Results 35,581-35,600 of 51,299 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: That is the start date but, as Deputies know, all the environmental impact assessments and all the preliminary work have started already. Major work has already gone into MetroLink and we have to get it ready for planning. As public representatives, the most effective thing we can do is to collectively get behind it when it gets into the planning process. That will be challenging because...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: It is equally important to point out that under the strategy published yesterday, and Deputy Kelly raised the point about emissions and so on, implementation of the full measures will reduce transport emissions in the greater Dublin area by 69%. This is very significant because further investment in DART and Luas, which are already fully electric, is how that reduction will happen. It will...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald raised the issue of school transport in respect of Carrigaline Community Special School. It was a very good announcement and decision that we, together with the ETB, got that school up and running so quickly, which was necessary. The ETB and Bus Éireann should ensure there is proper school transport. I will engage with the Minister and the parties involved in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 to 22, inclusive, together. Issues relevant to agriculture are discussed, as required, at a number of Cabinet committees, including the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment, which last met on 30 September and will next meet on 22 November, and the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change, which last met on 3 November 2021. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 to 22, inclusive, together. Issues relevant to agriculture are discussed, as required, at a number of Cabinet committees, including the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment, which last met on 30 September and will next meet on 22 November, and the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change, which last met on 3 November 2021. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: There were a number of questions there. Deputies Kelly and Cahill raised the issue of afforestation and issues with the licensing of forestry operations because of changes to the appropriate assessment procedure, due to European Court of Justice and Irish law rulings relating to environmental regulation. We are addressing these issues robustly. I am not happy with the low level of planting...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Coillte also has a strong agenda in terms of biodiversity and we will be engaging with Coillte in that respect. There is a legitimate argument about the nature of the trees that have been grown over the years but we have to follow through on commitments made. One of the difficulties is that many involved in farming have lost confidence in the programme because of the series of objections...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Are you against the carbon tax?

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: That is my point. About €723 million has been allocated-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----which will help us deal more effectively, and with capacity, with the agenda around climate change. There is a lot of either delusional thinking or just pure politics at play-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----in people's attitudes to this agenda because we cannot do it without this. First, the science tells us we should do it. The scientists say it is the right way to go but we also need that funding to change direction in areas like forestry, agri-environment schemes and so on.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: In terms of the requirement for a licence for thinning, that is a fair point. I will discuss that with the Minister in response to what is required. As I said earlier, we are looking at measures that might facilitate low-level planting and low-volume planting without having the same bureaucratic necessity that is currently there.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, are looking at that and whether amendments can be brought forward to facilitate that on farmland as well. I am very impatient and intolerant of this whole area because Ireland is a place where we can and should be growing far more trees than we are growing. Doing so creates a carbon sink, ultimately. It is...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I think you are wrong.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Through the Chair, it is an extraordinarily anti-enterprise strategy that would deny Irish companies the opportunity to export such goods and services to Canada and generate jobs at home in so doing.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: From an enterprise perspective, the level of opposition to CETA borders on the illiterate at times.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Opposition needs to be called out from time to time on its anti-enterprise strategies.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: I did. What I meant by that was that even though the subject matter or the title of the essay might change, you would still write a very relevant essay.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Advertising (10 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: The following table details expenditure by my Department on advertisements from 2011 to the beginning of November 2021. Year Expenditure 2011 €101,062 2012 €562,573 2013 €68,128 2014 €6,192 2015 €53,666 2016...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2021)

Micheál Martin: Ní aontaím leis an Teachta ó thaobh an plean atá foilsithe ag an Aire, An Teachta Donnelly, mar is léir gur plean cuimsitheach é. Caithfear é a chur i gcomhthéacs an plean a bhí againn anuraidh ina raibh an-chuid áiseanna agus airgid curtha ar fáil do na hospidéil ach go háirithe agus na seirbhísí sláinte go...