Results 50,621-50,640 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: That is a fair presentation. I will talk to the Minister for justice, reflecting on what the Deputy said. There is an absence of consequences within that space before formally referring people to the juvenile justice system - which we are reluctant to do, to give young people a chance - and, on the other hand, ensuring people cannot just behave with abandon and no consequences. I take the...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. The Government accepts there are genuine maintenance backlogs in terms of roads across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in south Kerry and Kerry more generally. We have allocated additional money to Kerry County Council for the regular maintenance of the network. In respect of the Killarney bypass, I tend to call...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: It is the Cork-Kerry economic corridor. The Macroom and Baile Bhuirne bypass has been extraordinarily transformational environmentally, on public health grounds in terms of the air, on a road safety basis and also in terms of access and opening up Kerry to the economy of the wider hinterland right across the south west. Cork people are always anxious to benefit Kerry people as much as we...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am sure the Minister for public expenditure, who is sitting beside me, has heard the plea that the boys of Barr na Sráide once again be able to walk newly paved streets and a regenerated town for the benefit of the entire country and all who visit.

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: It is very hard to keep up with the poetic qualities of Kerry Deputies. There are a lot of allocations going on at the moment, including €1.8 million to the N70 Creamery Cross to Kenneigh phase 2 paving scheme that is under way, the Blackwater Bridge to Sneem project, the Waterville to Ballybrack project and improvements to the N72 between Tralee and Dingle. A total of €13...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: The testimony of Paul Guy has been very impactful. As I said earlier to Deputy Bacik, who raised this question on Leaders' Questions, it is very traumatic for families generally with loved ones in nursing homes but particularly for the Guy family. Legislation is already in place to deal with what happened in these nursing homes. We do not need new adult safeguarding legislation to deal...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: It was abuse. We have a regulatory authority and legislation there. A lot of work has been done in the past year on adult safeguarding, the policy is near completion and there will be legislation. What happened should not have happened and there are already laws there to deal with it. Implication and oversight are required.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Quite a significant number of economists, along with the Housing Agency, are saying that measures taken by this House in 2021 restricted supply, so a lot of people are saying there is a clear need for reform of the rent pressure zones. The vast majority of commentators have said that. The key objective is to protect existing tenants and create certainty so that if someone invests in the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: There is a lot of evidence already. The Deputy can read the Housing Finance Agency's report and other reports. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has said this as well.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Bacik wants to keep the existing system going forever. The legislation ends at the end of the year so, therefore, we have to give a period for the introduction of new legislation.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: It is a very serious issue. The National Shared Services Office, NSSO, is responsible for payroll for civil servants and officeholders. The Minister has commissioned an external audit to go into the NSSO to examine in a much more comprehensive, forensic and detailed way the issues that have arisen. There needs to be further validation of what has emerged, particularly in terms of the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: It is not the central issue about this legislation.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Deputy O'Gorman asked a question so he should have the good manners to listen to the answer. It is not central.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: If it is included or extra, the Deputy should not make it central because, fundamentally, the impact of the Bill will be symbolic. About €600,000 worth of goods alone in the past six years-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is not going to listen. I am saying that the figure for goods over the past six years was €600,000. The Minister is examining that aspect of it in terms of services. The Deputy knows as well that the legal ground here is extremely narrow anyway. I read the entirety of the Attorney General's opinion about this and it did not change fundamentally from the opinions of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I do not know. I do not deal with the operational practices of An Garda Síochána. I do not intervene in those. I was very surprised to see this. This is not Government policy but I will revert to the Deputy and ask for communication to be sent to him. I will talk to the Minister for justice about this.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: The sufficiency of the number of gardaí across the country, in Cork city and county in particular, is an ongoing issue. As of 31 April, there are 1,281 gardaí working in Cork city and Cork county. Of these, 664 are assigned to Cork city and 616 to Cork county. Since 2015, more than 300 probationer gardaí have been assigned to stations in County Cork, including seven from...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the Deputy raising this very serious issue for the community. As he says, the services were delivered in clinics located in the corridor that was part of the designated centre, I believe, and the residents' environment. This necessitated restrictive, controlled access to the community nursing unit and resulted in restricted movement for the residents. As part of the compliance...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this. I appreciate that the school is open to and wants to develop a special class. That is good because some schools are less proactive in respect of this, so I appreciate the efforts by the board. The school will be kept under consideration, I understand, for a special class for 2026-27. I will talk to the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan, who is with...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I think we will need a regulatory framework governing drones. We have to have a common-sense approach to the use of drones. Did the Deputy refer to 300 food deliveries?