Results 41-60 of 2,944 for speaker:Martin Heydon

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Defective Building Materials (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: Fair play to the Deputy for trying to get me on the hook for that one. Obviously there is a process, which I outlined very clearly in my opening response. The process is at a very advanced stage and once the draft report is submitted to the Department, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, guarantees that it will be looked at it without delay and a decision made theron. The purpose of the DCB...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Defective Building Materials (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this very important matter and for the opportunity to provide an update on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 on 22 June 2023, which provides for an enhanced grant scheme, and adopted the related...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. I empathise with him and his constituents. As a Kildare South TD, I know all too well the pressures his constituents in County Wicklow face around school provision and demographic growth. We suffer the same in the adjoining county of Kildare as people in Wicklow do. The Deputy has articulated those challenges in respect of Temple...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: I will bring back the request the Deputy made to the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. who has special responsibility for special school places, which is obviously a key part of the Deputy's ask as well. To reassure parents in the area who are following this debate, I will highlight that the collaboration and engagement that are now taking place are very important. I...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Facilities (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputies for raising the important issue of Enable Ireland Sandymount School. I am responding here on behalf of the Minister for Education. Enable Ireland Sandymount School is a co-educational, special school providing a primary and second-level education to students aged from four to 18 with physical and other complex needs. The school property is not in the ownership of...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Facilities (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: Again, I thank both Deputies for giving me the opportunity to outline the Department of Education's position. The Department has been engaging with the school, as is evident from my response, regarding the level of detailed knowledge around the challenges that exist in the emergency works scheme application received. The Department will continue to keep the school informed throughout that...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Facilities (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: We are too efficient.

Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (18 Jan 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank all Members for their work on this Bill to date, the contributions today and far beyond. I know many Members, both in this House and the Seanad, spoke passionately on this issue. I would like to begin my closing speech by acknowledging, on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, as well as on my own behalf and on behalf of the Government, the importance of progressing...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: On the issue raised by Deputy Conway-Walsh, I absolutely accept there is a challenge for farmers with regard to ACRES payments, particularly farmers who have worked with their advisors and undertaken the measures to be implemented this year. As I have said here already, payments will commence next week on 18 December for two thirds of all ACRES general participants. Those payments are in...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: I thank Deputy Smith for raising this important issue. As I stated, 46,000 farmers applied for ACRES and were all facilitated, even though initially the number of participants it could be anticipated could be taken in was just 30,000. There have been challenges in the additional complexity associated with the co-operation stream, the CP stream, and payments by ACRES CP participants are...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: The Department of agriculture, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and I are working hard to make sure farmers across the board are supported and will receive their payments in due course. In the first year as part of the new Common Agricultural Policy, we have seen €1.2 billion being paid out under that to 113,000 farmers. There was big pressure on the agri-climate rural environment...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: Were they isolated in 1980?

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: You knew where he lived.

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Martin Heydon: I express full confidence in the Minister and her work in building stronger, safer communities across Ireland. Victims of the attack outside Gaelscoil Coláiste Mhuire, who are foremost in our thoughts, deserved a united response of solidarity from all sides of this House. Our gardaí, who faced down rioters and those looting shops, deserved a united response of solidarity from all...

Policing, Protests and Public Order: Statements (28 Nov 2023)

Martin Heydon: Like so many around the country my thoughts are with the young children and their crèche worker who were heinously attacked last Thursday on Parnell Square. A series of menacing actors seized on these tragic incidents to sow hate and division under a guise of concern. To see Opposition parties like Sinn Féin, instead of providing leadership, try to feed into that division and...

Trends in Mortality and Estimates of Excess Mortality: Statements (18 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: I thank all the Deputies who contributed to this important debate. It is important to note that peaks of mortality are not unusual in winter, most commonly as a result of factors such as cold snaps and the increased circulation of respiratory viruses, in particular viruses with epidemic and pandemic potential such as Covid-19 and the flu. The Health Protection and Surveillance Centre...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: Budget 2024 is an opportunity for this Government to ensure that we deliver for farmers and for rural Ireland. In my own areas of responsibility, I have put a particular focus on addressing the three legs of the sustainability stool, namely, economic, environmental and social. I will continue to build the networks to improve farmer safety, health and well-being with a dedicated fund of...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: I am here.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: Today, the decision has been made by Government, through the interdepartmental group involving the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Housing, Local Government and Heritage to extend the slurry-spreading season for an extra week to 15 October. That international departmental group makes its decisions based on science, based on grass growth-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: -----based on soil and based on rain fall. We know the pressure the farmers are under but we also know that very good weather is coming this weekend and that most farmers were working on the basis of 1 October. This extra time was needed because of the bad weather in September and 15 October is the latest we can extend it to.