Results 20,281-20,300 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will deal with Deputy McDonald's queries. This is a tripartite Government. In fact, the model for it goes back to when the Labour Party was in government between 1992 and 1994 when Dick Spring-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I was a humble backbench Deputy at the time. The Labour Party pioneered the idea of policy people coming in from the political world, which I happen to agree with, to ensure the implementation of a programme for Government.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: People want the programme for Government to be implemented. They want to see through the political commitments that have been made. That was a major turning point in how Government works in terms of the use of special advisers. In the Northern Ireland Executive, the role of special advisers is strong and I have no difficulty with that. We know that special advisers in Northern Ireland...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I do not agree with that. There is a need and Government is becoming wide-ranging. There are areas, such as insurance, that need specialist attention. As we heard on the Order of Business, it is a key area and it is a good idea to have a Minister of State, together with senior Ministers, specifically charged with trying to deal with that area. That is the position. When we get further...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: 4 o’clock First of all, I would never see something like this as a box-ticking exercise. All my life I have been committed to the idea of dealing with the vulnerable, those living in poor conditions and those in disadvantaged communities. For example, I believe the RAPID programme of earlier years was an effective multisectoral multidepartmental approach to dealing with urban...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald should write to me on that. I will talk to the Minister for Health on the point she has made and on what she was saying. I am unsure of the background. Deputy McDonald is suggesting that the HSE is undermining community participation. We will get that looked at. I have gone into some of the flat complexes with Senator Mary Fitzpatrick. I agree with Deputy McDonald...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. As outlined in the programme for Government, several reforms will be implemented to ensure openness and constructive co-operation within the Government. The details of the roles and staffing of these offices have not been finalised to date. Appointments to these offices will be made in line with the Public Service Management Act 1997...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Mulvey report, Dublin North East Inner City - Creating a Brighter Future, commissioned by the Government and published in February 2017, contained recommendations for the social and economic regeneration of Dublin's north-east inner city, NEIC. This report has been further supplemented by the publication of the NEIC strategic plan 2020 to 2022, which is available onwww.neic.ie In June...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The first point I would make is that we do not control the private hospitals in terms of their fee structures. However, I reiterate what I said last week, namely, that there should be no profiteering out of the Covid situation in respect of any patients, be they private or public. Private hospitals should not be levying charges that are disproportionate to the costs of providing those...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: To be fair, I recall the pub owners themselves, in tandem with the previous Government, saying that they needed to close at the time they did close. In terms of the reopening under phase 4 of the roadmap, there will be a Government meeting tomorrow to discuss it. NPHET is meeting today and will give us its up-to-date advice. I am taken by some of the points made by Deputies McNamara,...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy that it is a shocking cost. It is not sustainable for a young man going into business to take a cost like that on board. Such costs militate against young people becoming entrepreneurs, getting into business and going out to work. The programme for Government sets out a multipronged approach to dealing with insurance, both on the personal injuries side and in terms...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Will the Deputy forward me the background and details of the case? Is it because of his private working hours that this individual is not allowed to perform his firefighting role?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: If the Deputy sends me on the details, I will follow up on the matter.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am not going to go through the mythology the Deputy articulated at the commencement of his question. I remember the decisions made by the North Eastern Health Board and we have come a long way in medicine since then. Very often now, it is the colleges of the various clinical specialties which determine the critical mass that justifies and sustains, for example, a maternity unit or an...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I think next week is more sensible because one will be able to examine the judgment. That is my only point. In the immediacy of tomorrow and Thursday, people might not get the full-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I believe the Government's decision is a substantive and significant one in advancing the extension of parents' leave and benefits to five weeks for all parents of children born after 1 November 2019. That is to give parents who gave birth during the Covid period an opportunity to avail of the scheme. The pre-existing scheme was somewhat limited and could have excluded them. The proposal...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Minister and I met the HSE on Friday. He certainly was not missing. He was in front of an entire press briefing.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: He was there and the purpose of the visit was a winter initiative in the context of Covid and also a resumption of services for non-Covid treatments and the non-Covid strand of health services and medicine. It is going to be challenging in terms of capacity constraints in our acute hospitals.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: It will also be challenging in terms of face masks. I have made it my business in the last week to knock heads together and get the regulations signed on Friday so masks would be compulsory on public transport. One can spend forever working out who will do that but the Irish people obey the law and they are compliant in relation to public health matters. There was a good degree of...