Results 19,981-20,000 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: No, the security assessment from the Garda to the Department of Justice and Equality is that it the Minister should retain a Garda car on security grounds. I am not getting involved in any security appraisal.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Kelly knows that. The Government did not take a decision on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: No, he is not driving without permission. It does not require a Government decision.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will. The Deputy makes a fair point. Maternity and paternity leave should be provided as it is in other jurisdictions. Politics should not be an exemption in that regard so I will follow that up and keep in touch with Deputy Cairns on it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy again for raising this important issue. In my view, the workers have been treated badly. I will meet worker representatives tomorrow and I will engage again with the Tánaiste on the matter. He spoke to me last week about his meeting with the workers and their union representatives. I have not had an update since but the Tánaiste was pursuing certain lines of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is a Minister of State. As the Deputy is aware, it is a new Department. It is located in the Department of Health right now and that whole area governing disability will move to the new Department with responsibility for children, youth affairs and disability.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy does not want to hear the fact that the pandemic unemployment payment has been a very substantial and effective intervention in our economy. He cannot bring himself to say that. He cannot bring himself to say that the wage subsidy scheme was a very effective intervention and that the continuation of both schemes to the end of March represents a substantial policy response to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has said he thinks people should not travel at all, and I hear what he is saying. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has made the situation clear in respect of people travelling back to Ireland from countries that are on the green list. They do not necessarily have to restrict their movements when they return to Ireland from a green list country, as per...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy. I met the Minister for Health and his Secretary General yesterday evening in the aftermath of a Cabinet sub-committee meeting about health generally.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I did; that is the point. I asked for a proper response including a timeline for when services will be restored. Some 19,000 people are affected by this issue and they deserve the restoration of services, as the Deputy said, in the same way as children deserve the reopening of schools and so on. I will keep on top of this until I get satisfactory responses. I do not think the necessary...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I can confirm that the efficiency saving will not be applied. This is not about the 1% saving that the cut would represent. The funding to health services as a result of the pandemic is now multiples of that provided in the original health Estimate. Additional billions in funding will be going to health services in general. That cut will not be applied. More importantly, there must be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I earlier referenced the meeting we had yesterday evening, which involved a lot of Ministers. This issue was discussed at that meeting and in its aftermath. I am making our position clear to the Deputy. She has asked a question and I am giving her the answer.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Of course we can do that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know that the Deputy would like a better answer than Deputy Kelly got but the point is-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate that. The Deputy has made the fair point that the commitment should be communicated to the organisations in the system and it will be. The overall point is that we are talking about multiples of the original amount of money designated for the HSE and services in general because of Covid-19. The issue now is what it will take to restore these services. I have not seen the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy says she is against all foreign travel. Is that what she has said?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Is she? I have been hearing different messages from the Deputy on this for the last week or two.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Regarding the compliance issue, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection carries out compliance inspections at ports and airports throughout the year. My notes state it has been doing so since 2012. The legal basis for the control and compliance checks is section 250(16) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended by section 17 of the Social Welfare and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I did not send inspectors out to the airports.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: They have been going out for years and well the Deputy knows it. What she has tried to do in here is to turn an issue which involves 100 or 200 people into some massive political philosophy or ideology that is out to get people when, in fact, that is not what the Government is about. The Government has extended this scheme to the end of April. It currently caters for up to 287,000 people...