Results 3,121-3,140 of 50,134 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Ó Broin does not believe in home ownership. Tell the truth. You do not believe in home ownership.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: You are not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: Dereliction and vacancy is a key issue. However, I would argue that never has more funding been made available through a whole variety of schemes to try to end dereliction and get urban regeneration going. In the first instance we have the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. A lot of that is yet to come through in terms of the schemes. Funding has been allocated, schemes have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta. Níl an méid a dúirt sé cruinn nó macánta. Tá sé mímhacánta. Is léir go bhfuil easpa polasaithe ag páirtí Sinn Féin i gcomhthéacs chúrsaí tithíochta. Bhí Sinn Féin i gcoinne an-chuid scéimeanna ar Bhóthar Oscair Mhic Thréinir-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----le fada de bhlianta. Sinn Féin was against the building of houses on Oscar Traynor Road for well over a decade.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: The bottom line is that in the Deputy's contribution - it is interesting - he omitted to say that the scheme approved by Dublin City Council contained 20% affordable homes, 40% social homes and 40% cost-rental homes. Of the 853 homes, 20% are affordable, 40% are social and 40% are cost rental. Why did the Deputy not mention the 40% social? Why did he not mention the 40% cost rental? ...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: They can then get €30,000 in terms of the help to buy scheme-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----so they are looking at a much-reduced price in respect of what is being presented by the Deputy. They are the first houses to come on stream on that particular scheme. There is 40% social and 40% cost rental. The cost-rental homes are 25% below market value. That site was left vacant for decades. It was a scandal that site was left vacant, in my view-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----because of ideologically driven policies by Sinn Féin and others, objecting serially all of the time. My point is that Sinn Féin's equity scheme, for example, is interesting. Home ownership matters and we believe in home ownership. We did not believe the site should be 100% social homes, which Sinn Féin did.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: We do not believe in 100% social schemes.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: We believe there should be a balance and we believe home ownership matters. In many respects through Sinn Féin's schemes - given the cap of €80,000 on its shared equity scheme, for example - one could never own a house if they were a garda married to a nurse or whatever. That is a fact.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: Sinn Féin would put a cap of €80,000 on it and get rid of the shared equity scheme and the first home scheme. That is the bottom line.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is affordability.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Conflict Resolution (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I accept the basic point the Deputy is making on enhancing that presence and strengthening it with a view to facilitating greater movement in terms of the rights of Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. This has been a long-standing conflict, causing a lot of death. There are refugees on both sides, with the displacement of some 800,000 people since the beginning of the conflict. It is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Conflict Resolution (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for his continuing interest, commitment and advocacy on this issue. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain an issue of concern for Ireland and the European Union. I regularly discuss the situation in Armenia and the region with my European Union colleagues, most recently at the March meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. The European Union has been playing an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: There is absolutely no evidence that any airport in Ireland or any Irish sovereign airspace is being used to transport weapons to the conflict in the Middle East. All foreign military aircraft wishing to overfly or land in the State are required, without exception, to obtain diplomatic clearance. This has been the case for many years. Such permission is granted only where all relevant...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am very clear that there is no weaponry going via Ireland to Israel and certainly, as I have said, not through any airport. There is absolutely no evidence at all to suggest any airport in Ireland or Irish sovereign airspace is being used to transport weapons to the conflict in the Middle East. There is a distinction drawn between civil aircraft and military aircraft. Civil aircraft come...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I take the Deputy's point. We condemn the bombardment of Gaza. What is happening in Gaza is absolutely shocking. It needs to stop and it must stop immediately. There has been a long-standing relationship between the United States and Israel, going back to the foundation of the latter state, and likewise between many European Union states and Israel. We are a militarily neutral country....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: European Union (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am a passionate believer in enlargement, notwithstanding all the challenges that come with it and that Deputy Lawless outlined in terms of rule of law and alignment. As regards the constant challenges, it is clear that the populations of many of these countries want to be in the EU and want the norms we have in democracy and economic development and the Single Market benefits that brings....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for his persistence and his advocacy for the families of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. On 17 May this year, we marked the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, a brutal and devastating act of violence in which 34 people lost their lives and 300 people were injured. Alongside the Taoiseach and President Higgins, I attended the very...