Results 5,161-5,180 of 49,960 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy said that I said he should not have raised it. I did not say that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I did not say that at all.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: No, I did not. Go and check it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: On the medical card for Ukrainians, that is means-tested after nine months of being in the country. There is a rent-a-room scheme for €14,000 tax-free earnings already in place for Kerry people and everybody. The line that people cannot compete with €800 per month does not tally with me because that €800 is not for properties in the rental market but for people who...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: That €800 per month is not comparable to any rent anywhere.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is a helping hand to those who generously gave up their properties.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I have asked my officials to examine the issue. Yes, I am minded to respond to the Member of Parliament in respect of the correspondence I received. The Deputy will recall that the Government has already taken an inter-state case against the British Government in respect of the legacy legislation, which has created its own challenges. We are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Dead right, but in the 1970s or 1980s there was never the same level of campaigning on fossil fuels. In fact, I can recall headlines in the 1970s and 1980s that we had struck oil as if it was a great panacea or achievement. We now know fossil fuels have been destroying the planet and have created an existential threat to the very survival of humankind. Yet, there was never the same...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy. I do not disagree with much of what he has said. The Climate Action Plan 2024 has set a revised timeline of quarter 4 of this year for the publication of the final wind guidelines and the Department is working towards meeting this commitment. It has to align with the new Planning and Development Bill 2023, which is currently undergoing the Oireachtas legislative...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: In respect of the situation with Ukrainians in this country, first of all, Russia invaded Ukraine savagely, illegally and, in my view, immorally and violated the UN Charter in so doing. It bombed towns, cities and civilian infrastructure. When the war started, I recall scenes of families packing trains and fathers and husbands saying goodbye to their loved ones. That has all been...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy asked what has changed or what has developed. I will take education alone. There have been very significant developments since this Government was formed. Seven special schools have been established, and five of those are up and running. We focused on special education very quickly because, prior to that, there had not been the establishment of special schools. There are two...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I did not fob off the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: What I did was challenge the assertions in the Deputy's contribution that zero had happened since the Government's formation. That is what she said in respect of special needs services generally, and I am entitled to do that when she raises what I believe to be a misleading presentation of the situation. That is not to say I do not recognise that serious issues remain, particularly in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----around progressing disability services, which I have had issues with and which I believe has been problematic and of a nature that has reduced children's access to therapies-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----whereas I want to increase children's access to therapies, particularly as regards special schools. I answered the Deputy's questions about CDNTs, the disability motorised scheme in terms of the work under way there, and the protocol, which the Government is examining.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: However, the more fundamental issue is to get services and to increase services.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the Deputy raising an important issue. More broadly, though, I have often reflected on how society has looked at these issues over the past 50 to 100 years. I recall the big protests about nuclear energy back in the 1970s-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Signatories to the letter included the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. Many people feel the party's behaviour in that respect, and that co-ordinated behaviour, is one that is suppressing the media. Irrespective of who is in government in the future, it is a legitimate question. It sounds great that we will pay all the bills and have full Exchequer funding, but it means any government...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: That is a view people think Sinn Féin is at in terms of things.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Again, I quoted reputable, independent people who monitor freedom of the press and of the media. Ireland enjoys one of the highest places in the world index on freedom of the media because of government behaviours. The bottom line is from the party leader down Sinn Féin has been systemic in its legal actions-----