Results 33,461-33,480 of 50,830 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: My party and I completely reject this. The United Nations is not working as it should but we must not abandon it as an essential part of the international system. Ireland has, and always will have, a limited defence capability. Focusing this on humanitarian actions is not only the right thing to do, it has full democratic legitimacy. There is no pressing need for a changed defence...
- Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: I wish the Taoiseach a very happy and peaceful Christmas. I will do my best to ensure it is peaceful. I also wish the Ceann Comhairle a happy and peaceful Christmas, free from the cacophony of sound which often emanates from the House in his direction. I wish the Captain of the Guard, his staff and all of the officials who have been supportive of debates and committee meetings a happy...
- Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: By contrast the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has stated this on a number of occasions, including last week in The Irish Times, although it has received little or no notice. Time and again independent experts have stated European policies, or rather their failures, were directly linked with Ireland needing a bailout in 2010. The ESM and the policies of Mario Draghi at the...
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: It is extraordinary that the Taoiseach has published the health service plan today and has deliberately avoided any opportunity for the House in plenary session to debate what by any measure is a substantial Estimate which illustrates how the books were cooked on budget day and how we were deliberately given false figures which did not last a couple of weeks and which went through some...
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: Will the Taoiseach undertake to give time tomorrow in the House to debate the health service plan at plenary session? Why did he so cynically choreograph business to avoid any meaningful debate on a set of Estimates on health that have been proved to be bogus from the outset when they were presented to the House on budget day?
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: It is not agreed. I find it extraordinary that the Government proposes to allow only two hours of debate for Second Stage for the Water Services (No. 2) Bill tomorrow, with Committee and Report Stages to be given an hour and a half on the same day. It is an unprecedented level of guillotining of an important and substantial Bill. This Bill has been significantly changed from the original...
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: In addition to that-----
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: -----a provision relating to an independent assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency has also been removed.
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: I am just making the point that it is a substantive Bill that demands serious consideration by the House. We are being allocated only two hours for Second Stage and one hour and 40 minutes for Committee Stage.
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: We had a meeting this morning with the Taoiseach about Seanad reform. We were promised a whole lot of stuff about Dáil reform, accountability and meaningful consultation but it all counts for nothing when Bills such as this - it is controversial from the Government’s perspective because it brings in a mechanism for water charges - are rushed through. How come Bills dealing with...
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: -----and water charges are just rammed through the Dáil in three hours? Where is the room for amendments there? Why can the Taoiseach not put Committee Stage back to January or February? Why is it being rushed through?
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: Deputies opposite are laughing. If that is their concept of democracy in the House, then fine. They cannot go on pretending they are achieving a democratic revolution, because they are not. This flies in the face of any commitment by the Government to meaningful Dáil reform.
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: The Government has deleted the key section in this regard.
- Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: It can be dealt with in January. This proposal is a joke.
- Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: With regard to the issue of clarity and freedom of information, the only reason the matter is with the appeals commissioner is that someone has objected to releasing all the files in regard to the request. The body that has objected is the Department of Finance. Only six out of 19 documents were released. All of the material should now be released in the interest of transparency and to...
- Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: I referred to the Department.
- Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: It is approximately 15 months since the original request was made.
- Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: In the past few days in the media and elsewhere there have been very serious allegations made about NAMA and its operations. My colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien, has come to possess material, about which he has spoken in the Seanad and which he will be sending to the Garda Síochána. I understand from media reports that a dossier on the behaviour of a previous employee has been...
- Order of Business (17 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: Delayed again.
- Order of Business (17 Dec 2013)
Micheál Martin: Have talks on the contract been initiated?