order to drive precarious employment. He is continuing in that same Thatcherite vein here. Will he please answer the question asked in respect of JobPath?”

Varadkar: “I said that even the lowest estimate is €40 million. I note the Deputy has not refuted that.”

Eoin Ó Broin: “What is the actual figure?”

Varadkar: “The figure of €500 million was what it said on the tin, that is fraud and control. Fraud and control. They are two different things.”

Pearse Doherty: “It was the Department’s Brexit bus.”

(Interruptions)

Varadkar: “On the whole issue of JobPath, we must look at the counterfactual analysis. People who are long-term unemployed can be referred down a number of different routes. They can have assistance through the Intreo service provided by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection; they can be assisted through JobPath, which is outsourced to two companies; or they can be referred to bodies such as local employment schemes, for example. It is interesting to compare counterfactually how people perform under those different headings. There is a complaints procedure in place. If participants feel that they are not getting a proper service from JobPath, they can make a complaint directly to the company. If they are not satisfied with the response, they can go to the Department and make a complaint through its procedures.”

McGrath: “They would be wasting their time.”

Varadkar: “It is important to note how the companies are paid. They get a registration fee per client referred to them but after that they only get paid if the person gets a full-time job and sustains it. The incentive is there for the companies not just to get people into any old job, but to get them into full-time jobs which they can sustain for more than 13 weeks. The longer the person keeps that job, the more the company gets paid. Its strength is in its results. Unemployment is now falling below 6% and long-term unemployment is now below 3%.

Murphy: “The Government’s own figures dispute that.”

Varadkar: “Where would we be today if the policies of the hard left had been followed in this country?”

Murphy: “We would not have vulture funds dealing with public banks.”

Varadkar: “There would be mass unemployment and mass emigration.”

Previously: Populist Chancer Cheats Us All

Edmund Honohan

RTE reports:

Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan has described as “a sick joke” a letter sent from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to a man seeking to avoid repossession of his home to contact mortgage arrears adviser Abhaile.

Mr Honohan said he has people in his court, on a daily basis, who are struggling to hold off repossession, and he had asked them to contact the Taoiseach to see where they could find mortgage-to-rent as a solution.

Mr Honohan said Abhaile is of no use to these people because it is “merely a voucher for €250 worth of legal advice” before you go to the Circuit Court.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he asked why the Taoiseach’s office is so misinformed that it is unable to formulate a reasonable policy to cope with the wave of repossessions that is about to break.

…Mr Honohan has written a new bill that would give greater powers to the State’s financial and legal support services and stronger protections to people who are in mortgage arrears.

However, he said no political party had indicated support for his bill and that this “is a cross party effort”.

He said he was “using the good offices of John McGuinness (Fianna Fail TD) to lodge it”.

Taoiseach’s letter to homeowner described as ‘sick joke’ by Master of High Court (RTE)

UPDATE:

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dail earlier today

Earlier today.

Labour TD Jan O’Sullivan raised Mr Honohan’s interview with Morning Ireland – and his bill in the Dail – prompting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to say…

“I haven’t seen that legislation Ceann Comhairle. I don’t think anyone has yet, actually. Certainly, I’m not aware of it being published but, certainly, when it is published, we’ll give it full consideration.

“As we will with any legislation that’s put forward in good faith to see, first of all, is it constitutional, secondly, would it be effective and third, would there be any adverse unintended consequences.

“But certainly, once the legislation is available, the Government will examine it.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

In the realistic manner of Hulk Hogan.

He wrestled with his conscience.

In an interview on BBC Mr Varadkar said he believed the country’s current abortion laws were too restrictive and indicated he would support liberalisation.

He said “We will have that referendum, hopefully in the summer and we should be in a position to make a decision on that in Government next week.”

When asked if he will be campaigning for the abortion laws to be relaxed Mr Varadkar replied:

“I’ll be campaigning for them to be changed and to be liberalised, yes”.

He was asked if his views had changed since 2014, when he said he was pro-life. He replied:

“I suppose in that period I think it’s fair to say that my own views on this matter have evolved but I think sometimes that term pro-life and pro-choice can be misunderstood, you know, I think even people who are in favour of abortion in certain circumstances are pro-life, you know. I still believe in life but I understand that there are circumstances under which pregnancies can’t continue.”

 

Over to you again, Micheál.

Taoiseach to campaign to liberalise abortion laws (RTÉ)

Rollingnews


From top Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar with Michelle Hennessy (left) and Roseanne RooBeek from Reuters and being interviewed by Axel Threfall on Reuters media about Ireland’s economy and our global presence at Davos, Switzerland.

