Results 7,241-7,260 of 50,151 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Middle East Peace Process. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: I agree with what the Deputy has outlined in terms of the illegality of settlements which are contrary to international law. The fundamental problem is that the facts on the ground continue to feed scepticism on the Palestinian side that the Israeli Government is open to a deal. On the other hand, I put on record that when I went to Egypt, which is the subject matter of a later question,...

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: As the Deputy is aware, customers have been experiencing disruption to passport services as a result of ongoing industrial action in the public service. The industrial action has led to a backlog of over 50,000 passport applications in the system and the application turnaround time is currently 15 to 20 working days. As a result, the Department advises it is not possible to fast-track any...

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: Ryanair.

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: What was the Deputy's question?

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: I refer to the question before that.

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: It is on the record in that case. As I said in my opening remarks, I call on the CPSU to call off the action immediately. We concluded the public sector talks that were under way at Croke Park. In that context, there is every reason for the union to instruct its members to call off the action. If this happened, we could return to normal activity within a matter of days. The key issue for...

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: We have about three specialised machines that are, for security reasons, unique to the country from the viewpoint of manufacture. Contingency planning is involved in the event of breakdown or whatever. In terms of extending the validity of all existing passports, again there are standards with regard to international travel documents which limit passports to ten years, and therefore it is...

Passport Applications. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: It was some time back. I can get the exact date for the Deputy and I do not have a date for conclusion, as yet.

Revised Estimates. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The Revised Estimate volume published by the Department of Finance last February shows a gross allocation to Vote 29 - international co-operation - of €536 million. A further estimated €135 million is set to come from other Departments which, together with Ireland's share of the EU Development Cooperation budget, brings the total 2010 estimated allocation for Official Development...

Revised Estimates. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: As a percentage of the overall budget, the NGO sector does better in this country than in almost any other within the OECD. I believe that up to 20% of our budget goes to the NGOs, which is very high. That is something that should be acknowledged. In terms of the administrative budget here, from about 2007-10, and particularly from 2008 to date, it has been hovering around the €35.708...

Haiti Earthquake. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The Government's response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti on 12 January has been multi-faceted and effective, involving the airlifting of emergency supplies, funding for the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies, and the deployment of personnel both from Irish Aid, within the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Irish Aid-managed rapid response corps. In the days...

Haiti Earthquake. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: It is. To be clear, this is a different matter from the issue of the rapid response corps. The lesson learned from the tsunami was that the last thing one needs in a disaster is hordes of volunteers, inappropriately skilled, landing at the scene. They can be as much a hindrance as a help. I do not mean that in an intolerant way but inappropriate volunteers and inappropriate equipment and...

Haiti Earthquake. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: That is a very good suggestion. The Institute of Public Administration, IPA, might be in a position to be of assistance in terms of the training and education aspects and developing modules that could be of use.

Haiti Earthquake. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: Even if one is a very effective county manager in managing a multi-seat election in Ireland, that is a unique experience but it might not lend itself to some of the new post-electoral situations that emerge in conflict societies. It is a very good suggestion. We must also examine civil governance capacity. One of the big problems in Haiti is that almost the entire government and its...

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The Government is committed to giving effect to the recommendations of the report of the hunger task force which we commissioned and which was launched by the Taoiseach at the UN in New York in September 2008 in the presence of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In particular, we continue to work on the three priority areas identified, namely, increasing smallholder agricultural...

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The main point is that we are on target to reach the target of 20% of our overall budget being spent on hunger. The other point is that it is not just in that programme that the money on hunger is spent. In Malawi, for example, the entire programme is now focused on hunger, while in Tanzania, we have been asked by all the other donors to become the lead donor on agriculture....

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: Those three targeted areas covered the programme country budgets as well. As I said, we have prioritised the hunger aspect. There may be other aspects of the programme apart from hunger that will not do as well as the area of hunger, given the focus on it, but increasing smallholder agricultural productivity will not suffer, for example.

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The Governments of each region and country have to make their decisions in regard to the issue of GM food, as does the European Union. In many underdeveloped parts of the world, by any observation, GM could very well provide part of the solution. However, our assistance concerns the more conventional form of crop production, improved agricultural techniques and improving the lot of the...

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: I agree. On this issue, I refer Deputy Creighton to the hunger task force report. In our recent discussions with the US Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, the focus was on how we can enhance agricultural crop production techniques for smallholders, the vast majority of whom are women. In an earlier portfolio, I commissioned the Chief Scientific Adviser to prepare a paper on GM. It is good...

Overseas Development Aid. (30 Mar 2010)

Micheál Martin: The small farmers of west Cork produce a robust and resilient crop.