Results 50,261-50,280 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Departmental Transport: Departmental Transport (22 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: The total amount paid by my Department in 2004 for car mileage expenses was €717,135. Figures in respect of the total mileage registered, are not immediately available from the Department's systems. I will furnish this information to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Late Payments Legislation: Late Payments Legislation (22 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: The issue of late payments in the private sector is already addressed by the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2002, SI 388 of 2002. These regulations, which came into operation on 7 August 2002, apply to all commercial transactions with the following exceptions: · Contracts made before 7 August 2002 · Claims for payment of late interest of less than...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: Within days of the High Court — I would not have been aware of the details of that legal case or the fact that we had made a settlement which in essence conceded the principle that was before the court at that time — I immediately abolished the pharmacy regulations which Deputy Rabbitte's Government introduced and which were clearly ultra vires because I do not think they were even...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: It was not brought to my attention in that manner, that is the point.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: When the health board's advice came in March, it should have been sent lock, stock and barrel to the Attorney General's office for advice.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: It is in the report.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy asked what I would consider to be a proper briefing. Mr. Travers has described it very succinctly in his report. It is nothing unusual or extraordinary. A sufficient briefing is fundamentally an analysis of a particular issue, an outline of the options a Minister could potentially pursue consequent on that analysis and recommendations by whoever is making the report on what the...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I will stay as long as the Deputy wants.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I am answering it.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate that but there were approximately nine questions.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I do not want to be accused subsequently of not having answered a particular question. This is an important point. The sub-group asked what we should do about eligibility over the next ten years. In its report it noted that according to the Department the terms "eligibility" and "entitlement" are legally distinct. The Health Act 1970 provides for eligibility for a service but not that a...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: ——that those in Government care were governed by inadequate legislation. It also stated the principle was accepted that those in long-term care should contribute to the cost of their maintenance from their incomes but the legislation gave rise to anomalies and inequities in these charges. It promised to amend the legislation to provide a clearer and fairer basis for these contributions....

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I wish to be fair. I accept the Travers report according to which successive Ministers were not told that there was a fundamentally illegal regime in place for charges for long-stay residents in nursing homes.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: In regard to the 2001 Act it is being bandied about that Ministers——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: ——must have known as a result of the extension of the medical card and its inclusion in the 2001 Act, which was not brought in exclusively to extend the medical card to people over the age of 70. Mr. Travers says that I was not told in any shape or form——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I co-operated with Mr. Travers and he spoke to other people as well. He said there was no submission to me and that based on discussions with other people I was not briefed. I was not. He says in response to this issue the Department knew from the beginning in 1976——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: It is important that I have the opportunity to put this on the record because the reference to the 2001 Act is in that context. Only if I knew about the illegal device of the 1976 circular could I have known the full impact of the 2001 legislation.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: It is true.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: The Supreme Court made its decision just last month. It states that circular 76 and the regulations were illegal from 1976 onwards. It then went on to say that the 2001 Act should have made it clear that it was even further illegal to those in the know, including everyone in this House. Let all of us not pretend that we did not know that charges——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: Yes.