Results 2,221-2,240 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I introduced the first language classes within mainstream education a long time ago - they have had a great impact - with a view, by the way, to integrating a child back into the mainstream after perhaps a year of very focused work in a language class where a child was experiencing language difficulties. In more recent times, education thinking has moved towards integration, integration,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: This is a very serious issue and the Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, to be fair, is acting promptly on it. He briefed Cabinet in on to this IT project. There are issues in terms of the governance of that project and the eventual outcome. There has been huge expenditure on a product that has not emerged. There is not a new system in place. There are very serious issues. The...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am not familiar with the background to this but I presume this has been considered for quite some time. It cannot have come as a bolt of out the blue. I will talk to the Minister for Education and alert her that the Deputy has raised this issue in the House today. I am not clear on the rationale as to why it is moving from Donegal town to Letterkenny because education centres are very...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: It would be a very boring Cabinet. I do not mean that in any disrespect to diplomats. We are fortunate in Ireland that we have superb diplomats. We have tremendous diplomats who represent us very well, professionally, all over the world, including in the Middle East, United States, Africa and Asia.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: We are all elected so you get what you have. We are all elected by the people. We all have different talents, different nuances and different approaches - that is the beauty of political life itself.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: Comments get made and comments get retracted. By the way, I am not sure the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, snubbed anybody. I do not know whether he was a Minister or the Taoiseach when the Deputy says he snubbed people.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy very much for her comprehensive presentation of the issues. I will come back to her with the timeline for the review and I will speak to the Minister on that issue. We intend to pursue it vigorously and in a timely manner.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: St. Patrick's Day has for many years been a substantive opportunity and occasion for Ireland, globally and in the United States, to engage with decision-makers, communities and the diaspora. We have a substantial diaspora in the United States. It is extremely important that we continue to work with our diaspora and also on our relationship with the United States. President Trump was...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: We need to consolidate the ceasefire. That is the most important issue for people in Gaza right now. Hamas needs to release the hostages. Its role in this has been malign, and that needs to be acknowledged. Israel needs to honour its side of the agreement. Progress has been made on the ceasefire. Aid is getting in. That is where the focus has to be.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: There was no error of judgment made, and it was not in the early days of any genocide. I visited Israel prior to 7 October. What is striking is the refusal of the Deputy, or at least Deputy Murphy and the group of which they are members, to condemn what happened on 7 October.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: That was before the war started. I remember Deputy Boyd Barrett asking me in the House to help to get Irish citizens out of Gaza, while at the same time condemning me for visiting Israel. The hypocrisy, doublethink and doublespeak are extraordinary.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: The only way we got Irish citizens out of Gaza was because of the diplomatic relationship we maintained and the fact we had ambassadors in Israel and Cairo who worked extremely hard to get Irish citizens out of Gaza. The Deputy would have made a pronouncement that I should not go, but at the same time asked us to get people out.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am sick of that kind of absolute doublethink and hypocrisy. The Deputy mentioned that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am not. If I get more time-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Murphy is misleading the House------

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----and his associates, for a long time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: Will you condemn Hamas?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy's assertions. Our population has increased dramatically, in contrast to the time when the Constitution was formulated. The range of issues we are dealing with now is far in excess of what would have the case in previous times. We have far greater challenges in respect of climate, biodiversity, the energy agenda and the marine ecosystem across the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am somewhat amused that the Deputy is saying we have influenced housing policy since 2016. For the past two weeks, he has been saying that confidence and supply was in no way a precedent in the context of being involved in Government and so on.