Results 11,601-11,620 of 51,889 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: There is no doubt but that water will remain in public ownership in this country. I know of no political party in this Dáil or this Oireachtas which wants to privatise water.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: No they do not. I have not seen anyone say that. No one has articulated that in a long, long time. We need to stop the scaremongering but that said, we are committed to a referendum. But let us stop the scaremongering. The public wants a smooth, efficient delivery of water services. We need to expand wastewater treatment plants. That is the focus on the Government. It is to get more...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: A workplace framework agreement was agreed with the unions through the WRC and so on. There has been a lot of consultation and a lot of engagement on this. Moreover, as I said originally, it is voluntary.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: The Deputy is devastated.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Transfers to Irish Water of water services workers under the framework for future delivery of water services, which was identified, as the Deputy will know, at the Workplace Relations Commission on 24 June of this year, are voluntary. Every worker will have the option of staying with his or her local authority, and transfers will...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: Again, the Deputies opposite keep talking about the word "emergency", but why did they oppose the Land Development Agency Act? Why did they oppose the Affordable Housing Act? Is it really an emergency when Deputies indulge in the luxury of opposing legislation that provides additional supply on public land? That is the problem. I feel that people-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: People articulate a lot of rhetoric in the House about "emergency" and "urgency" and so on.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: I suggest this rhetoric sometimes is not matched. The homeless issue is a very serious issue.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: We need more supply to deal with that. That is why we have ramped up social housing supply very significantly - to deal with the issue of homelessness and the waiting lists for people who are trying to get social housing. This is why we have ramped it up, and it is up significantly. Consider the numbers of workers who are working in construction. There are 40,000 more people working in...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: The bottom line is that it has to compete with other, bigger banks that operate in financial services in this country and which employ thousands of people-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----and with technology companies that can offer far higher rates of pay. There is a fundamental issue there as well.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: Sinn Féin went for direct action in its time.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: No, I do not. Some very fundamental decisions have been taken that have changed the momentum in respect of housing for the next decade. We are already on track to exceed this year's target of 24,600 under Housing for All. We need to consider that we had two significant lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, which dominated the first year and a half to two years of this Government. Despite...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----and to keep the debate at that level, but not to look more seriously at the issues that the review brings out. There are 34 recommendations in this review. It has changed dramatically. Parallel with that, last week, the Government published the credit union Bill. The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, has done excellent work in this regard. This review states that the credit union...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: But you will not-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: I found the Deputy’s last comment in the last segment of her question very intriguing. She is basically saying that, unlike other sectors, unlike the financial services sector, that ordinary workers in the banks are not or should not be entitled to variable pay.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: That is clearly what she is saying, because she said that they just be paid the basic salary and that is it.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: That is what the Deputy said, and it is a very important point because of the core recommendation from the banking review that the Government has accepted.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: The Deputy is saying that the ordinary bank worker is not entitled-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)
Micheál Martin: -----to the variable pay or indeed is not entitled to standard benefits-----