Results 32,021-32,040 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I received the Deputy's letter on 5 October, which I thought was a constructive letter, and I noted the points she made in it, particularly in terms of having a multidisciplinary approach to the pandemic, her sense that we cannot just respond to every upsurge with a severe lockdown, that other aspects had to be taken on board and the need to achieve maximum buy-in. There is a strategy. The...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am trying to organise a meeting with the party leaders. It looks like it might be Monday at this stage and I will work with leaders in that regard. It is to have a fuller briefing in respect of all aspects of it. On the travel issue, we are now working on and looking at the European framework that has been published-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----and we are engaging with the European authorities. The health authorities have been consistently negative about checks and testing at airports. The public health authorities have a different view-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----to what the lay view might be in respect of that. I just had to put that on the record. We are dealing with that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: The public health authorities have been very reluctant to embrace antigen testing or rapid testing. They have had a view, and the engagement is continuing, that testing at airports would not be the wisest use of resources in terms of isolating and contact tracing. They have fears about it and believe it could lead to multiple false trails involving huge numbers.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am just explaining it to the Deputy. I am just sharing with her concerns that-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----public health officials have in regard to this. We have got to deal with it. The Minister for Health asked HIQA to assess the new testing technologies from a technological perspective. That assessment has been completed and it will be presented to him shortly. Obviously, the Minister for Transport is examining this. There has been a series of multidepartmental meetings on the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is not, actually.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: Regarding the central point on travel, the Deputy can be briefed by public health officials. They have had concerns consistently about alternatives to the PCR testing regime.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There will be no resources spared in the public health response. The Minister for Health has already announced a doubling of public health doctors. I spoke with the Chief Medical Officer this morning on this issue, among others. Again, we are in agreement that anything we can do to fast-track the recruitment and appointment of other staff will happen. As the Deputy knows, with regard...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: On that issue, when the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, was originally introduced it was for a period of 12 weeks. We have kept it open for new entrants. We have also extended to April next and we will probably have to extend it beyond that for as long as the pandemic continues, to make it more sustainable in terms of the overall needs of the country. The Deputy mentioned averages....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: It has to be acknowledged that the serial testing programme introduced since last August has been important in terms of identifying these outbreaks early. Over 200,000 such tests have been carried out, with low positivity rates. That said, as the cases rise in the community, there will obviously be a consequential danger in terms of it spreading into nursing homes. Hence, the restriction...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will speak to the Minister for Finance in that regard. I hear what the Deputy is saying. Remote working will be a continual feature in a post-Covid society, although perhaps not to the same extent. There is a benefit in that it reduces costs in some respects. That needs to be acknowledged. Employers in some instances have stepped up to the plate in terms of providing resources to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: The experience in the UK does not suggest that that will happen. Affordable housing is an important ambition and initiative but there are challenges around it. In terms of serviced sites, for example, that is taking more time than people would have thought in terms of getting off the ground but there are schemes that are in position in terms being developed. People do need to have access...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: 1 o’clock The Tánaiste has asked the Company Law Review Group to examine changes to legislation not just along the lines of the Duffy Cahill report but also with regard to stronger parity for collective agreements with others in any liquidations. The bottom line is that this is a liquidation. Incidentally, it is not clear that the application of the recommendations in the...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We reduced the post-primary pupil-teacher ratio to a degree as part of the reopening of the schools package. The Minister for Education and Skills is pursuing a range of issues in the budget and the allocation of Estimates next year. Undoubtedly, she will endeavour to prioritise the needs of both primary and second level education into 2021,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is not being ignored, and I accept the Deputy's point regarding the impact of Covid-19 on mental health, which is significant and serious. It could continue as long as the pandemic continues. I am concerned about that. We must be conscious of that in the allocation and utilisation of resources. Significant resources have been allocated to mental health over a number of years-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----but the capacity to recruit clinicians and personnel has proved difficult. That is a problem. The most important provision in mental health is community mental health. Nobody should leave an emergency department in an acute hospital with no follow-up through either a psychiatric nurse or some community-based psychiatric service that would be of help. That is the ideal model.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: When did the Deputy ask me?

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I have no difficulty meeting any such group. The Deputy should know that. I have met victims and the families of victims of the Glenanne gang previously. I have no issue with meeting people. What the Glenanne gang did was the worst possible manifestation of evil by any gang, perpetrated on innocent people. I have no truck with that type of thing, and I share the Deputy's empathy with the...