Results 17,041-17,060 of 50,683 for speaker:Micheál Martin

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: This is an issue about which we are very concerned. The Ministers, Deputies McGrath and Humphreys, have made progress on it. It has been an outstanding issue for a long time. It is an identified priority of ours to resolve this as best we can.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy that we should do everything we possibly can to make sure those children are protected and safe. I will engage with the respective agencies and Ministers to ensure that we can bring this to a satisfactory resolution. I will take the point on board.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: The TWSS is under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners, who are independent of Government in the administration of the scheme. More than 644,000 jobs have been directly supported over the period and many more indirectly.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: It is a sizeable and significant intervention. The value of payments made to date is approximately €2.9 billion under that scheme alone. The Deputy is making the case that Revenue will determine people's tax liabilities in respect of the income they receive.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: Revenue has made arrangements with employers in some instances where employers may have overestimated and drawn down too much initially and so forth. That is an issue that Revenue will have to continue to work on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate that the Deputy did not make that assertion but other people have made it and I wish to make it clear that is not the agenda of the Government. The purpose of all of these restrictions, and they have been very challenging for people, is to get to a stage where we can open up, where we can get the level of cases down so low that we can return to religious worship safely, for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: First of all, the purpose and objective of the scheme was to preserve employment and the viability of companies. Without the scheme, a lot of jobs would have been lost and, more importantly, the capacity of companies to re-emerge after Covid, or as we emerge out of Covid, would have been impaired very considerably. Jobs would have been lost if these schemes were not put in place in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: Absolutely not. It has nothing to do with the performance of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly good-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I am just answering the questions because the Deputy has asked that they be answered. Quite frankly, I wonder what the his agenda is. He should be supporting the vaccination programme-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----and not trying to undermine it and to have his moments. We have just heard the Taoiseach say X and Y. I am not interested in that kind of-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----infantile and juvenile politics. What I am more interested in is giving the people-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----up-to-date information.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: NIAC will meet tomorrow and the Deputy knows the form. It will adjudicate as it is the clinical adviser to Government and to all of us in respect of the safe use of vaccines. The Deputy is aware of this as am I. Let us not try to create an issue out of that. The group that we have established, which the Deputy has asked about, is nothing to be concerned about. It is a very simple...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: That to me is a simple and positive thing to do. Likewise, the task force feeds into that as well because it is dealing with the supply side, the delivery schedules, and working with the pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, when decisions are made, there is full knowledge all round as to the vaccination programme. There is ongoing informal contact between all of the key decision-makers in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I regard religious worship as a very fundamental right in any democratic society. We should acknowledge that the application of very stringent public health emergency legislation imposes many restrictions on personal and civil liberties. We rarely in ordinary times would apply such restrictions more generally on people. A global...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I will put straight questions to Deputy McDonald. Why does she continue to oppose housing projects? Why does she continue to oppose schemes and initiatives that would give young people an opportunity to own their own homes? You keep on opposing such initiatives and undermining them all the time. There is complete incoherence and inconsistency in the Deputy's approach to housing. She...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, we should acknowledge that the vaccine programme has been very effective. The only qualification we ever put in terms of the roll out of the vaccination programme was one of supply. It is well-known that we have had difficulties, in particular with AstraZeneca, in terms of supply and consistency in matching commitments to deliver with the delivery schedule and the actual supply of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I have to disagree with the Deputy's presentation of the issue. Fianna Fáil has been in a coalition Government with the Fine Gael Party and the Green Party for ten months, having been out of government for ten years. We have made housing a major priority of Government, with our colleagues. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has applied...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Citizens' Assembly (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: The current Citizens' Assembly on gender equality was established in January 2020 and, following delays caused by Covid-19, resumed its work with on-line meetings in October last year. The Assembly adapted its methods to comply with Public Health Guidelines. It held its final deliberative meeting online last weekend (17th-18thApril) including voting. The results of the members’ voting...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (21 Apr 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 27 together. As a consequence of the Covid19 pandemic, this year’s programme of events to mark St. Patrick’s Day took place online. On 17 March, I had meetings with President Biden, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, and with members of the Friends of Ireland caucus. My discussions with President Biden and Vice President Harris...