Results 20,061-20,080 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: In general, the Government has aligned its decisions with public health advice. People have suggested what they think should happen. Some people did not want schools to close as quickly as they did, but within days of the decision being announced they were calling for them to be closed. There has been ongoing constructive engagement with public health regarding the best thing to do. I...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Similar comments were made regarding the wearing of masks on public transport. The bottom line is that the public did the right thing in that regard. We need to see the matter in perspective as well. We still have one of the most cautious travel regimes in Europe and across the globe.

Post-European Council Meetings: Statements (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: In recent days, I attended a special meeting of the European Council in Brussels. The meeting, which was the first physical meeting of European Union leaders since February, began on Friday, 17 July. The meeting continued through the weekend and concluded in the early hours of Tuesday, 21 July. Even leaving aside the duration, it was by no means a normal meeting. We met against the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will deal first with Deputy Duncan Smith's questions. The reason for the Cabinet meeting delay yesterday was that we had a Cabinet sub-committee meeting on the stimulus plan involving Ministers, the Tánaiste, the leader of the Green Party and me, with a whole host of officials, in coming to the final stages of the preparation of what will be a very comprehensive stimulus plan to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is a need to advise people of what the state is in countries. Some other countries are in a much worse situation. Overall, we are saying that the safest thing to do is to stay at home and take a holiday in Ireland this year. That, to me, is fairly basic and fairly sensible. We have a very restrictive travel regime at the moment in terms of our advice. It is very restrictive and...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Two Deputies were.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): National Economic and Social Council (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I take issue with the Deputy's use of the word "hostile". I am not hostile to keeping rents as low as possible. We supported controls on rents in various areas. The Deputy says that now we all know better than before the election. We do not. Nobody knew about Covid-19 during the election. Covid-19 is what made the rent freezes and a ban on evictions possible in the past three months....

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Government co-ordination Cabinet committee was established by the Government along with nine other Cabinet committees. I am a member of the committee along with the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party. The Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, my chief of staff and the chiefs of staff of the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party also sit in on...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy could raise a hand.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): National Economic and Social Council (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, is an independent statutory agency operating under the aegis of my Department. The council analyses and reports on strategic policy matters relevant to Ireland's economic, social, environmental and sustainable development. The NESC is a valuable forum where economic, social and environmental issues can be discussed between a variety of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): National Economic and Social Council (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: In the first instance it is important to point out that the existing ban is by a statutory instrument and is grounded in the emergency legislation required to deal with the immediate aftermath of the outbreak of Covid-19. The legal advice is very clear. It is not legally sound, it is very open to challenge and it does not offer the protection that people suspect. It must be replaced. The...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is why we must engage constructively and in a genuine way with all concerned, accepting the reality that we are talking about two different jurisdictions, regardless of whether we like that being the case. I have been very straightforward in this regard. I will not be politically partisan in my approach to issues of the North and the Good Friday Agreement. I have made that clear to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I must say to the Deputy that she cannot have it both ways. I do not want to throw brickbats across the House on these matters but Sinn Féin signed off on opening Northern Ireland to 59 states for travel. The Deputy cannot blame the United Kingdom alone for that. People signed off on that in Northern Ireland and this has implications for the Republic. There are two different public...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is no need for the Deputy to be calling in the good Lord in terms of her responses, but the reality is she cannot have it both ways. She cannot condemn the Government here for being far more conservative than what her party signed up for in the North. I have experience of North-South Ministerial Councils.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: It was a very positive experience. I worked positively and constructively with ministers from Sinn Féin when I was a Minister with responsibility for education, for example, or health. I worked with the late Mr. Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brún. I know how to handle myself in a North-South Ministerial Council. We should avoid trying to politicise this in a partisan way...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Crowe stated the project he mentioned is shovel ready. The whole idea of the stimulus plan, along with more structural issues, is to try to get as much activity going in the next six to nine months as possible. A capital programme will be attached to the stimulus plan. I hope that projects of the kind the Deputies both identified could be accommodated in that plan. That will...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: To respond to Deputy Griffin, that issue has been raised with us and the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform are alive to it. There are challenges in regard to the PUP and the wage subsidy scheme because the issue of the security of jobs is a consideration. As for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme, I would like to think we could examine it in detail...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will examine the proposals the Deputy has put forward for short-term lettings and for strengthening enforcement and sections relating to the advertising of lettings that are not compliant with the regulations.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I had a very positive meeting with the Northern Ireland First Minister and deputy First Minister at Stormont Castle on Thursday, 16 July, on my first visit to Northern Ireland since taking office. We discussed the importance of North-South and east-west relations on these islands and I stressed the Government's commitment to working closely with the democratic institutions in Northern...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: As I said earlier, the expert review report on nursing homes in the context of the pandemic will be on the Minister's desk next week. We will take steps to have that published and debated. That report will deal with the wider nursing home situation. In terms of the testing, if the Deputy has spoken to the Minister I am sure he will follow-up with him on the specifics of the query raised in...