Results 21-40 of 51,570 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Along with Fine Gael and the Independents in government, we said we wanted to prioritise investment in infrastructure and look after disability, not just in terms of the core disability services but education as well, with places and making sure we have a system where every child who needs a place will have it in September, as well as in terms of SNAs and so on, all of which are provided for.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Public services help everybody, workers as well as non-workers. That is an important principle we should not lose sight of.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: That is why we have invested in public services. This is a €9.4 billion budget. A lot of economists are saying it is too high and we should not be expending as much as we are spending.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Sorry, that is what a lot of economists are saying to us. We disagree. We think the expenditure increase is in line with the basic premise of an expenditure rule, that this represents real growth of the economy-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: -----and a change in price levels. That is the Government's position. It is a very substantial investment in public services. On the second tier, some of the models for the second tier would result in thousands of children losing out. What we have opted to do, in a more straightforward way, is to substantially and unprecedentedly, in terms of the scale of the increases the Minister,...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: It is not a question of we cannot do everything. We have provided very effective measures in respect of child poverty in this budget, which the Deputy seems to have deliberately ignored. There is a weekly increase of €16 in the child support payment, to €78, for children aged 12 and over. That is now up to €4,056 per annum. There is a child support weekly increase of...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: The Minister, Deputy Browne, sought that. The increase in allocation to enable 10,000 houses to be built, as opposed to any additional leases and so on, is also very significant. With respect, the Deputy cannot say it is about the market being king in terms of housing because the Government is the biggest single investor in housing at the moment.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Where I disagree with her is, if we want to get to 50,000 houses, we will need the private sector involved. We will. There is a tendency in the Opposition to decry builders or people who will have to build the houses. The bottom line is we have a problem with the viability of apartments. That is well known. There are 40,000 apartments with planning permissions, but they are not being...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: -----the Minister has taken, in addition to the VAT-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: -----will, combined, enable us to get apartments built. We need the private sector in-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: -----to complement what the State is doing. The market is not king according to my philosophy because, in the past four to five years, we have substantially increased the State's investment in housing. This budget does so again with very significant increases.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: If we want to get to the level we want to get to, however, we absolutely have to have a combination of public sector investment in housing, along with private sector investment in housing.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: The Social Democrats' policies would, in our view, shut out completely the private sector-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: -----contribution to the housing issue. On the cost of disability payment, as I said, we took steps to enhance the disability allocation by 20%. Also, the domiciliary care allowance is going up by €20 per month, which will be important for those families.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: There are 177,000 people on disability allowance who will get a minimum of an extra €520 in 2026. There is an increase of €618 million in the disability budget. That is not a minor amount. It is a very significant increase. By the way, last year, the Social Democrats supported a VAT reduction for hospitality. They did. Yet, they come here today and say they are all against...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: You did. You said hospitality should be split between accommodation and food for a 9% VAT rate.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: There are tens of thousands of people in this country working in cafes and restaurants throughout the length and breadth of the country. They are workers. It is an industry under pressure.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Studies show-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Studies show that increased labour costs did impact on those businesses.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Oct 2025)
Micheál Martin: Deputies should not be so dismissive of the hospitality sector, as they are in their commentary, and likewise in terms of housing.