Results 17,421-17,440 of 50,683 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: That is what he is doing and has been doing, with others, since the commencement of this dispute. I do not doubt the Deputy's sincerity about looking after the workers, but he also creates platforms to increase support for his movement. That is in a lot of the approaches he adopts.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: The Deputy seeks to apportion blame. The State is not a guilty a party to this. It has upheld its obligations to the workers and, believe me, we tried everything we could within the law to support the workers in terms of facilitating arbitration and so forth. That is our position.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: Unprecedented resources have been allocated to the health services this year, including in Waterford. That will continue, in the context of both Covid-19 and non-Covid health services. There are unprecedented resources across the board, including in University Hospital Waterford. The Waterford catheterisation laboratory project is happening in terms of the tendering process and so forth,...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: How do we police someone in his or her bedroom?
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: I ask the Deputy to answer that question in the context of common sense and practicality around enforcement. That said, the public health advice on the specific circumstances of cases will apply to people as they apply across the board. They are very clear issues. There is a balance to be struck in us getting it right around personal freedoms, legal enforceability and sanctions. We are...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: In response to the issues, I have outlined that this will be a very severe regime for the quarantining of people. It involves the quarantining in hotels of people from certain countries where there is a particular concern around the importation of the variant and home quarantining of Irish citizens and people more generally, with follow up in terms of enforcement.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: With respect, the Deputy is a very late convert to zero Covid. The Deputy has been see-sawing around the place from the Opposition side.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: It is true, and I can point to some of the Deputy's contributions on that.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: The Deputy certainly did not oppose the lifting of the measures at the beginning of December. The Deputy certainly did not oppose them in the Dáil-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: I want to say, if I am allowed to speak, that people have adhered-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: The vast majority of people-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: The people have adhered, by and large, to the restrictions. When one makes something illegal and a penal provision is made, it has an impact in people's behaviour. It has had an impact on people's behaviour. Consider mask wearing, for example. I pushed very hard to make mask wearing compulsory in public-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: -----but we were told it would not be enforceable. If we brought it in for public transport, we were asked who would enforce it. Would it be the bus drivers or the gardaí and all of that kind of stuff? I heard all the problems about it. It was enforced from day one by the people. The people themselves adhered to it.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: Likewise, this measure will have an impact.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: I said in respect of the bedroom that it was not enforceable and the Deputy deliberately twisted it in her response. Home quarantining can be-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: Home quarantining can be more readily enforceable than just swinging into somebody's bedroom, and the Deputy knows this.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: I dispute the Deputy's assertion that the Government has not engaged on this issue. It has. I was very clear and honest in our presentation to the workers from the get go. Politically, others created expectations that were never going to be realised within the legal framework available to the Government. The Government is not responsible for the actions of the company. The company has...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: I accept that the Deputy's thinking has evolved significantly regarding the issue of travel, and I think that would be true for most Members of the House. The Deputy, as early as last November, was clear that the return of people to Ireland to meet their families was something which should be welcomed and facilitated. I think she used the phrase "For them, coming home this Christmas is an...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: There are compelling legal reasons it is not possible to do what Deputy McDonald is suggesting. That is particularly the case in respect of Irish citizens coming into the country. Regarding having the capacity to home quarantine or, indeed, to self-isolate, those people must be facilitated in that context as well. There are legal issues in this regard as well. We have our Constitution,...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Feb 2021)
Micheál Martin: That is an important input. Having said that, we are willing to work with other Members of the House in getting procedures which are as robust as possible, because I believe in prolonged suppression of the virus and in getting the numbers down to the lowest level possible and keeping them there. I will work with people in achieving that objective.