Results 38,381-38,400 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I will respond to the Deputy's comments and remarks. On the issue of ownership, I must be strong because this debate is focused on the nature of leasehold versus freehold ownership. Leasehold ownership is very common across the State. It is not some new concept. It has been clarified that leasehold ownership is common-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy talked about State ownership and said that I had no commitment to State ownership.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I will come back to the Deputy's question. I have three minutes but I am entitled to refer to points that the Deputy made, in terms of the ownership question. This is a publicly-owned hospital. That is the point. I am not going to allow people to stand up and say that it is not a publicly-owned hospital, that there is somehow a private agenda. It is anything but a privatised agenda.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is a publicly-owned hospital and given the way healthcare is evolving, there will be more of this. Healthcare has evolved over the last 100 years through different methods, in all countries, with non-religious voluntary hospitals like St. James's Hospital, which have their own independent governance mechanisms, and voluntary hospitals like St. Vincent's hospital. We have to deal with...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: If that is the case then why, for the last two weeks, have we been arguing about ownership? Now the Deputy is saying to me that last night that all disappeared.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is what the Deputy just said. He just said that which-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: What I am saying is that over the last fortnight, or for the first week or ten days of this debate, from all sides of the Opposition, it was all about ownership. In other words, this keeps shifting and the goalposts keep changing. There is an element of that but what we must do is address the real concerns people have in terms of what can happen in the hospital and what services can be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue about connectivity, particularly as it applies to rural Ireland, the economic life of rural Ireland and the quality of life in a modern digital era. The main twin pillars of the Government's economic recovery plan were digitalisation and the green economy. The economic recovery plan has been particularly successful in its objectives....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: First, I thank the Deputy again for raising this issue. There are very serious issues and he made reasonable points in respect of this. I would be wary of estimates that we get from time to time. We should all be wary of estimates in respect of projects of this kind, particularly in the communications area because they tend to balloon, particularly when the State signals too early an...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for raising the various concerns regarding the Order of Business as outlined this week. On the announcement today by the British Government, as I said earlier at the remembrance ceremony for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the 48th anniversary of the worst atrocity of that time, the Stormont House Agreement remains the agreed position of the two Governments and all the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: We will have a debate but there is an issue with Deputy Coveney's schedule this week.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Bacik raised the issue of passports. We could have a debate, perhaps next week, but there will not be time this week. An additional €10 million has been provided in budget 2022. Passport Service staff numbers have increased by more than 300 since June 2021. There is a recruitment campaign ongoing for temporary clerical officers. The competition is under way and, once...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is not actually a matter of delays but a matter of a higher volume of applicants. We can have a more extensive debate on that.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Mattie McGrath raised the issue of the World Health Organization, WHO. I am a strong supporter of the organisation and believe we should increase and enhance its capacity to deal with pandemics. The World Health Organization is the body that calls pandemics, rather than national governments. There is a very good reason for that. Some governments in the world would never call a...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am not shy at all with regard to pandemics. To be serious, one risk is that during the last pandemic, the previous President of the United States, Donald Trump, made efforts to undermine the WHO. That did not serve the world well.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I apologise. I suggest we hold one next week, if that is possible.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am looking at the schedule but I just cannot see any.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Would Deputy Pringle like to?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am open to it.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: We need the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who will not be here, because he has been engaged with the British Government on this issue.