Results 39,741-39,760 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (19 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: We know that.

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (19 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is not on the Council agenda.

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (19 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: No, I do not actually.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Her commentary and some of the debate on this issue in recent days has become somewhat detached from the reality we find ourselves confronted with. We need to be very clear about what this is all about, what has happened, where we are and where we go from here. The first thing that has to be done is to acknowledge and pay tribute to the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has just acknowledged that up to 54,000 Ukrainians have been accommodated in this country, and 43,000 of them have been accommodated by the State. That is not cobbling together a plan.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is a reality. That has happened. We never before had to deal with such numbers coming into the country. We have to deal with it because of a war. It is a vicious war and we have said, along with our European Union colleagues, that we will do everything we can to accommodate Ukrainians, and we have. That must be acknowledged. The Deputy described all of that as a disaster. She...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy used that phrase at the beginning of her remarks and I know why she used it and who it was targeted at.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: She is playing both sides in this debate, and I regret that she is.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: She is not the first member of her party to play that game either.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: We will continue to do everything we possibly can to deal with the housing crisis.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: We are doing that, right across the board in terms of affordable housing and so on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: In regard to the humanitarian crisis that has been imposed upon Europe by Putin's appallingly immoral and illegal war-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----we will do everything we can to respond. We are responding and have responded as a country.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is the language Deputy McDonald used.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: First, I accept the Deputy’s bona fides. I received her letter yesterday and we will set in train that briefing she requested. Those countries closest to Ukraine have the highest numbers of Ukrainians coming in, namely, Czechia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia. Then you have Cyprus, Slovakia and Germany and then you have Ireland. We are taking the equivalent of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I want to confirm the Deputy's points about those displaced over the weekend. That was disappointing. We do not want that situation to happen. All Ukrainian displaced persons and international protection, IP, applicants who were not accommodated over the weekend have now been contacted and offered accommodation. On the co-ordination front, I am aware of the issue because we met with...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The death of anyone who is homeless is a tragedy. We extend our sympathies to the families concerned. I refer, in particular, to the deaths of people availing of homeless services. That matter is taken very seriously. The Deputy made a fairly bald statement in the context of offering an almost a direct juxtaposition between the numbers who have died and the position regarding...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: More than 20 years ago, we put a facility together that married health, housing and homelessness in a centre on Anderson's Quay in Cork city, where we gave access to primary care, mental healthcare and homeless services. What the Deputy is saying is not quite true.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: It has long been recognised that people who are homeless for a variety of reasons-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy introduced politics into this at the beginning, which is fine. I am just making the point that there is a multiplicity of reasons someone ends up homeless. We cannot generalise to the degree he is perhaps doing. Some, without doubt, have significant challenges as they become homeless, which can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The point I am trying to make is that we...