Results 31,881-31,900 of 50,917 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Order of Business (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: They are the Government’s reports.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: The bottom line is this. Equally, I say to the Tánaiste that I remember well when she said before the election that the Labour Party was against water charges.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I have two specific questions which the Tánaiste refused to answer. The bottom line is that there are people who do not have it. They are on very low incomes.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: Analysts are saying that the Government's system is hitting them more than anybody else. Is the Tánaiste going to do something about that over and above what she has already done?

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: Could the Tánaiste answer the question?

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I put it to the Tánaiste that there is mounting concern and, indeed, anxiety and fear among many people in regard to the prospect of water charges, which are coming in next month. That concern is genuine and many people will be hearing it on the doorsteps in particular. There is also a lot of confusion. The Taoiseach said originally that the average cost would be about €240 but...

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: That would be fair and would help people on the lowest incomes. Will the Tánaiste clarify the situation in regard to medical conditions and people with significant ailments who require large volumes of water due to their conditions? Will she indicate the current Government position in regard to people in that situation?

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: That is not true.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: The Tánaiste did not answer the questions that I asked.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: If, indeed, the economy is doing as well as she was saying-----

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: -----why is the Government then charging families with two adults up to €594?

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: That is excessive for any family with one or two 18-year olds in full-time education. The Government now has the leeway to do something about it - that is my point. The fundamental question I asked concerned the ability to pay.

Leaders' Questions (18 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I met a widow the other day who is on €183 when the property tax is taken out. She does not know where she is going to get the money to pay. That is the question I asked her. She is the Minister for Social Protection. This is why I asked about people on the lowest incomes because the system conceived by Fine Gael in its NewERA document in terms of utility, regulator and full cost...

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I welcome the calling of these by-elections. I have no doubt that they will mark another wake-up call for a Government which is more and more out of touch with the reality faced everyday by families throughout this country. From its first moments in office, this has been a Government obsessed with putting spin ahead of substance. Fundamental election promises were abandoned overnight and...

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: It was in this constituency that the sheer cynicism of Fine Gael's 2011 campaign was first exposed. The party started by distributing leaflets pledging to protect services, specifically accident and emergency services in the hospital in Roscommon. The Taoiseach then stood in a market square and said at great volume that Fine Gael could be trusted to protect hospital services and accident...

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: In fact soon after the Government took up office, Roscommon Hospital was put on a priority list to have services closed down, particularly accident and emergency services, and this was rushed through at maximum speed - so much so that the locals put a tape out for ages afterward containing the song "All The Lies That You Told Me".

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: Does the Taoiseach know the tune called "All The Lies That You Told Me"? That played for a long time in Roscommon.

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I will not do what the Taoiseach did. I will not stand on the back of a truck and tell a bare-faced untruth to the people in any knowing fashion. I am not going to do what the Taoiseach did. I will tell him one thing about accident and emergency services. I delivered the accident and emergency department to Roscommon - the one the Taoiseach took away.

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I did much more than that in terms of cardiac rehabilitation, the coronary care unit and the refurbishment of the surgeries in Roscommon Hospital. As Minister for Health, I delivered all of that for Roscommon Hospital.

Issue of Writs: Dublin South-West By-election and Roscommon-South Leitrim By-election (17 Sep 2014)

Micheál Martin: I am not finished. I am being interrupted. The Taoiseach, who is developing a record for his lack of candour on health, first denied that there had been any promise. This fell apart when a journalist produced a tape of him making the promise. From the day he made the promise to the day he broke it, the fiscal situation of the country had not changed – a fact confirmed by his own...