Results 38,221-38,240 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: They need the best healthcare we can give them. This is the best opportunity we can take to give them that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The bottom line is that it is ownership by the State of this hospital. The Deputy just refuses to accept that and is creating an issue that does not merit the prioritisation she has given it in the context of this debate. A 300-year lease at €10 a year is ownership by any other name. That is a fact. Anybody who understands anything about property law knows that. The real issue...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----and all of the legal guarantees that are there in terms of clinical, financial and operational independence of the hospital. Deputy McDonald knows all of that but it suits the Opposition to delay this project, it seems at this stage.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I do not know, other than politics. The Deputy is playing politics with every issue that comes before the House. Whatever the issue, she just wants to weigh up how she can undermine the Government of the day.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: It does not even have to be the maternity hospital. She cannot have it both ways all of the time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: We have to get moving. We should get the hospital built. It is the best thing to do and we have the guarantees to underpin it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I was not in government in 2017.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I have been in the Government for the last two years and I am determined to get things done-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----in this country, and not go on with endless prevarication and clouding of the issue so the hospital does not get built. That will be the outcome, if the Opposition wants it its way. We do not own that land and we cannot dictate what happens to it. If people do not want to cede ownership, they do not want to cede ownership. By the way, I do not see the logic of a compulsory-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----purchase order, costing a significant amount of taxpayers' money, being better value than a 300-year lease at €10 a year. I do not understand why the resources that would be wasted on a CPO would not go into the hospital instead. I do not get the logic of the proposition around the CPO five years on. The church is not involved in this, good, bad or indifferent. Surely the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The previous agreement, by the way, had a much lesser lease period. There was very little shouting and roaring about it, actually, after the Mulvey agreement.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: There was very little shouting and roaring. The Deputy was in opposition too.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy will jump up and down when it suits and when the pendulum swings from opinion poll to opinion poll. That is the modus operandi of Deputy Carthy. Deputy Bacik asked a question.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I want to make the point that reference was made to the €850,000 and so on. That only applies if the building is sold or turned into something other than a maternity hospital. The whole purpose of seeking the lease was to build a maternity hospital. The whole idea behind going to St. Vincent's in the first place was co-location, which derived from medical expertise which said the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy should stop accusing members of the Government, who are entitled in a democracy to their points of view on other issues. They are entitled to their views, but the Deputy seeks to blacken people-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy just did in her contribution, so she cannot have it both ways. I respect people's views irrespective of what they are. We are in a democracy and I always respect people’s views, particularly in a Parliament. If the Deputy does not trust me, that is fine, but maybe she will trust the clinicians, senior midwives and directors of the hospital, including Mary Brosnan, Martina...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The purpose here is to build a maternity hospital, not any other hospital. The purpose of this exercise was never to buy out St. Vincent's. That was not the objective when Holles Street and St. Vincent's originally decided to co-locate. Let us not mix up the agenda. The agenda was to build a modern national maternity hospital with co-location of expertise in terms of maternal and neonatal...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As regards the broader picture around energy supply and security of supply, the very strong focus is on renewables and the entire agenda over the next decade or so will be to develop very significantly offshore wind across the east, west and south-west coasts. I believe the next decade will witness transformative investment in wind energy in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I want to pay tribute to the Carbery Group on winning the overall award for Cork company of the year. Maybe the Deputy should take its example because one of the issues the company champions is net zero-emissions farming. It is way ahead of the game in respect of that. That is west Cork leading and a great west Cork company leading. Perhaps the Deputy should discuss that with the company...