Results 61-80 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of primary care and GP provision. Undoubtedly, in rural Ireland in particular and in some urban areas, over recent years there have been challenges accessing a GP and getting a GP. On the other hand, there have also been significant developments and growth, particularly in terms of the number of places at third level. That has increased very...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I did acknowledge, and have spoken a couple of times today about, the elevated level of grocery prices and the impact it is having on households. Please do not say I did not acknowledge it. I did. It is the Deputy's standard practice now to make assertions that are not true. Of course prices are impacting on families and households but the taxation measures we took last year in the budget...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: We are looking at every aspect of cost and price with a view to getting prices down.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I assure Deputy O'Callaghan that we understand fully the degree to which this is impacting on people, households and families, but we have taken very effective measures. They include ones that even the Social Democrats did not advocate for, such as free schoolbooks, notwithstanding the position that party adopts on so many issues.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: The question is?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Am I going to-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: First of all, I say to the Deputy that he has a tremendous habit of asserting what I said earlier, which of course I did not say at all.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I did not rattle off any figures when I was answering Deputy McDonald.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I did not. What I said was, I outlined what TASC, the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, said in its publication today. That is not rattling off figures. It basically said that the short-term, once-off cost-of-living packages that we introduced had a very significant impact in helping people to deal with what has been the worst inflationary spiral since the 1970s, which we had after...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----but they still did not go to meet the enormity of the increases people experienced at the time. Do not say I just rattled off figures. I did not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I then went on to say that we had extended the VAT reduction to 9%, which we did. That is not rattling off figures. That is a fact, which has had some impact. I mentioned free-of-charge HRT coming in on 1 June.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I mentioned the extension of the free schoolbooks scheme to all students. If you have one income coming in, we all know that every September and every summer, schoolbooks, going back to school and the cost of schoolbooks was the bane of most parents' lives. That is gone, eliminated. The Deputies did not have the good grace to acknowledge that. I do not expect any acknowledgement, but they...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Over the last five years since Fianna Fáil came back into government we have built close to 48,000 social houses - delivered. That is the most in 40 years. You would have to go back to the 1970s to get that level of social housing construction, but we need more because the population has increased. That is a factor in this. The composition of those presenting for homelessness and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----and through the approved housing bodies and those involved in the homelessness area to address this issue.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Additionally, with inflation expected to grow by 2% this year, nominal wage growth-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----is set to reach 5.5%. That will result in real wage growth of between 3% and 3.5% this year. When inflation was high, we did not have that to offset it. We now have it at significant levels. That is an effective way of dealing with this issue, in addition to the measures we will take in the budget to deal with that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I take issue with the term "released" from school. Children these days enjoy school and have very good experiences in our schools but they are going out to enjoy the summer holidays. Through many other avenues of government, we will endeavour to give supports to children throughout the summer holidays. More specifically, the issue...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: We will deal with this issue in the budget, but consumer price inflation, as measured by the European Union harmonised index of consumer prices, HICP index, has eased significantly over the past two years, with the annual inflation rate in May 2025 standing at 1.4% compared with 2% in May of last year. That is below the 2% target rate of inflation set by the ECB. In April, Ireland had the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (24 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I join with the Ceann Comhairle in welcoming our special guests from County Tipperary, our Little Blue Heroes, who have come to watch proceedings here in the Dáil. They had a busy morning. They had a Garda escort and were greeted by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, the Ceann Comhairle and Deputy Michael Murphy. I was delighted to attend the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (18 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: This is an important point. In addition, the capitation grant payment in June 2025, which will be a balancing payment for the period of January to December, will include the new increased rates effective from September 2025.