Results 30,761-30,780 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: The spring statement will not be a budget, a White Paper or a Book of Estimates and it will contain no financial resolutions.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: It is not even a national development plan. Is it an election document? Should civil servants be involved in preparing it? Will the capital programme mentioned by the Taoiseach be yet another instalment in the series of documents and announcements we are getting on a regular basis?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: Is it not the position that all this is about the electoral timetable as opposed to substantive fiscal or budgetary matters? There is a big question mark over the utilisation of the Civil Service in such a cynical exercise.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: That is dishonest. That is not the truth. All those issues were dealt with before anybody resigned. The Taoiseach should be honest.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach said the EMC was established for a specific reason and that it allowed for very regular contact. This seems a very poor reason for the establishment of the EMC. The Taoiseach can have this regular contact with the Tánaiste whenever he wants to. Some two thirds of the measures needed to reach the 3% deficit target had been taken by the previous Government before the EMC...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: Will the fiscal council be consulted on the spring statement?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I am talking about the spring statement.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: 4. To ask the Taoiseach his views on the suggestion that the Economic Management Council should not be retained after the fiscal crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2157/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: 7. To ask the Taoiseach when the Economic Management Council last met. [9967/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: 8. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding the Economic Management Council meeting held in March 2015. [12697/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Economic Management Council (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I put it to the Taoiseach that from day one the main concern of the Government has been to spin its role on a range of issues rather than showing form in terms of substance. Central to all this was the establishment of a Cabinet committee which was pompously titled the Economic Management Council. An army of advisers spent countless hours talking about the importance of the EMC, themselves...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): National Awards Scheme (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: Was that the official Blueshirts?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): National Awards Scheme (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I am unsure whether the Taoiseach is aware of the comment by Napoleon when he was stabilising matters after the French Revolution, that he would rule mankind with baubles. We need to be careful. I have always had an open mind but, as a republican, I have a view that there is always a question mark around the State bestowing honours on people. Unfortunately, in Britain we have seen the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): National Awards Scheme (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I trust Deputy Adams is not referring to republican royalty.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: There should be no big deal about the Taoiseach confirming whether he was called to appear before the commission a second time. I find it difficult to understand the reason he refuses to confirm that. There is no law that says he cannot say whether he has attended the commission. The law under which the commission of investigation was established does not state that. It does state that a...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I welcome that the Taoiseach has indicated he will publish the module of the Fennelly commission dealing with the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner immediately it is received.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I do not believe the motivation for Government including that module was the Oireachtas committee request.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: I can only surmise about the choreography that went on behind the scenes. It seems to me that essentially this bought time for the Taoiseach.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach could have prevented all that if he had answered the simple and straightforward questions which I and others in this House put to him on the floor of this House about what he said to the Secretary General, what the Secretary General said to the former Garda Commissioner and so on.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2015)

Micheál Martin: However, the Taoiseach chose not to do so. Again, parliamentary accountability was the loser in terms of the sequence of events that have unfolded. The reason I put the question regarding the publication of this report is because the progress report was not available on the website, or to the media, until six weeks after it had been received.