Results 18,921-18,940 of 50,830 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I wish the former Minister of State, Deputy Alan Kelly, well in his new role.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: He has already set himself the goal of reorganising and rebuilding the Labour Party organisation and announced his own elevation to Cabinet. Perhaps some of this energy will show itself in his new Department.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The Tánaiste served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party for the past seven years. I am sure she will be looking forward to Deputy Kelly's carrying out his function and providing her with the support on which Deputy Gilmore relied.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The former Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, has every right to be annoyed at being presented as the scapegoat for a health sector which is engulfed in crisis at every level. The policies he implemented, against which there has rightly been a growing public backlash, were Government policies, not his alone, although he must also bear significant responsibility for them. When the campaign...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: When hospitals were given unsustainable budgets, it was on the orders of the Government. When scarce resources were diverted to damaging reforms, it was to implement agreed Fine Gael and Labour Party policy.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: When 1 million health insurance policies were hiked, it was not the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, alone who did it; it was a Government that claimed it was hitting only “gold-plated policies”. This year’s funding crisis has at its core a decision taken by other Ministers to censor the HSE's annual plan by insisting that services be maintained, even where...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: Its first cutbacks were in services for disadvantaged pupils and special needs children. Then it hiked third level fees and abolished grants for postgraduates. Incredibly, it even abolished all dedicated support for guidance and counselling services in schools. Is it proud of this?
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: That was an appalling decision, making young people vulnerable in an ever challenging, complex world.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I love the democratic input of Labour Party backbenchers who do not even have the courtesy to allow others to address the House in the time allotted. The bottom line is that it was deeply cynical and appalling to get rid of guidance and counselling services from schools. Young people face many challenges in a complex world and the Government has denied them the valuable resource they...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: Simply standing to the side and hoping everything works out has not worked and will not. The Taoiseach has yet to outline how he and the Government believe the European Union should be reformed to allow it to emerge from the austere policies of the last six years. Ireland has not received full justice for its case in the Union and the Government has yet to begin articulating a demand, let...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I wonder if the Minister is still there.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach would know all about the back of a trailer in Roscommon.
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I congratulate all the newly appointed Ministers of State and extend my sympathies to those who did not make it as there are quite a number of them. Two weeks ago, around 26 organisations working in the disability and caring sector lost funding under the scheme to support national organisations, SSNO, that funds community and voluntary organisations. This has been a devastating blow. All 11...
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I do not know what planet the Taoiseach inhabits. I am talking about a figure in the region of €1 million and the figure relating to the Huntington's Disease Association of Ireland is €22,000 per year. The Taoiseach should forget the appeals process and sort this out.
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: This would not have happened if there was a national disability strategy as such a strategy is meant to allow for cross-cutting decision making. According to the former Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, gave this matter careful assessment before announcing the grants. Money has been taken from these...
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: There is no heart in this decision and it is appalling. It is indefensible and unjustifiable. Mr. John Dolan of the Disability Federation of Ireland made a speech on this and said that at this rate the federation will not have the basic elements to support people with disabilities by the end of next year. The Government's disability strategy is in shreds. In fact, there has not been a...
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach should stop talking nonsense.
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: This would not have happened if we had a disability strategy.
- Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government said forget about health and disability. Is the Taoiseach saying the Huntington's Disease Association of Ireland did not spend €22,000 properly?
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: 7. To ask the Taoiseach when the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Justice will take place. [17511/14]