Results 39,901-39,920 of 50,916 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: For many reasons it is highly appropriate that Deputies have paid tribute to the late Brian Lenihan during their contributions to this budget debate. No Minister for Finance has ever faced the combination of dramatic challenges which confronted him during his two and a half years in that office. The scale of the problems and the speed with which they kept changing placed an enormous burden...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The measures announced in the past two days to aid the export and construction sector are welcome, but, once again, they are being over-spun. They are so small that the budget documentation shows them as having no impact on growth or employment. They are also accompanied by an accelerated cut in capital spending. The €750 million being cut is substantially bigger than any stimulus...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The Labour Party Ministers for Social Protection and Public Expenditure and Reform negotiated together and came up with a set of cuts which are deeply mean-spirited and cruel. They go well beyond anything ever proposed by the party which the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, used to lead. The proposed cut to payments for young people with disabilities is callous and unnecessary.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: To single out this group for such a cut says a lot about the priorities of those who made the decision. The targeting of young people with disabilities is another example of a broken promise, but it is much more than this. When asked during the general election debate what the number one social justice priority would be if he were elected to government, the leader of the Labour Party, now...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: -----they chose to cut massive amounts from young people with disabilities.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is an extraordinarily negative signal to send to people with disabilities. The Government has also begun to shut the door on educational opportunities by cutting the third level disability fund by 20%. Why did the Government do that? Deputy Cowen raised that matter again this morning. It is an unfair and unnecessary cut. We had made great progress over the last decade in...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The Government should not have done it. The members of the Government are already too comfortable

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: These cuts will not be forgotten. They are cold, callous and calculating and all about votes and election politics.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is what governed the decision-making in this budget and the Government was caught out in terms of the disability decision. The budget is presented in disingenuous language, the language of camouflage and pretence.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The other welfare cuts were presented as incentivising work-----

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: -----and cutting undeserved payments.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach should stop using words. When he is cutting welfare he should not pretend it is about incentivising work, cutting undeserved payments, standardising payments or bringing people into line. That language drives people mad. They prefer plain speaking. The Government should say it as it is and stop pretending. The Minister for Social Protection has given many extreme examples to...

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: It is another con-job presented in the guise of the career guidance service, which is a clear dismantling and devastation of that service. In reality, it is a cut of 900 teaching posts from schools.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: That is more of the nonsense. Does the Taoiseach know what he is talking about?

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: It means the posts will go from ex quota to in quota. It will be a case of last in, first out. Career guidance teachers will teach economics, history or geography. The Taoiseach should stop the pretence, be honest and say the Government is cutting teachers in second level schools. That is the impact on the ground.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: To claim that these cuts can be absorbed in the general teaching schedule either shows a deep ignorance of how this vital service is provided or is another cynical pretence.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Every school needs career counselling. Every pupil should have the chance to speak confidentially with a trained person about his or her future.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Rabbitte does not.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: He is pretending this is not even a cut. It cannot be done in a group setting or in an ad hoc way. It is at this age that young people face the most pressure and are most in need of someone to talk to. The Government is going back 30 and 40 years.

Financial Resolutions 2012: Financial Resolution No. 13: General (Resumed) (7 Dec 2011)

Micheál Martin: I have received texts from career guidance teachers saying the career guidance service is going back to the 1950s