Results 18,341-18,360 of 50,762 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Government has given approval to the Minister for Finance and he will be bringing forward amendments, as I understand it. He will clarify and confirm this in the Finance Bill. The amendments will deal with that judgment in order to, in the first instance, enable current applications that are delayed to be dealt with expeditiously and quickly. Then, outside of that, he is undertaking a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy might give me the details of the situation. No teacher who is working in a school is on the pandemic unemployment payment.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is a separate issue that relates to teacher allocation in regard to pupil enrolments at the beginning of September. I will engage with the Minister for Education on this. During Covid-19, as much discretion and flexibility as possible should be shown by the Department of Education in regard to DEIS schools in particular, and in regard to enrolment and teacher allocation, particularly...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is not an answer to what I said yesterday. It is not a cogent answer. There is no logic to what Deputy Paul Murphy is saying. Is he saying that, in every liquidation, the State should step aside when there is a dispute?

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is what the Deputy is saying. That is part of the problem with this - people presenting it as a very simple thing that can get solved simply if the State just removes itself as a creditor. If we did that in every situation, the State would be broke in double jig time. There would be no need for redundancies, no need for statutory schemes and no need for employers to honour any of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is a target and objective of the Government to reduce gender pay inequality. There should not be that level of inequality in terms of payments in public and private sector employment. We will continue to work to reduce that differential. It should not be there. In terms of student nurses, negotiations have been ongoing for some time. They were successfully concluded in the first...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the issues involved and Mr. Wall has raised them on a consistent basis. We should publish the report. The HSE's clinical advisory group was reconstituted in 2019. The Deputy is correct that it has given certain advices. The Government will act on those advices. Some of them are long-term and others are medium-term in nature. In the interim, the Government will honour what...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The issue is receiving the urgent attention and ongoing engagement of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Minister for Health. The Chief Medical Officer has been consulted with regard to any risks that may or may not be there in terms of mink farms in Ireland and Covid-19. My understanding is that a policy position was adopted by the previous Oireachtas to phase out...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: Sorry, the HSE deals with this issue. I do not know whether the Deputy has contacted the HSE or not about it but he might give me the details and I will follow it up for him. There are many contract tracers out there now and there has not been an issue to date in terms of people being paid.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is no agenda not to pay people. I am sure the Deputy will accept that. Send on the details to me, please, with the 15 names and I will follow it up.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: All of these deals predate the current Government. That is the first point I will make. My understanding is that the issue relating to the Department of Health is going before the Committee of Public Accounts, which is the proper forum for it to be debated at. As Taoiseach, I do not get involved in every single operational contract or procedure that Departments conclude or engage in on a...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: There are proper procurement policies that are meant to be adhered to by the State and I think it is important that the proper procurement policies are adhered to and are followed. I have no doubt the Comptroller and Auditor General will examine this situation and identify what has gone wrong. Furthermore, I will obviously follow up with the Department to ensure that whatever is due to it...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: There will be. The commemoration unit in the Department has been engaged with the Gaelic Athletic Association. My understanding is there will be a commemoration on 21 November, obviously with Covid restrictions attached, to honour and commemorate Michael Hogan.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy asked about Michael Hogan and I am just giving the response. We were due to have a State commemoration in Cork in respect of a number of events, particularly the burning of Cork. Unfortunately, Covid has impacted on this. We hope to do it in early December when level 5 restrictions, hopefully all going to plan, will be scaled down and we will exit from level 5. I believe in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: We all need to be careful with language and how we describe things. People are not scared to attend screening services. People are not scared to go to hospital and many are going. As we moved into level 5, one of the key objectives was to keep normal health services open. That has been one of the clear differences between this level 5 lockdown, if we call it that, and the first lockdown....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: As I said to the Deputy, Covid has had an impact. It has resulted in delays. The first lockdown resulted in very significant delays. I do not know what the Deputy's alternative is in terms of what happened in the last number of months. If we take diabetic retinal screening as an example, it resumed on 1 July. Some 20,000 people had been screened by the end of October, so people did come...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The only issue is to start now affirming those working on the front line because Covid-19 is a once in a 100 years event. It is impacting all strands and strata of society. It is extremely important we affirm people who work on the front line as well. Restrictions have to be in place. Deputy Mattie McGrath attacks social distancing but it must happen. Have we any chance of reducing...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy said social distancing is reducing the number of operations.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: There have to be procedures and protocols in place. The Deputy must accept that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising these very serious issues. Without doubt, Covid-19 has had a significant impact on a range of services and activities and it has created much hardship and difficulties for many people. The Deputy mentioned initially the screening programmes. In the first phase of Covid-19 and the first lockdown, screening programmes were not just scaled down but closed...