This morning.

World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland

Mr Varadkar said he hoped that the ultimate [UK/EU] free trade arrangement could resemble “Norway Plus”, but that it would have to be a “specific” agreement.

The kind of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) envisaged has generally been regarded as following a spectrum between the EU-Canada agreement, which reduces tariffs but has little by way of services, and the EU-Norway arrangement, where Norway has virtually full access to the Single Market, but has to abide by all EU rules and pay into the EU budget.

However, speaking on Bloomberg TV during his first full day at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort, Mr Varadkar said that neither Norway nor Canada were appropriate models.

‘Norway plus’ model for UK may be possible, Taoiseach says (Tony Connelly, RTÉ)

From top Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil yesterday: Aengus Ó Maoláin

So Leo Varadkar got money from his parents for the deposit to buy his apartment (although…). Fair play to him. And fair play to you if you did the same. Let me be clear at the outset that I have no problem with that, aside from a little jealousy that that option isn’t on the table for me.

What I do have a problem with is that Taoiseach Varadkar seems to think that everyone can just go and get a loan from the bank of Mum and Dad. That or go away for a few years to save enough for a deposit, or just move back in with their parents for a few years to save on the cost of rent.

I’m personally quite angry about this, because on the first take, I am in this situation. We pay about 500 euro per month in rent more than we would be paying if we owned the place we live in.

By the way, we live 500 metres from the Taoiseach.

A deeper reflection on the Taoiseach’s comments makes me even angrier though, because it makes something really clear. The reason Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil aren’t fixing the housing crisis is that they don’t see the problem.

They find it impossible to understand that most people’s parents (if they have both or either) don’t have thirty or forty grand lying around.

They cannot imagine a circumstance where simply moving in with your parents (again if they have them) for a couple of years wouldn’t be appropriate or possible.

They simply cannot fathom that going abroad for a few years to earn money for a deposit could be disastrous for any number of reasons.

The whole Irish economy is built by and for people like Leo Varadkar. Everything is fine, because they have done and are doing very well for themselves, thanks. This failure to empathise with people who are struggling, or find themselves for whatever reason in less ideal circumstances is a serious political failing.

Ireland’s economy is built on luck – and if you are very lucky, it’s a great place to live. But if you’re not on the very top of heap, it’s bad, and it’s getting worse, as Rory Hearne wrote on Monday:

One million people in Ireland are experiencing deprivation.

Compared to before the crash in 2008, we have doubled our consistent poverty rate.

A full quarter of lone parent families and their children are living in consistent poverty.

Three quarters of a million Irish people are living on less than €14,000 per year.

All of those figures are increasing, all while official policy is to bend over backwards to allow foreign multi-billion euro companies to get even wealthier, and step daintily out of the way of the already wealthy to make more and more money off the backs of our own people.

And all of those figures are reflected in Dublin West.

Teachta Dála – TD – means a delegate from the constituency to the Dáil. It should be that every TD should represent their constituency. That means in the case of Leo Varadkar – me and everyone living in Dublin West, one of the most diverse parts of the country.

His lack of empathy, and casual dismissal of the real daily struggles of most people in Ireland and in his constituency should be shocking, and it should be remembered.

If Leo Varadkar’s comments yesterday annoyed you, then you must stop voting for Fine Gael or their facilitators and twins in Fianna Fáil.

Aengus Ó Maoláin is chairperson of the Social Democrats in Dublin West and the party’s representative for Castleknock and Blancharstown.

 

Leo Varadkar with his mother Miriam and father Ashok Varadkar

“It has always been the case that a person needs to raise a deposit to buy a house. People do it in many different ways. Sometimes people go abroad for a period and earn money. Others get money from their parents. Lots of us did.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaking in the Dáil yesterday

‘Orphan Annie’ writes:

While the Taoiseach promotes getting the deposit from Mummy and Daddy, did he he himself avail of reckless first time borrowing facilities?

According to this Property Pin thread from 2009, Leo apparently mentioned during an Oireachtas Committee hearing [unable to find it online] that in 2002 he took out a 100% mortgage for, er, himself.  Good times, eh?

Anyone?/FIGHT!

Leo’s mortgage mantra: emigrate, move home or borrow from parents (independent.ie)

Earlier: A Limerick A Day

Thanks Midsummer

Meanwhile…

Accountant Vanessa Foran (her off the telly) writes:

It was quite a surprise to read over my morning Limerick that our Taoiseach Leo V informed the Dail that he got help with his first mortgage from Mum & Dad.

