Results 31,301-31,320 of 51,063 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: As Deputy Kelly said, they were there before that as well. They have been there for a long time. The fact that we are extending this payment until the end of next April shows our commitment to helping and supporting people. Alongside that, we have also put together a very substantial job activation programme under the July stimulus to help people secure alternative employment. All we are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: These are the facts and the Deputy must know them. She is being completely disingenuous in her attack on the Government on this issue. As regards her question about reviews, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is there to hear reviews. We are not out to undermine anyone on the PUP or to single them out in any shape or form. I want to make that very clear. On the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy says she is against all foreign travel. Is that what she has said?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Is she? I have been hearing different messages from the Deputy on this for the last week or two.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Regarding the compliance issue, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection carries out compliance inspections at ports and airports throughout the year. My notes state it has been doing so since 2012. The legal basis for the control and compliance checks is section 250(16) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended by section 17 of the Social Welfare and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I did not send inspectors out to the airports.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: They have been going out for years and well the Deputy knows it. What she has tried to do in here is to turn an issue which involves 100 or 200 people into some massive political philosophy or ideology that is out to get people when, in fact, that is not what the Government is about. The Government has extended this scheme to the end of April. It currently caters for up to 287,000 people...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank Deputy Kelly for raising this issue. I know he does so in a genuine way and I agree with much of what he has said. I am not happy that there is not a specific timelined roadmap that I have yet seen for the restoration and reopening of disability day services. The Deputy can tell Philip, Leah, Darragh, Stephen, Padraig and Alan that I am working with the Minister for Health, the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy. I met the Minister for Health and his Secretary General yesterday evening in the aftermath of a Cabinet sub-committee meeting about health generally.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I did; that is the point. I asked for a proper response including a timeline for when services will be restored. Some 19,000 people are affected by this issue and they deserve the restoration of services, as the Deputy said, in the same way as children deserve the reopening of schools and so on. I will keep on top of this until I get satisfactory responses. I do not think the necessary...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I can confirm that the efficiency saving will not be applied. This is not about the 1% saving that the cut would represent. The funding to health services as a result of the pandemic is now multiples of that provided in the original health Estimate. Additional billions in funding will be going to health services in general. That cut will not be applied. More importantly, there must be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I earlier referenced the meeting we had yesterday evening, which involved a lot of Ministers. This issue was discussed at that meeting and in its aftermath. I am making our position clear to the Deputy. She has asked a question and I am giving her the answer.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Of course we can do that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know that the Deputy would like a better answer than Deputy Kelly got but the point is-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate that. The Deputy has made the fair point that the commitment should be communicated to the organisations in the system and it will be. The overall point is that we are talking about multiples of the original amount of money designated for the HSE and services in general because of Covid-19. The issue now is what it will take to restore these services. I have not seen the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is a Minister of State. As the Deputy is aware, it is a new Department. It is located in the Department of Health right now and that whole area governing disability will move to the new Department with responsibility for children, youth affairs and disability.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy does not want to hear the fact that the pandemic unemployment payment has been a very substantial and effective intervention in our economy. He cannot bring himself to say that. He cannot bring himself to say that the wage subsidy scheme was a very effective intervention and that the continuation of both schemes to the end of March represents a substantial policy response to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has said he thinks people should not travel at all, and I hear what he is saying. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has made the situation clear in respect of people travelling back to Ireland from countries that are on the green list. They do not necessarily have to restrict their movements when they return to Ireland from a green list country, as per...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: To be fair, I gave a clear answer today to Deputies Kelly and Shortall regarding that cut not going ahead. It is not going ahead. As Deputy McDonald knows well because she heard it, the business case relates to the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business and what it takes for each individual service provider to be in a position to reopen the services for those who badly need them. I...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, this communication happened before I became Taoiseach. The Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality received a query from the Secretary to the Government on Sunday, 28 June as to whether it was appropriate, on security grounds, for the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to retain his Garda driver. The security assessment is that it is important.