Results 37,501-37,520 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: The Government has decided to effect reductions in excise duties of 20 cent in respect of petrol, 15 cent in respect of diesel and 2 cent in respect of marked gas oil to take effect from Thursday, 10 March.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: The Government has been working on this in recent days. No one in this House has a monopoly on knowledge of what is happening out there in the real world.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: Quite obviously what is going on here is the international-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: With the greatest of respect, Deputy Healy-Rae, stop trying to seek glory for yourself and allow people-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: We can have this both ways. People outside in the real world want to hear-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: They are not interested in the antics of Deputy Healy-Rae in terms of gaining profile for himself.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: I want to make this point and I will say it again. Everybody knows that global factors have caused the massive increase in the price of oil and the price of gas. Oil is an internationally traded commodity. We are price takers. The price increases have been beyond the Government's control and the control of most governments across Europe. The impact of the war in Ukraine has been stark in...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----but there are regulations and frameworks under EU law that do not facilitate such measures right now. We are working with our European Union colleagues to see whether we can introduce greater flexibility in that area. The same applies to VAT. Home heating oil is not subject to excise duty but is subject to VAT at 13.5%. If we reduced that rate, we would run the risk of having to move...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: That is in the context of €400. The Deputy is the very guy who will be looking for retrofitting grants for people all over Kerry. He will be up here roaring and shouting about additional expenditure for this, that and the other.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: Core Government expenditure has gone up by 5.5% this year. We have allocated approximately €80 billion in the budget. With this package and the package announced a month ago, we are already looking at an additional €800 million and we are only in March. This is funding to respond to this international crisis-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----which has driven oil and gas prices to exorbitant levels. We are going to continue to work to protect people, particularly those on the lowest incomes.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: You cannot do that.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: The problem is that Deputy McDonald operates on sound bites and not on substance and that she does not do her homework. That is the problem.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: She comes in here every day and just announces what should happen, as she did yesterday. She said it should happen now but it could not. You just cannot bring it down by more than 15 cent.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: That is just an illustration of how ill-prepared she was and the lack of homework she did on the subject.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: However, we will do everything we can to alleviate these pressures. Since we came into office, we have increased the payments to those with low incomes on the fuel allowance by €1,239 a year.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: We have doubled those payments from approximately €630 to €1,239, if you take the €200 electricity rebate into account. What we have been doing to try to help people has been very progressive. I accept that, as the Deputy has said, we cannot cushion the entire blow to the public but we will do everything we can, right across the board. In the package announced a month...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----we provided a once-off grant of €125 to those on fuel allowance, we cut electricity bills by €200, we reduced the threshold for the drugs payment scheme to €80 and so on. The measures are significant but we understand fully that given the scale of what has occurred, it will not be possible to cover everything that has occurred so far.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: These issues will be kept under constant review by the Government. The measures we have announced today will cost approximately €320 million. That is on top of the €550 million package we announced just one month ago. The €125 fuel allowance payment will occur next week and that one specific decision will benefit approximately 390,000 recipients. On the broader...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)
Micheál Martin: On the Deputy's reference to Government warnings and so on, I said last week that Secretaries General of Departments have been asked to carry out scenario planning for various potential scenarios. We do not envisage rationing of oil and petrol. We have oil and gas reserves. However, scenario planning can be carried out for varying scenarios and one can be worse than another. It makes...