Results 31,901-31,920 of 50,830 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: When hospitals were given unsustainable budgets, it was on the orders of the Government. When scarce resources were diverted to damaging reforms, it was to implement agreed Fine Gael and Labour Party policy.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: When 1 million health insurance policies were hiked, it was not the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, alone who did it; it was a Government that claimed it was hitting only “gold-plated policies”. This year’s funding crisis has at its core a decision taken by other Ministers to censor the HSE's annual plan by insisting that services be maintained, even where...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: Its first cutbacks were in services for disadvantaged pupils and special needs children. Then it hiked third level fees and abolished grants for postgraduates. Incredibly, it even abolished all dedicated support for guidance and counselling services in schools. Is it proud of this?
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: That was an appalling decision, making young people vulnerable in an ever challenging, complex world.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: I love the democratic input of Labour Party backbenchers who do not even have the courtesy to allow others to address the House in the time allotted. The bottom line is that it was deeply cynical and appalling to get rid of guidance and counselling services from schools. Young people face many challenges in a complex world and the Government has denied them the valuable resource they...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: Simply standing to the side and hoping everything works out has not worked and will not. The Taoiseach has yet to outline how he and the Government believe the European Union should be reformed to allow it to emerge from the austere policies of the last six years. Ireland has not received full justice for its case in the Union and the Government has yet to begin articulating a demand, let...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: As confirmed last Monday by the Minister, Deputy Noonan, all the public is getting is another public relations campaign. He let the cat out of the bag when he said that all that was being discussed was a nuancing of the programme for Government agreed three and a half years ago.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: There will be an effort to show some concern on a handful of issues, but the core policy programme remains the same. The Tánaiste has talked at length over the past month about a new approach to the Labour Party's participation in this Government. She has implied that major changes are on the way. The detail of what has been announced shows this to be more empty rhetoric.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The Tánaiste sought the Commissioner position for Deputy Gilmore and ministerial responsibility for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, but all she has successfully negotiated responsibility for is the property tax and water charges by securing ministerial responsibility for the Department for the Environment, Community and Local Government.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: These were two major issues which the Labour Party opposed in opposition and said they would not implement.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: How often does the Labour Party have to roll over in this Government?
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: It is incredible what it has negotiated versus what it sought in advance of the negotiations on the reshuffle of the Cabinet. What is most striking is that the Tánaiste has identified as priorities areas in which she personally played a significant role in creating problems.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: Since the election, the Tánaiste has specialised in a major conjuring trick of both being part of the Government and distancing herself from it. Deputy Howlin would know all about that. Most journalists have at some point printed articles about how unhappy the Tánaiste has been with the Labour Party’s performance in government. She has encouraged the idea that the worst...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: We have been told that social housing is to be a new priority for the Labour Party.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: There is no doubt that there is currently a major social housing crisis, which has escalated dramatically in the past year.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The truth hurts. As every Deputy knows, the biggest driver of this has been the restriction of the rent supplement scheme introduced by the Tánaiste. Every day new cases emerge of families being forced into critical situations. The Minister who proposed and implemented this policy is now Tánaiste and is now telling us how concerned she is about social housing.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: We are told now that the Labour Party is taking over responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to control the housing agenda. This must be a great surprise to Deputies Penrose and Jan O'Sullivan, who have held responsibility for housing at Cabinet for the past three and a half years. Who do people think they are codding? The Labour Party has had...
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: If the Government was sincere about social housing, the first thing it would do is to abandon its policy on rent allowance.
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: The first thing the Government should do is abandon-----
- Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)
Micheál Martin: -----its policy on rent allowance, which is causing huge problems. Government members can shout and heckle all they like.