Results 2,921-2,940 of 49,960 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this issue. She will be aware that we have established a new agency, Cuan, which will work with all stakeholders to put the structures and supports in place to accelerate the delivery of additional refuge accommodation year on year. She will also be aware that active planning and engagement is under way for the delivery of 150 additional family refuge...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: As I said earlier, the locum will be appointed in July. Alternative arrangements include appointments being offered in Kingsbridge. The NTPF also has a number of schemes for the Saolta group that should also help in providing treatment to people. I do not disagree with Deputy Harkin's fundamental point about the importance of pain management. It has significant implications for patients...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I would support anything we can do to support Irish music festivals and to try to create opportunities for Irish musicians and acts. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, about convening such a working roundtable. To be fair to the Minister, she has taken a range of initiatives to support native artists more generally, particularly with the basic income scheme she...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: In April I said that Fianna Fáil was committed to bringing it forward in terms of policy blueprints for the future. I believe in a transport police. The Garda Commissioner has a different view. In my view, the level of abuse and attacks on public sector transport workers is unacceptable. SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union have been very strong advocates for a transport police...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am very familiar, as are Deputies across the House, with this case. Again our sympathies go to the O'Farrell family. It was a young life. Shane's life was cruelly cut down. The scoping inquiry that was established took a lengthy period of time to come to conclusions. I believe the inquiry was comprehensive. It came to a number of conclusions in respect of what happened. The family...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I have only recently-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I know but it took three years to-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I would say to Deputies that we can talk this through collectively. It is very easy to say "Let us have a public inquiry" and so on, but it has huge implications for everybody and may not get us to where we want to get to.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I have fundamental concerns with the utilisation of counselling notes in cases of rape or where trauma has been visited to an extraordinary degree on a person. The O'Malley report was a significant watershed in endeavouring to improve the journey of a person through our criminal justice system and our legal system, particularly a person who is the victim of rape or assault. That...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: Social media companies employ thousands of people in this country. The general taxation proposals of the Deputy's party would reduce foreign direct investment in this country to zero. If he got into a position to do so, he would tax the living daylights out of companies. That is his party's policy, which is fair enough. He is entitled to his ideological perspective.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I did not interrupt Deputy Boyd Barrett, to whom I am responding. He is the leader of his party this morning. Deputy Murphy might be leader next week but it is Deputy Boyd Barrett today. It is long-standing Government policy to support the independent sector. The Deputies opposite may be against that and against the idea of innovation but it has always been the case that we support the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: We have the long-standing Sound and Vision scheme, which is funded through television licence receipts.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: New schemes are coming on board to support local democracy by way of court reporting, for example, as recommended by the Future of Media Commission. There is potential to do the right thing and to sustain employment and a decent quality of life for people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Chronic pain is a devastating condition because it is a long-term one. Thankfully, there has been significant development in provision over the past decade or so but it took a long time to get a proper base within our heath service more generally. The reason for the temporary closure of the chronic pain service in Sligo University Hospital is, as...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: There are streets across the country which need that rebalancing in respect of the common good. Sometimes it can be through the delay in getting various projects through. Take Dublin and O'Connell Street. A major project there has been on the go for about 20 years in respect of retail and residential. What is the name of that company? I do not have its name now but it has gone through...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: No, I am talking about the development itself - the bigger one. That has yet to go through planning but it has been on the agenda for about two decades. That is a problem that speaks more to the dereliction question. When a big project is mooted and is in the works, very little happens until it gets realised. I see that in parts of Cork at the moment as well in terms of people waiting for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: First, I want to make it very clear that there is a fundamental difference between outsourcing and privatisation. Fianna Fáil, by the way, has a very strong record historically of building up State enterprises and did so through various decades-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----particularly during the Seán Lemass era. RTÉ is not for sale. I do not think there is any proposal to put RTÉ on the market-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----or on the stock exchange. That is privatisation - let us be clear. Deputy Boyd Barrett is like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. There is no privatisation. RTÉ is not going to be sold. It is not on the market.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Minister and the Government have been clear that they do not want mandatory redundancies. RTÉ has committed to seeking voluntary redundancies. Public funding has increased and the Government will make a decision on the future funding of RTÉ, which has always been part RTÉ licence fee, part Exchequer funding and part commercial revenue. RTÉ has always taken in...