Results 11,001-11,020 of 50,453 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is what governed the decision-making in this budget and the Government was caught out in terms of the disability decision. The budget is presented in disingenuous language, the language of camouflage and pretence.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The other welfare cuts were presented as incentivising work-----

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: -----and cutting undeserved payments.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach should stop using words. When he is cutting welfare he should not pretend it is about incentivising work, cutting undeserved payments, standardising payments or bringing people into line. That language drives people mad. They prefer plain speaking. The Government should say it as it is and stop pretending. The Minister for Social Protection has given many extreme examples to...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: It is another con-job presented in the guise of the career guidance service, which is a clear dismantling and devastation of that service. In reality, it is a cut of 900 teaching posts from schools.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is more of the nonsense. Does the Taoiseach know what he is talking about?

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: It means the posts will go from ex quota to in quota. It will be a case of last in, first out. Career guidance teachers will teach economics, history or geography. The Taoiseach should stop the pretence, be honest and say the Government is cutting teachers in second level schools. That is the impact on the ground.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: To claim that these cuts can be absorbed in the general teaching schedule either shows a deep ignorance of how this vital service is provided or is another cynical pretence.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Every school needs career counselling. Every pupil should have the chance to speak confidentially with a trained person about his or her future.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Rabbitte does not.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: He is pretending this is not even a cut. It cannot be done in a group setting or in an ad hoc way. It is at this age that young people face the most pressure and are most in need of someone to talk to. The Government is going back 30 and 40 years.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: I have received texts from career guidance teachers saying the career guidance service is going back to the 1950s

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Every school will feel the pressure, but schools in severely disadvantaged communities desperately need career counselling.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Their pupils depend on expert advice to help them make the critical move from school to higher education. It is not a joking matter. Ministers are displaying classic arrogance and cockiness. This is a serious issue that will impact on young people in our schools.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: If we are talking about jobs and the economy, career guidance is an important link between school and the world of work and society.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The schools are not in a position to absorb this cut in their staffing or to fund it in some other way. The decision is deeply regressive and short-sighted and it should be reversed. The issue that has served to expose the cynicism of the Government parties' election campaigns more than any other is student charges. The solemn pledge not to increase them which the Tánaiste and Deputy Quinn...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That advice was clear 12 months ago, before and after the election.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: This commitment was not just in the Labour and Fine Gael manifestoes, it was also in the programme for Government, so certain was the Taoiseach that the law could be changed.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The law has not changed since the promise was made. Either the Taoiseach did not check whether it could be implemented or he made the promise regardless of advice. Retail Excellence Ireland has criticised what it described as "the scandalous Government U-turn". It said "the Government has lied to every commercial tenant and retail employee in the country". That is what Retail Excellence...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is a disgraceful way to treat an industry that has lost over 50,000 jobs in the past four years. As the Taoiseach has said many times in the Dáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party do not really feel bound by their election manifestoes. No matter what commitments were made, be it on the back of a lorry in Roscommon or in front of Trinity College, they are not to be held to them.