Results 38,061-38,080 of 50,916 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Does the Taoiseach have any idea what is happening on the ground?

Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Last week, Mr. Cathal Magee, the CEO of the Health Service Executive, referred to a €500 million overrun in the heath service at a committee meeting.

Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Of course it is, because a lot was put into Cork University Hospital in the last five years. Could the Taoiseach answer the question?

Leaders' Questions (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: They are the Government's figures. The CEO of the HSE spoke about this last week at the committee. The Taoiseach should ask Deputy John Deasy about it.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Last week saw the spectacle of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, calling on the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, to intervene personally to address the deficit, as well as expressing his concerns about governance within the health service. Fianna Fáil has asked consistently in the Chamber about the proposed HSE governance Bill because, as the Taoiseach is...

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Would it not better if the existing board was left in place and there was a governance system? At the moment there is no governance system. Why abolish the board and have nothing in its place for 16 months?

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: That is no comparison.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: On a point of order, the Taoiseach can do what he likes in running this House. He knows that because he has the numbers. He should not be giving me infantile comments on whether I want the House to sit longer. That is his call.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach runs this House. The Whips are only nominally involved.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: The real point is that the Taoiseach has admitted to the House that the legislative changes upon which the Minister for Health based his Estimate will not even be passed before the summer recess. That shows how false the Estimate was.

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: The legislation will now come before the House in the autumn and very large sums of money were based on that legislation being passed before then. That is what we were told last December. That is how false the health Estimate was. Patients are going to suffer on the double between now and Christmas because of that dishonesty in preparing the Estimate. The legislation will not now be ready...

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: I would like the Taoiseach to answer the direct charge. How can he put money into an Estimate when the legislation upon which it is based is not ready until the autumn?

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: I have asked that question repeatedly this morning, and all the Taoiseach can do is go back four years or five years. He cannot answer but he is responsible-----

Order of Business (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Quite the opposite. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is obviously not convinced the Government will succeed.

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: Last week the European Council and the euro group issued conclusions which gave us all some cause for hope. A new and more credible approach to addressing bank recapitalisation has been agreed in principle. A joint regulatory framework for the financial system will emerge at some point, although the scope of this is unknown. These are substantial moves forward. They mark a welcome...

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: No, I am not talking about the debt, I am talking about the economic and monetary union. The Taoiseach says that talks are coming up and that we will full play a full part. What is the Government's position on that?

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: We should not wait for President Van Rompuy.

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: We should state how Ireland sees Europe evolving and what is in the best interest of Ireland. We must engage citizens. What is clear from the Taoiseach's speech, which he did not say last weekend, is that we will need treaty change in Ireland. There will be further referendums on this point and we should tell people that and explain to them why it is necessary and in the best interests of...

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: I am, but I am wondering if it is tied into the fiscal, monetary and political union issue. The political and economic issues on the agenda for the next six months are profound. For Ireland, the time has long since come when our Government should start articulating exactly where it stands on these reforms. They are even more important than debt issues in determining when the recovery will...

European Council: Statements (4 Jul 2012)

Micheál Martin: I raised the question of the European Stability Mechanism becoming involved in buying Italian bonds on the secondary market. A central dynamic of the crisis has been investor fear about the lack of a lender of last resort. In essence, the ESM will replace the European Central Bank in terms of buying bonds on the secondary market. The ECB did this for some time, but it did not work. I...