Results 4,901-4,920 of 49,960 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: As the Deputy will be aware, the taxation commission report was published many years ago and successive policy from successive Governments has been marked by a reluctance to bring in new tax reliefs, although we introduced the rent credit for housing. Experts in the taxation field have always shunned the idea of tax reliefs. However, we will examine it. We have done some good work on...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has raised a fair point. That evidence-based study and research is vital to inform future action but it also has to galvanise the public, more generally, and society in making sure that we can get these schemes through. The OPW is funding two full-time staff for the Midleton flood relief scheme and will be bringing forward interim measures pending the scheme's completion....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is very clear. I have just spelled it out in terms of the taxation question. There is legislation that governs taxation. We have the civil partnership and cohabitation Act, which we passed in this House. All these issues have been set out in clear-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: But the legal frameworks are in place.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Included are the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and the International Protection Act 2015, which deals with family protection rights. There have been attempts – I am not saying the Deputy has been involved in them – to muddy the water and create confusion but there is a constitutional framework. Our Constitution has two great strengths....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It was quite a radical thing to do when states were taking power in. My point is that there are two frameworks. There is a constitutional framework, under a written Constitution, that will always be subject to judicial interpretation, but there is also the legal framework, which the Oireachtas passes, on succession, taxation and social protection.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I apologise; I was engaged.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I believe the two relevant Ministers, namely, Deputies Harris and Darragh O'Brien, intend to bring proposals to the Cabinet in March to make clear that when planning permission is granted for student accommodation, the mandatory lease period will be confined to the current academic year. It would take on board the entire academic year. I would be careful about relating the issue to student...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I met representatives of the Irish Wheelchair Association outside Leinster House during the week when they made their protest. We will be discussing this at Cabinet level. The NTA is responsible in many ways for the configuration of urban streetscapes in terms of the sharing of bus, cycle and car lanes. The representatives of the Irish Wheelchair Association say people have suffered in...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----and clear provision to facilitate people with disabilities.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Many Deputies, including Deputies Durkan, Lawless and Catherine Murphy, have raised what has happened in this case. I am not going to second-guess the county council in respect of a CPO because that would potentially involve a long legal route that may not ultimately yield the results we want. However, I assure the Deputy that the Government will work in a very supportive way with the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Again, the HSE is an agency charged by the Oireachtas to run its affairs and organise health services across the country. There has been a slimming down of the centre and delegation to the regions. The position in the case in question was suppressed and there were legal issues as a result. Whether we like it or not, people are entitled to take a case. There was legal mediation that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: You are now exploiting reprehensible behaviour as a political tool to create leverage against the Government parties. That is what the Deputy does with every issue. That is his modus operandi on every issue that comes before society. That is how he operates. It is reprehensible behaviour. The bottom line is that racists and people of the far right will look for any excuse to justify...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: No.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Let us not mix the messages. There is only one message here. It is "we condemn what you do". We condemn the racists, the undermining of human beings and the undermining of the dignity of every individual that comes to this country.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Let us not try to queer the pitch or muddy the waters, which the Deputy has tried to do.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Everyone knows we have had an unprecedented situation with the war in Ukraine that Russia visited upon Europe. It is the first time since the Second World War and I disagree with the Deputy's views on that. Russia has done that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Some 100,000 people have arrived. We have had a fivefold increase in the number of people seeking asylum because of war and conflict all over the world. It is a huge pressure point all over Europe. It is not a policy choice at all, as the Deputy just sort of threw out there.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is a genuine attempt by the Government to respond to the unprecedented situation we are facing with the migratory situation across the globe.