Results 20,721-20,740 of 50,830 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Leaders' Questions (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: Does the Taoiseach stand by his civil servants?

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: The spring economic statement was intended to open the next stage of the re-election campaign which has always been the Government's main concern. As the Taoiseach was honest enough to say in the past, its primary purpose was to allow the Government to announce tax cuts and spending increases well beyond anything it could implement during its current term. After six months of an increasingly...

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: Today trust levels are even lower than they were. It is the bloated, complacent and arrogant claims made in debates such as this which have caused this.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: The economy has been experiencing significant growth. Its medium and long-term growth prospects are good, especially when compared with many other countries. However, this recovery was not delivered by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. It was delivered by the Irish people. It was delivered by the skills, expertise, resilience and commitment which they developed over many years. If the...

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----that the Government has ignored in its statement. We have witnessed a growing division in employment between those with secure jobs and good terms and the increasing number in insecure and poorly paid jobs. A statistic ignored by the Government yesterday and so far today is that, at the end of last year, there were 130,000 part-time workers who wanted, but could not find, full-time...

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----growing income inequality. This is a key point.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: For a decade, we dramatically improved the minimum wage.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: The point I am making-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----is that-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: The bottom line is that this is not just-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----about the minimum wage.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: If Labour keeps going the way it has been, it will acquiesce and bring wages down to the minimum wage.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: There is a core issue.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: The point I am making is that there are 130,000 people in part-time jobs who want to get full-time jobs but cannot. We know from the Dunnes Stores strike what is happening-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----in certain sectors of the economy, but there is no mention of doing anything about it.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: Everything is being timetabled to the electoral cycle. We will get the low pay commission in July and some sops thrown in October, but the core issue will not be tackled-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----in terms of the growing divide between many people at work in certain sectors of the economy-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----where there is consistent downward pressure on wages and terms and conditions. This needs a far more comprehensive response. One would have thought that we would have got that comprehensive response in the Spring Economic Statement yesterday but we did not get a response in any shape or form to what is a growing issue for large numbers of people in our workforce. That is the point.

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: In an effort to save some seats-----

Spring Economic Statement (Resumed) (29 Apr 2015)

Micheál Martin: -----Labour may get agreement on some announcement on the issue of low pay, but the implementation of genuine reform will not be agreed by Fine Gael. This is clear in all that the Minister, Deputy Bruton, has been saying on the issue. The statement is correct in saying that the agriculture and food sector is important, but yet again it is an area in which the statement of commitment-----