Results 8,161-8,180 of 50,134 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is slavishly following this agenda.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: I accept her bona fides as a Deputy; do not get me wrong but it is only when-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: -----the thing came to a crescendo during the week that all the questions started to come in. The Deputy is part of it. She is inadvertently being dragged into it. I would respectfully suggest that there are a lot of issues around this that need interrogation.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: There is nothing to cover up but the Deputy has made his decision.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Paul Murphy made his mind up a long time ago. I saw him on "Prime Time" last week and to all intents and purposes he has labelled Deputy Niall Collins as corrupt and as having committed a criminal offence.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: So what questions does the Deputy want to ask? He has made up his mind. Stop now-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Bruff Local Electoral Area Committee has no statutory authority, and it had none at the time, to dispose of a property. That is the first fact and so there was no pecuniary or beneficial interest in the land on behalf of Deputy Niall Collins or his wife at that time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: None at that time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: I have said that it would have been better if at the time Deputy Niall Collins had left the meeting and not participated but it is clear that officials brought that proposal to the local electoral area committee. I am trying to be fair and balanced and I will not pre-judge it like the Deputy does. It was at the 2008 meeting, well over a year and a half later, that the land was formally...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: I am very clear about this and I have a clear view that this has been going on for quite some time. There have been attempted character assassinations of many politicians in this House and of many political parties if they are not of the same political orientation of those who back The Ditch, who are good friends of the Deputy in terms of their political philosophy and political ideology.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: There is no question about that. The selective and distorted way that stories originate and are presented leaves an awful lot to be desired. This is a political organisation - that is my point - and the whole agenda is to create a campaign, get to the paid adds, get it trending, attack media if they do not cover it and then get it into the Dáil for questions and answers. We will make...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy made a comment about the planning application that Deputy Niall Collins made. That point was never made in the original story and I said that my impression when I first read the story in The Ditchwas that it was quite shocking. However, when I read the documentation it transpired that it was in his name, that he fulfilled all the criteria for the planning and that the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: -----you would never have thought that from the article that was first published by The Ditch.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: Over the past 12 months and before that, the Government has introduced unprecedented cost-of-living measures worth billions in order to put money back into the pockets of households----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: -----with a view to reducing the impact of cost-of-living increases. I remember Sinn Féin's response to the energy crisis. Thanks be to God we did not follow it, because the same proposal the party put forward was adopted by-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: -----the Liz Truss Cabinet, which caused a huge crisis in the UK. The bottom line is that we are very conscious of the pressures on people in respect of mortgage interest rate increases.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: We have intervened across the board on a whole range of fronts to reduce costs, in the first instance, for people availing of public services, be it with hospital inpatient charges or the free book scheme coming in at primary level from September. Mortgage holders will also benefit from the measures we have introduced. However, we are looking at a taxation measure. In the past, the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: That has been a consensual view for quite some time, but I have no doubt Sinn Féin will always develop an ad hocpolicy in respect of topic of the day. We will have to deal-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: Sinn Féin will stand up for everybody.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Apr 2023)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As she said, my colleague, the Minster of State, Deputy Niall Collins, will make a statement to the Dáil later today. He has already clarified the sequence of events around this issue.