Results 2,141-2,160 of 50,134 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: That is somewhat unfair.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I have some difficulty with the Deputy's presentation on prices generally. The National Competitiveness Council produced a clear analysis of where we are strong and weak in terms of competitiveness. It made clear that there was a lack of intense competition in the domestic markets, that the most productive side of the economy was the foreign direct investment side, and yet when we move to do...

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: This is despite its identification by all concerned — those on the consumer and competition side and who advise us——

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: All of them say this will have a beneficial effect on price and will not lead to artificially——

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: ——high prices. What does the Deputy do? He comes in and opposes it, tooth and nail, for electoral gain or to deal with certain vested interests. The Deputy has been straddling both sides of the equation.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I am talking about prices. The Deputy cannot come in every day asking questions of the Government, like "What will it do about prices?"

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: When we do something about prices, the Deputy uses his legislative muscle to frustrate and thwart an initiative that can have a beneficial impact on prices.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: No, he did not. I am stating in the House that the Deputy needs to realise that producing websites is not the panacea for bringing prices down, that one must make concrete, substantive legislative change to make an impact.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: In that respect, the Deputy is not giving due credit to our attempts, particularly in the context of the amendment of the Competition Act, to make a beneficial impact on prices.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We all know what has been happening internationally on energy prices.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We know we depend significantly on imported energy. We have some structural issues that other countries do not have, for example, a strong reliance on fossil fuel energy which has cost implications.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The only reason I mentioned the impact of energy prices on our inflation was that if one removes the importation of energy, Irish inflation shows a good performance in the degree to which it is converging with the EU average inflation rate of 2.5%.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Rubbish.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: When Government establishes a regulatory regime and regulators the last thing it should do is interfere, intervene or try to undermine them. The idea behind developing a liberal and competitive market is that it should be regulated independently of Government. It is facile and over-simplistic of the Deputy to label all sectors as filtering back to Government through local authorities and...

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I have seen no downward pressure, however, on rates, development charges or any other charges from those local authorities.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: There is a lack of any real and substantive commitment to the issue of prices generally. That is the reality. On the wider issue, inflation is approximately 2.3%.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: That is a significant improvement on recent years. I do not accept the fundamental tenet of the Opposition's proposition, particularly in the context of this year's Estimates for local authorities.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Members of Deputy Hogan's party would abandon the increase in some counties without due regard for business or competitive issues.

Employment Legislation. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The issue of increasing penalties for non-compliance with employment rights legislation is likely to be raised in the course of the social partnership talks and will be addressed by the Government in that context. The Government takes the view that penalties should be proportionate in scale and effective in impact. The imposition of penalties for non-compliance as well as redressing...

Employment Legislation. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Generally we agree with the Opposition in that we would like to see an increase in the penalties to act as a greater deterrent. While we are not waiting for social partnership discussions to conclude it will be discussed in that context. We are in favour of strong deterrents to prevent unscrupulous employers from breaking the law. Our preferred policy, on which we have worked with the social...