Results 1-20 of 27,800 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation (Transfer of Functions) Bill 2024: First Stage (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: It is not being opposed.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Flaherty. I am familiar with the excellent work the staff in St. Christopher's do on an ongoing basis. I thank him for advocating for them in the House this afternoon. There are ongoing meetings between the HSE and St. Christopher's. As he has acknowledged, the HSE has assisted St. Christopher's in dealing with financial challenges through a cash acceleration process and...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Ellis. We are all absolutely horrified by what happened in Limerick and our hearts go out to the family of the victim. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is awaiting a report and expects to receive it very shortly. I anticipate it will be received in the coming weeks and the Government will make a prompt decision on the back of it. In advance of that, we are looking at the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Donnelly. He pre-empted my response because it is the truth. It is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner to decide on the allocation of resources. I am not sure if a Sinn Féin Government would propose a different way, whereby the Government would decide where gardaí go. The Garda Commissioner will do so. We accept our responsibility, which is to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: The hope is in the amount of construction that is under way across the country in terms of public house building, at scale, once again.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I am making the point. The Deputy will have seen in his constituency, throughout Cork and around the country the amount of house building in which the State is directly involved, with a view to meeting the needs of that family. It is clear for everyone to see. The numbers are there. If the Deputy wants to provide me with the details of the individual case to which he referred, I will work...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy makes a very good point about how vital a role is played by people who come to our country to provide healthcare facilities. They include doctors, nurses and other allied health professionals. I am aware of the issue raised by the Deputy because it has come to me at a constituency level and I have followed up on certain cases. We are following up on a policy level with the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I think all TDs in the House will have had experience of dealing with individual cases where schools might have fallen just on the wrong side of the relevant threshold to keep an existing teacher or to get an additional teacher. My understanding is that it is based on a point in time. I think it is the end of September of the previous year in question but I also understand there is a...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and acknowledge his work and that of his colleagues in helping the community to recover from the devastation of Storm Babet. It was shocking to see the impact. I know the vast majority of businesses have reopened, which is great to see, but homes were destroyed as well and nobody wants that to happen again. The commitment I can give is that we are...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: It is really heartening to see the popularity and growth of Gaelscoileanna. I think pupils who leave sixth class in those Gaelscoileanna in Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 should have the option of going to a Gaelcholáiste in their wider area. In my community of Carrigaline in recent years, we developed a state-of-the-art brand-new Gaelcholáiste that is really popular. Children are coming...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: To be fair, the Minister of State is very accessible and I have no doubt she will facilitate a meeting, so if the Deputy wants to make contact with the Minister of State directly or through me, I have no problem in assisting with that and the case for core funding can be made by the organisation. I take the opportunity to thank all of the disability service providers in the country for the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I join the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Doherty and others in thanking Martin for his service over all of those years. He has been a thorough gentleman to everyone and I wish him the best in his retirement. Thankfully his boxing skills were not called upon here. It may have seemed to come close a few times across the floor but thankfully he never had to intervene in that way. I am not...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: It is a pity we will not be at the Euros but we will enjoy the football nonetheless. The Government is fully committed to supporting the development of football in Ireland. There will be an announcement of a record allocation of sports capital grants in the next number of months by the Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne. Football will be a major beneficiary of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I welcome the appearance of Paul Reid before the first meeting of the new Oireachtas committee which will examine and respond to the report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use. We await the outcome of that with huge interest and the Government will be prepared to make decisions arising from that. Drugs are an absolute scourge and we need to have a serious debate as a society about...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I apologise that I do not have that information to hand but we will follow up and make sure a reply is issued to the Deputy and, more importantly, that there is full clarity on the continued provision of what is a vital service. We agree with the Deputy on that so we will respond promptly.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I am not aware of the outcome of the Business Committee's deliberations but the Government is anxious to provide as much time as possible to debate the EU asylum and migration pact.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: There are different perspective on this across the House and we acknowledge that, and the Government deems it is in Ireland's national interest to be part of an EU-wide system with an EU-wide agreement. The Deputy holds a different view and there will be ample opportunity to air those views-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: -----and tease out all of the issues-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: -----over the course of next week and the Whip will respond on that in due course.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. First, looking to the medium to long term and the need to ensure there are adequate facilities and infrastructure at University Hospital Galway, as the Deputy knows, we are making progress on the delivery of major capital projects that are planned for the hospital. A formal project board has now been established. We are finalising a master plan for the development of...