Results 29,241-29,260 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: -----but with one major difference - the Labour Party and Fine Gael did not even try to implement their promises. Year after year, Deputies who now lecture us, all from the Government benches, were on their feet demanding more tax cuts and more spending. It is quite striking that in their recent appearances before the banking inquiry the leaders of Fine Gael and the Labour Party could...
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: It sets out no service standards to be achieved and has no sense of what the bigger picture is. All major projects involve completing plans made by previous Governments. Fine Gael’s decade old commitment to compulsory health insurance is a shambles which the party’s Ministers and backbenchers are now too embarrassed to talk about. The Government is even trying to change...
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: Young graduates would love to be in a position to find a job with a salary of more than €25,000.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: There are thousands of graduates in low-paid employment.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: I heard the Taoiseach speak for 30 minutes. He should listen to some hard facts to know what the reality is on the ground.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: Nothing in the budget deals with the two-tiered economy. There are thousands of people with low-hour contracts and on low pay.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: That is a fundamental problem with how the labour force is developing. That is the reality.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: I spoke to the ESRI about this issue and it is very concerned.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: The gulf between the upper, middle and lower levels is expanding dramatically. We need to improve provision significantly for apprenticeships, both in terms of numbers and regional spread. We need an initiative to give people access to generous support in upskilling.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: We also need comprehensive child care provision, an issue to which I will return.
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: A number of half-measures were included in the budget to help the SME sector, but they come nowhere near showing a vision to relieve the pressures felt by the sector and set out a model for its development. Every single target to make credit available to SMEs has been missed. They continue to be squeezed by State-owned banks which are being fattened for a rapid sale. If Ireland is to have...
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: Listening to the speeches of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, Deputy Willie O'Dea reminded me of the dictum, "I can take any amount of criticism as long as I can consider it unqualified praise." This budget is the last throw of the dice by a deeply unpopular Government desperate to be re-elected. It is not a budget to shape Ireland’s future but one to help two parties get...
- Financial Resolutions 2016 - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: With the greatest respect, we increased it to the highest level in Europe prior to the crash. The clawing back of €300 million through the failure to index tax bands is a significant policy decision. This was not announced yesterday; it is buried in the documentation. The obvious purpose of this was to give space for changes which might win a few more headlines. At the conclusion of...
- Order of Business (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: Does the Taoiseach have any idea at all of where they are? They were promised five years ago.
- Order of Business (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: That is a fantasy.
- Order of Business (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: We were not up late, actually.
- Order of Business (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: Will the Government give specific time for discussion of the health Estimates, because there is total confusion in terms of what health has received in this year's budget? The huge supplementary provision of €600 million illustrates the dishonesty that has been at the centre of health Estimates over the past three years. This has caused significant distress in hospitals and led to...
- Order of Business (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: However, the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, explicitly denies that. Will the Taoiseach provide Government time for a debate on the health Estimate and on broader health issues, because there is chaos and a lack of morale in the system? On the programme for Government legislative commitments on housing and distressed mortgages, it is interesting that it was written into the...
- Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: That figure was reduced to €88 million last year.
- Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2015)
Micheál Martin: No, it is not.