Results 32,241-32,260 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: First of all, the Tánaiste rang me on Saturday morning on this issue when the article had been published by Villagemagazine. On the issue around when he first found out, obviously there was a Cabinet meeting, as I said, which approved this matter. The Tánaiste is going to address all those issues but my understanding is that he would have got the document from the Department of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know I am, but I am not responsible for what the previous Government did, either from a policy perspective or in any other areas. I want to be clear about that. We formed a new Government to deal with the essential issues facing this country, namely, Covid-19, the economy, keeping our schools open, investing at record levels in health services and dealing with climate change. That is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: Has the Deputy asserted criminality?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy seems to be asking me whether-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----there was, in my opinion, criminality.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I want to know what the Deputy is saying. She needs to make up her mind.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: She needs to call it out and stop trying to be a bit-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I have asked the Tánaiste that question and the answer was "No" and that he had not done something like this before or since. As far as I am concerned, the most important thing when something like this emerges is that there is full accountability to the House. That was my main concern on Saturday. To be fair to the Tánaiste, he had no issue whatsoever with coming before the House...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I answered the question on the Tánaiste, who made it very clear to me and the leader of the Green Party, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that he did not do something like this before or since. We take it from this that this applies to his advisers as well. He did not authorise any other type of action like this one relating to the GP contract. I was not a member of the previous Government. It...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: That seems to be the implication - were to take upon themselves the obligation to start sanctioning members of previous governments for decisions they took. The decisions taken by any government must be accountable to the people in a subsequent election, and indeed that is the way it works. That is a general point I have to make.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for his constructive raising of this issue and his questions. I accept fully his broad thesis regarding the need for Irish-specific research. I read the article to which Deputy Naughten referred regarding Dr. Paddy Mallon. I think it was in the Sunday Independenton Sunday, and concerned the need to do some more work on the specific data emanating from Irish sources....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I accept Deputy Naughten's point about the need for research to inform future actions. With regard to the tools and what is being done in Europe, in many ways we have been ahead of what many European countries have been doing in dealing with the second wave. When I met with EU Heads of State and other Prime Ministers, what they were calling lockdown was our level 3, which was the closure of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: There are two dimensions to the points raised by the Deputy, which I thank her for raising. The first relates to the overall issue of connectivity in rural Ireland and the roll-out of the national broadband contract. It is no longer a plan. The contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in November last year and a copy of the contract between the Government and NBI was...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: The restrictions on the marts mirror exactly what happened between April and 8 June during the first phase of Covid-19 restrictions. While it posed challenges, people managed to get through that. We are saying that for the six weeks of level 5 restrictions, it is important that we work to try to get through them, notwithstanding the challenges that they present. I do not understate those...

Tuairisc Oifigiúil Dháil Éireann - Official Report of Dáil Éireann (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le gach éinne a ghlac páirt in eagrú an 1,000ú imleabhar agus leis na scríbhneoirí go léir a chuir tuairiscí na Dála le chéile ar feadh na nglúnta. Is cuimhin liom, fadó, nuair a bhí mé i mo mhac léinn, rinne mé roinnt taighde agus bhain mé an-tairbhe agus...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: We are endeavouring to be helpful. The Chief Whip's proposal is a genuine attempt, which I thought, to be fair, Sinn Féin was accepting until Deputy McGrath spoke. His contribution seems to have been a catalyst for Sinn Féin to harden its position. Two hours is a lengthy enough process. I think that is fair. The Chief Whip made the proposal in good faith and I hope the response...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is the longest ever round.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I point out to Deputy Boyd Barrett that the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and her Department have been in constant engagement with the partners in education, including the trade unions, regarding the continued opening of schools to ensure that children do not fall as long-term victims of this virus and that we protect them in every way possible. The best way to do that is to have an...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)

Micheál Martin: I do not mean that in any disparaging way; it is just where we are. The Business Committee could usefully look at that. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae has made a reasonable argument in asking if we can get more reasonable timelines into this. I take his point in that regard.