Results 40,101-40,120 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: By Putin. We are seen by Putin as a protagonist and the Deputy is sort of saying he is right, that the Taoiseach should be worried because Putin sanctioned me. I do not understand where he is coming from, genuinely. He added on that dangerous line about endangering the Irish Defence Forces because Putin is a bully and is trying to intimidate people.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy should withdraw any implication or suggestion that Putin's sanctioning the Taoiseach of the day in this country is somehow confirmation that Ireland is not neutral.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: We are militarily neutral. We are not protagonists in this war. We have welcomed Ukrainian refugees into this country.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: We have allocated humanitarian aid to Ukraine. We have worked with our colleagues in the European Union. We are part of the European Union, a political bloc which values liberal democracies and has no truck with and does not believe----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: Europe is the biggest donor to Palestine. That is the Deputy's classic line on this. That is why I doubt his commitment totally. It is all whataboutery with Deputy Boyd Barrett. Of course we condemn it, he says, and then he moves on. I always note his emphasis and where he focuses.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: It is always predominantly against Europe and the West, and less so, frankly, against Russia. He throws out the one line about Russia and moves quickly on.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: That has been the hallmark of all of his contributions in this crisis. I take issue with what he has said in respect of Putin's sanctioning of my good self as somehow confirmation that we are perceived no longer to be neutral. That is an outrageous assertion. We are militarily neutral. We are not members of any alliance.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Defence Forces (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: We are taking sides on behalf of a country that has been invaded on the basis of an imperialist 19th century view that Ukraine has no right to exist. The Deputy is saying we are taking sides. Absolutely, we are supporting Ukraine in its right to its territorial integrity and sovereignty and the rights of the Ukrainian people to a decent life, not to be bombed every single day by a despot.

Post-European Council: Statements (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: I attended a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, 20 October and Friday, 21 October in Brussels. The agenda covered Ukraine, energy, economic issues and external relations. In his contribution this afternoon, the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, will address a number of the external relations agenda items, including the forthcoming EU-Association of Southeast Asian Nations...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Cabinet Committee on Europe oversees implementation of Programme for Government commitments in relation to the European Union and related issues. It generally meets in advance of a meeting of the European Council. It last met on 13 October ahead of the regular meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 20/21 October.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Programme for Government (16 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: Government has been working hard to implement the commitments in the Programme for Government, supported through the co-ordinating mechanisms of the cabinet committee process. The eleven Cabinet Committees established by this Government reflect a broad range of policy areas that it will work on during its lifetime, as set out in the Programme for Government. Cabinet Committees meet regularly...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: I do not want to engage in semantics with the Deputy but she has seized on the word "emergency" in the past two weeks as if it is some sort of magic word that will transform our housing output. She is not the first to come up with the term "emergency". At the launch of Housing for All in September 2021, I made it clear that when I talked about and referenced a whole-of-government approach...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald herself has opposed more than 1,600 homes on Clonliffe Road, about 177 apartments in Cabra and about 79 apartments on Moore Street as part of the broader Moore Street development. I am finding it increasingly difficult to understand how Sinn Féin reconciles its track record in this House and elsewhere in opposing such good initiatives that are now leading to cost rental...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: We have limited rent increases to 2% in every rent pressure zone. We brought in a rent credit this year. Will the Deputy put down her documents and stop trying to create propaganda?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: An award-winning journalist, Sam McBride, wrote a very good article recently on Sinn Féin's housing performance in the North. It is entitled "Housing Crisis will not be solved by Sinn Féin's cynical populism". In the last paragraph, he writes that Sinn Féin's Stormont record suggests that party populism is more fervently held than its grasp of the detail of what would...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: The difference between the Sinn Féin Party which simply wants to exploit the issue and the Government side is that we have taken a range of initiatives and actions. The help to buy scheme, for example, has helped 35,000 people to own their own home.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: Sinn Féin would have abolished that scheme. I referenced-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----how a person felt the first home scheme was the best service they had ever got. Sinn Féin opposed that scheme and proposed its abolition.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: Sinn Féin also opposed the grants for restoring housing in rural areas. I do not understand why as between 700 and 800 people have availed or are availing of that scheme.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Nov 2022)

Micheál Martin: All of those people would lose out if Sinn Féin had its way.