Results 35,561-35,580 of 51,299 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: The contrast is stark between the how the Deputy’s party approaches it and how this Government approaches these particular appointments.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: There needs to be a balance in this debate as well. The fundamental transformation that took place in terms of pre-hospital emergency care-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Again, there is constant interrupting all of the time. The Deputies either want an answer or they do not want an answer. My view is that the professionalisation of pre-hospital ambulance care was one of the best things we did in this country. We professionalised emergency technicians and that whole area.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Yesterday, when I had a substantive question from Deputy Lowry on the issue on Leaders’ Questions, I made the point that both the Health Information and Quality Authority and those who are professionals in this field believe the framework that has been developed over the years is the optimal one. I said that in the light of what has been articulated by people on the ground and by...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: They just keep knocking everything and making it out to be ridiculous.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for the question. I accept there is an issue around substitution and that there are very significant challenges. Various measures have been taken by the Minister to date to try to improve the situation in terms of additional teachers being added, and in terms of supply panels and existing new areas where significant challenges have been demonstrated in substitution, and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy. In order to guarantee the security of energy supply into the future, we need accelerated investment in infrastructure. We also need to work collectively across the House and on councils to try to create a culture of prioritising security of energy supply and electricity supply, with a view to saying that we cannot be putting obstacles along the route every time...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: We are doing everything we can to try to deal with the backlog and to get licences issued and as the Deputy knows the House passed legislation to that effect. Progress is being made but we need to make faster and more accelerated progress and implement all the reforms that have been indicated with the agreement of the Minister. We are also looking at other measures to try to ensure a faster...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Last year's fifth years faced challenges due to Covid-19. We want to evolve from where we were and from the measures we had to take because of Covid-19 and we would like to think that next year's leaving certificate exams will be taking place in a different environment because of the vaccination programme and the ongoing successful impact of that programme in being able to reopen society and...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: A range of people and families have been facilitated in access to medicinal cannabis through the imported licence arrangement. As to the precise reasons why people have not been able to access this programme, I will follow up with the Minister for Health to get an understanding of that. I have not looked at the parliamentary question response the Deputy got and I do not know whether that...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I answered Deputy Paul Murphy's question yesterday. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is meeting the unions and there is an established industrial relations process involving those groups which has been under way since 2018 as a result of a resolution of some of the larger organisations. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan was prophetic in his comments last week about the local property tax...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together. I participated in the world leaders' summit at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP26, in Glasgow on 1 and 2 November. I had an opportunity to engage briefly with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson, during the summit, and we agreed to meet in the near future. I also attended a number of events hosted...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: It is costing billions.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank all the Deputies for their helpful suggestions and perspectives. Deputies Kelly and Haughey referred to my remarks last week on the protocol, which still stand. We have been here before. The meeting we had in May was comprehensive and lengthy. We had subsequent meetings with the European Commission. In the autumn the situation was on a good track with the European Commission...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Ministerial engagements with counterparts are happening but the opportunities will be taken in the context of those engagements to raise those issues and to point up the primacy of continuing dialogue between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: On legacy, if I may say, the British-Irish Intergovernmental Council is still considering this. We met again on 24 June. Our Government met the British Government and the Northern parties in a process of intensive engagement. I raised this with the British Prime Minister. They are in no doubt as to our position on this. The British Government will have had a good hearing from all the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I did not get a chance to reply to Deputy Boyd Barrett's question.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Anglo-Irish Relations (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I never doubted the Deputy's ingenuity to get his point of view across no matter what the context is. The Deputy must have done a good leaving certificate.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 15, inclusive, together. There is no dedicated Cabinet committee dealing with transport; rather transport-related matters are discussed in a number of Cabinet committees as appropriate. This occurs most usually at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment which last met on 30 September and is due to meet on 22 November and at the Cabinet...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: First of all, earlier this afternoon I dealt with issues pertaining to the NTA and the strategy. I again have to agree absolutely with Deputy Devlin. It has been completely and deliberately spun in a different direction by Deputies; for what reason I do not know. The three key priorities are BusConnects, DART+ and MetroLink. All three of those key projects in the national development...