Results 2,781-2,800 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: I appreciate that the Deputy has been consistent and persistent in addressing the issue of balanced regional development. There are statistics, damned statistics and all the rest.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: Hear me out, please. I was in a rural village recently during the local elections. A councillor pointed out to me that the population had gone from about 500 when he went into local government to 2,500 or 3,000, the point being that the place had grown. A lot of rural Ireland has grown in population yet the mantra is a declining rural Ireland. It has elected a lot of Independents to this...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: Somehow the truth is not reconciling here because there has been huge development in many parts of the regions. Equally, there have been big investments in Dublin and other urban areas. Post-Covid, it will be very interesting to see what happens because of the development of remote working, rural working hubs and so on. We are now getting a greater concentration of workers outside cities...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: Yes.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: There are aspects of the occupied territories Bill that are clearly unconstitutional but they can be rectified and amended. It is clearly unconstitutional as it is currently drafted. There was a case just ten days ago concerning France v. the European Commission in respect of Western Sahara. There are very clear similarities between that and the West Bank. The ruling on that was not as...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: I do not accept that. The carbon tax commenced with this Government. We legislated for it to provide funds to help us reduce carbon emissions and transform certain sectors of our economy, one of the key aspects being retrofitting and creating more energy-efficient homes. The carbon tax has ensured that €262 million-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: The Deputy asked me where the money was spent.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: The Government allocated €380 million to retrofitting this year, more than half of which is dedicated to providing 100% free retrofitting to low-income households and those at risk of energy poverty. Anybody in the country would have to acknowledge that the retrofitting programme has been a transformation in the past four years. If we did not have the carbon tax, we could not do that...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: Sorry?
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: We are fundamentally committed to value for money. The Comptroller and Auditor General is there; the public accounts committee is there. This is part of our system of rigorously examining public expenditure. My point, in response to the Deputy's presentation, is the lack of balance in her presentation and the lack of any reference to some very significant projects that have been delivered....
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----and transformation of our school system. In social housing along in 2023-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----some 8,000 new build social housing homes were delivered.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: Then if we look at transport links, the Deputy knows herself about the Maynooth bypass-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: I am sure the Deputy welcomed that Maynooth bypass. However, there is also the Collooney to Castlebaldwin N4 road project. Then there is the Gort to Tuam on the N17-N18-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----and the N25 New Ross bypass. These are all projects. There is the Westport to Turlough N5 protect, the N22 Ballyvourney to Macroom-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: My point is, I am redressing the imbalance-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----in the Deputy's presentation. If she talks to the people in Macroom right now-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----and the people all along there who travel to Cork and Kerry, that Macroom and Ballyvourney bypass has been an extraordinary-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----game-changer in terms of-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)
Micheál Martin: -----the quality of life of the local people. It is well worth the expenditure that was allocated to it.