Results 31,341-31,360 of 51,063 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Question Nos. 5 to 7, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment was established and first met on Wednesday, 8 July. It subsequently met on 15 July and again on 21 July. The committee's terms of reference are to oversee the implementation of the programme for Government commitments aimed at sustainable economic recovery, investment...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: To answer Deputy Boyd Barrett's points on the taxi drivers, the pub sector, entertainment and the arts, the PUP covered a lot of those sectors as, indeed, did the wage subsidy scheme, which covered quite a number of pubs. In fact, there was an enormous intervention by the State, which just gets dismissed and ignored and the Deputy uses language such as that people were shafted. A total of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Of course.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Sorry?

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: To be fair, the Tánaiste has looked at all of this, and in the context of the July stimulus, we all collectively looked at it. It is not as simple or as easy as the Deputy has put forward. There are real issues with regard to its administration and validation throughout the economy. I take the general point he made and we will continue to work on this with regard to how supports can...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know that and there is a reason. It is very straightforward in terms of businesses that are valued for rates purposes. There were significant logistical difficulties with it.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together. As set out in the programme for Government, a new shared island unit will be established in the Department of the Taoiseach, which will use the potential of the Good Friday Agreement to deliver sustained progress for all communities. This unit will work towards a consensus on a shared island and will examine the political, social,...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, in response to Deputy McDonald's questions, I welcome the fact that we are having a North-South Ministerial Council on Friday, the first in three and a half years. I look forward to it. I hope it can create a structure that will help us deal with the undoubted difficulties, as Deputy Niamh Smyth pointed out, that Brexit has brought about in respect of relations on the island and in...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald seeks to politicise this all the time. She uses language such as "a passive approach". I am not adopting a passive approach to all-island health - not at all. She knows this but it does not stop her from saying the contrary for political reasons.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy's presentation is always about politics, not the substance of the issue. She keeps going on about the all-island approach. I did not open up Northern Ireland to 57 countries.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: You are attacking the Government here.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: You did.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is attacking the Government non-stop. I understand that the Northern Executive involves a wider engagement with others. My main approach when I met the First Minister and deputy First Minister was to say travel is a problem and that it is a problem that many will come back through Dublin Airport from about 56 countries. The Republic has a restricted list whereby it is stated...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is about sloganeering, ascribing base motives to everyone and so on. That is what Sinn Féin is about. I regret to have to say that.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: EU Summits (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I provided a detailed report to the House last week on the special meeting of the European Council on 17 to 21 July, where we reached political agreement on a €1.8 trillion budgetary package to drive Europe’s economic recovery and the climate and digital transformations. These were especially challenging negotiations, lasting over four days. With a significant number of...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Freedom of Information (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Covid-19 has presented a unique set of circumstances to the continuity of work carried out by Government Departments, including in relation to the processing of FOI requests, but officials in my Department continue to make every effort to ensure that all FOI requests received are answered in accordance with the statutory timeframes laid down in the FOI Act. Since the arrival of Covid-19 in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I fully accept that this news will come as a blow to many consumers in the light of the very significant and severe economic environment within which we are operating. It is not a Government decision. As the Deputy noted at the conclusion of her remarks, the regulators of such utilities and the companies themselves are centre stage in decisions of this kind. That said, I have no doubt...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Government did not make this decision relating to Electric Ireland, as Deputy knows well. It is not correct for the Government to interfere with every regulator come hell or high water. We will do everything we can, as we have, in an historic and unprecedented way, to support people in difficulty. That is the Government's objective as we go through an unprecedented global pandemic....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: In the first instance the Deputy has asked about three key points in his part of Leaders’ Questions which I have noted and will deal with. The Government’s plan is to suppress the virus and from the very beginning all political parties in this House took it as a basic principle that they would go with the advice of the public health authorities and that was accepted in this...