Results 7,021-7,040 of 50,134 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for raising these issues. Deputy Andrews referred to the GRA and the Garda situation. We support community policing and invest heavily in it, but the issues that remain outstanding in respect of the rosters should be resolved through the available industrial relations machinery. It is important that those avenues – the internal mechanisms and the established...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: In schools is where I would have them. The Progressing Disability Services, PDS, programme has a different view, but coming from an education background, that is what I believe. We had it ad hocin the past before PDS and it worked in many areas. To be fair to the HSE, it will argue that children who were not in special schools did not get the same level of access, but children in special...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I welcome the Deputy's raising this very important Bill. It is at pre-legislative scrutiny stage. I smile sometimes when people want something implemented as soon as possible. I often prefer that approach coming from the Opposition. If the Government brought in legislation and said we want to introduce it as soon as possible, the Opposition would cry "guillotine, guillotine" and all hell...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: It is a very important Bill. It is at pre-legislative scrutiny.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I am sorry, just for the record for Deputy Ellis, the Bill has finished pre-legislative scrutiny so we will progress it now.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I accept what the Deputy is saying in respect of the challenges facing section 39 organisations. There were discussions between the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the unions involved. We urge that those engagements would be restored and that we would have talks on this, and that the necessity for action on 17 October would be avoided. We do not want...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: That is a good suggestion. I will talk to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine with a view to putting forward the recommendation the Deputy has articulated for dealing with the issues that are critical for the sustainability of the food industry. There is much we can do in optimising the circular economy more generally.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue. School transport is a vital public service. In the 2022-2023 school year, for example, 149,000 children, including more than 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported daily to primary and post-primary schools. I will talk to the Minister for Education in respect of Tunnyduff National School which the Deputy has highlighted....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: That behaviour is unacceptable in terms of the relationship between the developers and those who have purchased the houses. There are clear laws of contract and legal frameworks governing the purchase of houses which should be enforced. I will talk to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of it. However, we always have to be mindful that over recent years the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue. As he said, the national childcare scheme is a scheme of financial support to help parents with the cost of childcare. A component of the scheme is a sponsorship referral which makes special provision for vulnerable children. Officials in the Department are aware of the issues the Deputy has highlighted regarding the sponsored subsidy rates to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I do not have the details of the case so I cannot give a specific answer in respect of the school. There have been challenges in recruiting qualified personnel for posts of that kind. That may be the case for this school or post, but I do not know. The Deputy can give me the details.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I will talk to the Minister in respect of it.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: Sorry?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: We have been investing very significantly over the last three years in wastewater treatment. Phosphorus pollution is a clear issue in urban waste water and nitrates are in an agricultural context. We are not demonising farmers at all.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I have spoken to farmers in recent weeks. They are very interested in good methodology and good farming practice as well. They are as concerned as anyone to make sure our waterways are clean. Irish Water is the body responsible for the overall development of wastewater treatment plans.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: The big issue in all this is capacity to get more and more done physically. Resources are there. There is a plan to get the plants built and treatment plants in place.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I am not aware of the specifics of it, although the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, rapidly briefed me on it.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on this to see if the various agencies can get together to resolve this. Invariably, these issues are not straightforward to resolve, as might appear at first glance, but I will talk to the Minister.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (28 Sep 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Minister’s priority for DEIS was to engineer biggest expansion of DEIS since it was originally established in the early 2000s and the Minister has achieved that over the last two years, in terms of the number of schools covered by DEIS and all the teaching supports which is quite significant in terms of the reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio in DEIS schools and the other supports...