Results 321-340 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: No retired officials have been re-engaged by the Department of the Taoiseach on a consultancy basis in the past four years or to date in 2025.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for raising a variety of issues. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked about the sports front. There has been a range of investments. Casement Park is a significant one, with a €50 million allocation. There is also the sports club electric vehicle, EV, charging scheme, which got into difficulty in terms of procurement and the roll-out of public EV charging points in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: But they do not see it as a hard border.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: We have been criticised on the opposite side, on the other side of the scale. There have to be rules around migration. I think the Deputy's view is that there should not be, which is fair enough and he is entitled to have a view, but I think his view is that there should not be any rules at all.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: That is not sustainable. I thought he was talking about asylum seekers coming North and South.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Anybody who is legally resident in Northern Ireland can travel to the South.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Coppinger raised an important issue. Gender-based violence is not nationality focused, or exclusive to any person irrespective of race, creed or colour. It is something we need collectively to rid out of society. It takes a lot of work. We have policies relating to it in this Government. As Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, did a lot of good work in this area. Her successor,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Disability Services (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I apologise. On dysplasia, I did not know that and was not aware of it. I will relay it to the Minister for Health. To Deputy Dempsey, I say independent living is important. She is correct a lot of parents have real anxiety about later life and if anything happens. That is something we are focused on. I spoke about Waterford, I think. To Deputy Ward, we are working to do everything we...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 31, inclusive, together. On 10 April, I announced the new phase of the Government’s shared island initiative in a keynote address to the fourth shared island forum. Our programme for Government sets out an ambitious agenda for building a shared island, backed by a further €1 billion commitment to the shared island fund out to 2035....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Disability Services (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank all the Deputies for the issues raised. Deputy Bacik asked the initial question about therapists. Approximately 461 were approved by the Cabinet today. That was sweating the existing asset, if you like, within our third level system, seeing how many additional places we can provide in addition to those already in place across a range of therapies. The Minister for Further and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Disability Services (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: There will be engagement between the Department of Health, the Minister for Health, the HSE and CORU because there is an issue around recognition of qualifications for those who travel from overseas, even from the United Kingdom and within the European Union. It takes too long, given therapists are crucial. In other professions such as medicine it happens much more quickly in terms of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: We have had increased migration in the context of the numbers now applying which went from an average of 3,500 in 2019 to approximately 14,000 to 15,000 in the past two years. This has a serious impact on services and our system. We need to accelerate it and make it faster for both the application and appeals processes but the message must be there that there are rules in Ireland and they...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: On Ukrainian accession, Ireland has been one of the leaders in pushing for an acceleration of accession and the Commission is working away on it. Hungary is against it and its negativity has slowed down the process by indicating its opposition to the various processes involved in the Ukrainian accession to the European Union. This is a pity as I believe the people of Ukraine see their...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Disability Services (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 19, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on disabilities has been established to oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the area of disability, with a specific focus on children’s disability services and disability services more generally under the forthcoming new national disability strategy. The Cabinet...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Disability Services (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: What is it called?

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for raising a variety of issues. Deputy Malcolm Byrne focused on the multi-annual financial framework. This will be a very challenging debate, which we commenced last March. I met the President of the Commission about six weeks ago for a substantive meeting on a range of issues. I emphasised the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy retaining its core...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: There can be NATO peacekeeping that is accordance with UN principles and the UN charter and the UN acknowledges that such as in the Balkans and so forth. It is not the end of neutrality. Neutrality is defined by membership of a military alliance. We are not members of a military alliance and we have no intention of becoming members of a military alliance. The idea that Russia would have a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: A Security Council resolution can be vetoed by Russia.

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: The General Assembly was used decades ago. It is not a feasible option for sanctioning peace initiatives and the Deputy well knows it. It is not a viable or feasible approach. Every peacekeeping mission in which we have participated have been sanctioned by the Security Council and it is increasingly becoming more problematic to even get agreement on humanitarian corridors in places of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (10 Jun 2025)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together. I attended the European Council meeting on Thursday, 20 March where leaders continued discussions on Ukraine and European defence and security. Other topics discussed were the Middle East, competitiveness, the next multi-annual financial framework, MFF, new own resources, migration, oceans, multilateralism and the western...