Results 23,041-23,060 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Dáil Reform: Statements (6 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: I welcome the progress that has been made under the chairmanship of the Ceann Comhairle towards developing a substantive package of Dáil reforms. This effort remains in its early stages and I hope it will be possible for agreement to be reached on the remaining points on the agenda. The starting point for Dáil reform has to be that this becomes a Parliament in which every Member...
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: I would like to address recent developments and the issue of where the Fianna Fáil Party stands in regard to the ongoing issue of the formation of government. This concerns both events before this vote and where we go from here. From the very start we have been consistent and up-front in all of our private discussions and public statements. On the Monday after the election, we set...
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: It is an important point. The only people who have engaged, despite all the lectures from around the House, in substantive policy negotiations in the past number of weeks are the Independents - Fine Gael with Independents and Fianna Fáil with Independents. It behoves others to stop lecturing those who are engaged and doing the work.
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: In the past month, we have held good-faith negotiations. We tabled detailed policy papers and clarified them. We set out not just what can be achieved over a full Dáil term but also what can be implemented in the next six to 12 months. In these negotiations, we have taken the approach of not issuing briefings and not seeking to spin media coverage. We have played them straight....
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: I have an important contribution to make and beg the indulgence of the Chair.
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: It is not unreasonable to ask that people state whom they are willing to support. Many very candid positions have been stated in private which have yet to be repeated in public. We have repeatedly answered in the affirmative questions the Independents have put to us about our capacity and willingness to support a Fine Gael-led minority Government if the numbers dictated so. Fine Gael has...
- Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: We were there.
- EU-UK Relations: Statements (21 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: We will get it back on track.
- EU-UK Relations: Statements (21 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: The issue of Britain’s possible exit from the European Union has been raised regularly in this Chamber by Fianna Fáil from the moment Prime Minister Cameron first promised an in-out referendum. The record of the House shows that I and Deputy Brendan Smith were consistent in calling for Ireland to adopt an active approach to the issue. In the past year the Minister for Foreign...
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: Comments have been made about our Whip, who hails from Kiskeam. Those from that part of the country, and particularly our Whip, do not do choreography very well. He does not do choreography at all.
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: In other words, we reject the charge and assertion that has been made by Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett. There is no choreography. In the interregnum between the election and the formation of a Government, there have been calls for various debates on a range of issues. Today we are to debate mental health, and rightly so because universally across the country, there has been an overwhelming...
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: My final point is that motions, on their own, do not resolve this issue. We are not opposed on this side of the House to a debate on Irish Water in the House. No charge could stand that we are somehow choreographing or involved in choreography; we are not.
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: No. What we are simply saying is this, today there are statements on mental health, but at some stage-----
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: -----and we are not opposed to this and we will work with everybody in the House-----
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: No, not necessarily.
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: There is an obligation on everybody here to decide whether they want a government or not of some form. We have been straight all along. We will facilitate the formation of a government. We obviously sought a sufficient majority of votes for ourselves to form a government and we had a position on water but many people opposed to water charges decided not to support my nomination for...
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: We either give space to enable that to happen or, alternatively, we can have a debate on this in the House at some stage. I am not stopping a debate in the House and I have no wish to do so-----
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: -----but I want, as a first priority, to try to give effect to the formation of a government that can last, that can be sustainable and that can deal with the major issues facing us, in particular the health and housing issues.
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: That is not true.
- Business of Dáil (26 Apr 2016)
Micheál Martin: It is false.