Results 10,681-10,700 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I dealt with it earlier on Leaders' Questions.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Is this about new sergeants being appointed?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this. It is an important issue given the overall situation and to the need to enhance retention and recruitment in the context of the Defence Forces. As the Deputy will know, a civil-military review of mandatory retirement ages and service limits of all ranks in the Permanent Defence Force has been conducted and the recommendations arising from the review and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Eight.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Even as he spoke, the Deputy illustrated some of the knock-on effects that can happen, so obviously the matter needs some consideration. The overall objective is to retain and extend the numbers working in the Defence Forces. We have to find a way through that and do it expeditiously. I will talk to both Ministers in respect of the issue.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: We have identified a whole range of measures that will be paid out from now until Christmas that will help the financially vulnerable. Substantial payments are being made which should help people not to get into difficulty with their pay-as-you-go bill. That said, the additional needs payment is there. Anybody who is financially vulnerable should engage with the Money Advice and Budgeting...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Government does not want disconnections this winter above all else. As the Deputy said, for winter 2022 the usual one-month pause on disconnections for non-payment has been extended to three months, from 1 December 2022 until 28 February 2023. For vulnerable customers, the pause on disconnections for non-payment has been extended to six months, from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy. In the health sector in recent years, for example, upward adjustments have been made in the pay of some eligible section 39 workers, following a process led by the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform at the Workplace Relations Commission in 2019. That resulted in funding being made available for pay increases for a pilot scheme...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: ------in terms of the overall number of houses built. The reality is that looking at the figures on home completions, commencements, permissions, home purchases, first-time buyers and mortgage draw downs, they are encouraging this year. They give us confidence that the Government's overall 2022 supply target will be met, but we need to go higher than that every other year. That means, and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: First, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the outset, that Labour's motion is very broad. At times it is not clear who, specifically, it is targeting. At one leap, it is almost as if every voluntary and community organisation would be made a public sector organisation, if one were to follow the entirety of the motion through to its logical conclusion. As the Deputy knows, quite...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The conditions that existed in the Covid crisis were that we legally restricted people's movements, on public health grounds, to distances of 2 km early on and 5 km in some instances. There was a very clear legal underpinning for any decisions we took, given the restrictions the Government and public health interests put forward. In the context of the current crisis, there are arguments, of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue because it is one that goes to the heart of the kind of society we are and want to be. The Government is very concerned with the increase in homelessness and it has a comprehensive suite of responses. We need to understand and assess the nature of homelessness in modern Ireland. It is different from what we might have traditionally perceived it to...

Creeslough Community: Expressions of Sympathy (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Hugh Kelly, 59; Robert Garwe, 50; Martina Martin, 49, Martin McGill, 49; James O'Flaherty, 48; Catherine O'Donnell, 39; Jessica Gallagher, 24; Leona Harper, 14; James Monaghan, 13; and little Shauna Flanagan Garwe, five years of age. Ten women, men, boys and girls representing everything good, kind and beautiful about Creeslough, Donegal and our country were taken away in a tragic incident...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Cabinet Committee on Brexit and Northern Ireland operates in accordance with established guidelines for Cabinet Committees and where appropriate, substantive issues are referred to Government for discussion and approval. The Cabinet Committee oversees implementation of relevant Programme for Government commitments in the area of Brexit and Northern Ireland, and ongoing relevant...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: International Protection (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 158 together. The whole of government humanitarian response to the situation in Ukraine is being led at senior level across Government at a national and local level. The national co-ordination of the Government’s response is led by the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation and Supports for Ukrainian Refugees which I chair. The work of the Cabinet...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Government has established 11 Cabinet Committees as follows: - COVID-19 - Economic Recovery and Investment - Housing - Health - Environment and Climate Change - Social Affairs and Equality - Education - Europe - Brexit and Northern Ireland - Government Co-ordination, and - Accommodation and Supports for Ukrainian Refugees. The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation and Supports for Ukrainian...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Bodies (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: The National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO), the only body under the aegis of my Department, was established under the National Economic and Social Development Office Act, 2006. Its function is to advise me as Taoiseach on all strategic matters relevant to economic and social development in the State. At present NESDO has 15 employees. The rates of remuneration of NESDO staff...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Properties (11 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Both my Department and the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO), the only body under the aegis of my Department, take active steps to support staff returning to the workplace from maternity leave. In line with Circular 31/06 Implementation of the Regulations of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004, staff returning from maternity leave who are breastfeeding are...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Housing Policy (5 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive, together. Housing for All is the most ambitious housing plan in the history of our State and contains actions to ensure over 300,000 new homes are built by 2030, along with delivering fundamental reform of our housing system. The target to 2030 includes 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost-rental...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Housing Policy (5 Oct 2022)

Micheál Martin: Regarding the increase in income thresholds, the Minister is examining that with his Department. I hope to receive a update on progress at some stage.