There is nothing wrong with that, of course, yet when he was Dr Varadkar on duty as an opposition TD, he rolled about with all the glibness of his garish socks by telling us he was the owner of a “toxic asset” held with a 100% Mortgage and that it might qualify to be transferred to the new formed NAMA.

Oh such fun he had.

Family homes are not a joke nor is the current lack of residential accommodation, freehold or leasehold or by way of a simple rental agreement. Therefore I would strongly advise against relying on anything this Government announces or promises on housing, in any sector.

The Vacant Site Levy has been debunked, while they can sing the HAP song all they want, if there are no new HAP Landlords introducing more rental units, then there is nothing to spend all that HAP money on, unless we are ok with administration costs.

Please can someone in this current government actually get it right before we start to see shanty sheds, Vans and tents outlining the M50.

See ye tomorrow.

Rollingnews

This morning.

Government Buildings, Merrion Street, Dublin 2

A protest from Inner City Helping Homeless as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and ministers arrive for a Cabinet meeting at the start of the new Dáil term.

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Leo Varadkar at a recital of Christmas carols by Department of the Taoiseach’s staff choir this afternoon

Eamonn Kelly, responding to comments from his post on homelessness on Friday (What Shall We Freeze?), writes:

I can see the role of supply and demand in the whole homeless crisis, as some of the comments have pointed out, but I find it a bit tragic that we appear to be so helpless against market forces. I don’t think we are. I think the government chooses to believe we are helpless and uses this impression as an excuse to do nothing.

They don’t do anything about imposing some kind of rent freeze. They don’t do anything about building social housing. They throw us all on the mercy of the market, standing over a system that is seeing Irish people dying on the streets of Dublin. And they are doing nothing to prevent this.

If there was a will to prevent or deal with homelessness there would be no homelessness, but there is no will. And that was most apparent at the dismal turnout for the Dail debate on the issue. No ideas are put forward.

For instance, off the top of my head, as some kind of recompense for providing tax avoidance loop holes for multi-national companies, you could factor in a deal that they build social housing or worker housing, like industrialists did in the 19th century.

Something like this could be done if solving homelessness was a priority at political level.

But it’s not just the government to blame for this neglect. It is, apparently, the majority of Irish people supporting these policies with their silence.

It seems that a consensus has  been quietly arrived at that we can afford to “lose a few” in pursuit of economic recovery. And besides, the new Taoiseach is kind of trendy looking. That’s progress too, in a way.

And the media too, in a wrong-headed approach to increasing economic confidence they are exaggerating the recovery. That 10.5% I mentioned in the original article, as trumpeted by the Irish Times, had become, by the RTE News at 9, “just under 12%”.

The effect of these exaggerations, as one commentator pointed out, is to attract emigrants back into a system that literally can’t accommodate them, returning due to a falsely raised hope of a recovery more advanced than it actually is, piling even more pressure onto the creaking system.

Lots of people are doing really well from the upsurge in private rents. It’s not just anonymous international vulture capitalists driving this. It’s “ordinary” Irish people too.

It’s so cruel and heartless, and justified in the main on prejudicial thinking, that sometimes it crosses your mind that the entrenched Irish establishment is made up mainly of those who survived the famine.

When I framed the question in the title of the original piece, What Shall We Freeze? I didn’t have a ready answer. I was being a bit cute. But an answer came to me hours later. What shall we freeze? Our hearts. We must freeze our hearts for the sake of the economy’s health. It’s the only way forward.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all. May you never have to make your bed out in the cold.

Eamonn Kelly is a freelance writer

Previously: What Shall We Freeze?

Earlier: Not Just For Christmas

This morning.

At the former Longfields Hotel on Fitzwilliam Street Lower, Dublin 2.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy launched a new homeless facility containing 30 permanent emergency beds which will be managed by the Simon Community from tonight.

In a press release, Mr Murphy said:

“This Christmas, there will be over 200 additional permanent emergency beds, with wrap around medical and other required supports in place for those who unfortunately are homeless and need our help.

“…The rough sleeper count, which the Dublin Region Homeless Executive published last month, reported a total of 184 rough sleepers across the Dublin region on the night of the 7th November 2017.

“The 200 permanent emergency beds, which the Government have now delivered, mean that an emergency bed and shelter will be available for those who need them.

“Today, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and I were pleased to visit 30 of the new permanent emergency beds at Longfields, Fitzwilliam Street, which the Simon Community will operate and manage.

Additional 200 emergency beds and the Cold Weather Initiative (Rebuilding Ireland)

Rollingnews