Results 36,741-36,760 of 51,299 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022: First Stage: Cabinet Committees (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: The fundamental issues are identity. It came across in the meeting yesterday again. It is about identity. We need to accommodate different identities and have parity of esteem between different traditions on the island. That is why we have progressed the shared island initiative very energetically and strongly. It is an important initiative.

Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022: First Stage: Departmental Meetings (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: A Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 to 20, inclusive, together. The Secretary General of my Department has responsibility for the effective management and functioning of the Department which operates at the centre of Government. The core activities of the Department are set out in the statement of strategy and include delivering the executive functions of the...

Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022: First Stage: Departmental Meetings (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald raised a number of key issues in terms of memorialisation. There has been considerable engagement with survivors and former residents. Memorialisation is considered a very important part of the healing process for those affected and the State should progress the national memorial records centre. The Secretary General has chaired that group and funding has been secured. I...

Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022: First Stage: Departmental Meetings (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am sorry. On disability, I agree with the need for a more singular focus on disability. The Government took a decision to move disability out of the Department of Health and over to the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth because it was felt that health was such an enormous area that disability was perhaps not getting a co-ordinated focus. The view was...

Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022: First Stage: Departmental Meetings (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Apart from the fire-fighting on a lot of issues that arise every day, there needs to be a fundamental paradigm shift in health. The Deputy and I can agree or disagree. The approach taken in relation to the HSE was the correct one; likewise with the Garda Commissioner and so on.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Official Engagements (2 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Government recognises the importance of regular and open engagement with all sectors of society. In recent months I have had a number of engagements with social partners in a variety of different formats. This includes through mechanisms such as LEEF, the Labour Employer Economic Forum, which engages with representatives of employers and trade unions on economic and employment...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. Since this Government came into office in the midst of a global pandemic, a one-in-100-year event, the Government has intervened to an extraordinary degree to underpin incomes and support lower income workers, to keep people in jobs and to support enterprises. That has been an effective and successful intervention in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Could I first of all say that budget 2022 increased the weekly rate of the fuel allowance by €5? We increased the qualified child payment, the living alone allowance and the income threshold for the working family payment. The total cost of that was about €146 million. Where is that revenue coming from? It is coming from the revenue raised by the carbon tax.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Today, the Minister for energy will announce a very significant and comprehensive retrofit programme. The objective of that retrofit programme is to reduce the cost of living on an ongoing basis in terms of home heating and in terms of making homes cheaper to heat and more comfortable and healthier over time. Some €200 million odd this year alone will come from the carbon tax towards...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: It will also go towards fuel poverty. That is why we allocated it towards fuel poverty in the budget. The problem is this: we are putting it out transparently and honestly and we are saying to people that the revenue that is raised - all of it - goes back to the people in schemes that over time will be both-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----effective and better for the country in terms of capacity to retrofit but also fuel poverty and to protect people much better than was done in previous times because of the revenue that is going to accrue.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is only a number of weeks since we lifted restrictions. We are emerging from a pandemic that has dominated this country and the rest of the globe in respect of economics, public health and so forth. The intervention by the Government was imaginative, unprecedented and effective in terms of underpinning jobs and incomes to the best degree possible given the extraordinary situation we...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Average wages in Ireland are higher than the European average, as I think the Deputy will acknowledge. There have been increases linked to productivity, which is good. That would be a priority. Again, even if purchasing power is factored in, our minimum wage is the sixth highest in the 27 EU member states. That is factoring in the cost of living, and so on. We will work with the social...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Again, I have to restate what I said earlier. At this time last year, a barrel of oil on international markets traded at $61. Today, it is $91 a barrel. That is not because of the carbon tax. It is very dishonest to say the carbon tax is the key contributor to fuel inflation.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is not the key contributor in any shape or form and we need to be honest with the public because I know there will be attempts made to misrepresent-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----what has been a global situation in terms of the price of oil and the price of gas. We only hope that conflict does not break out in relation to Russia and Ukraine, which could even exacerbate it further, which is something we do not want at all.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: Gas prices on international markets, as I said, have quadrupled in the past year. That is not because of the carbon tax. On the other side of the coin, we do want to release unprecedented funding to people through grants to enable them to retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient and cheaper to run in the future.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is what we want to do. We want to prioritise that area. It makes sense to insulate homes and we will give good grants to people to enable them to do that. In terms of looking after low-income families and the fuel allowance and so on, we were able to take measures in the last budget on the social welfare package because of the revenue that has been generated from the carbon tax itself...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: The other factor is, of course, to take cars as an example, there has been a shortage in terms of microchip manufacturing. There have been fewer cars manufactured. As economies have bounced back across the world, the demand for cars has not equalled the supply of cars. That is causing inflation. That is just one product. That can be mirrored in product after product since economies have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Feb 2022)

Micheál Martin: From the outset the Government has been committed to first supporting workers and people on the ground. No Government wants people to perish or die in the ditches. For God's sake, let us have some common sense and some sense of perspective. The bottom line is that the Government is considering measures right now, over and above what we have already undertaken in the budget, which provided...