Results 11,781-11,800 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: What I have said is that the Government has condemned this appalling murder of a journalist and also the continued violation of basic human rights in terms of the Palestinians' freedom of movement and so forth.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Ó Murchú legitimately raised the issue of drug abuse. I accept fully the shocking impact that drug abuse has on communities, as well as organised crime. The Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, has commenced preparations for the Citizens' Assembly on drug use, which Deputy Bacik also raised. This has been done to ensure that there will be no delay in establishing the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank all Deputies for raising the various issues in the context of this group of questions. On Deputy Boyd Barrett’s question, it is my view that there should be a citizens’ assembly in relation to all aspects of neutrality. In the first instance, however, we have committed to citizens’ assemblies on education and drugs. We will be examining the timeline around a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I have been a strong outspoken critic-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I did not interrupt the Deputy. He should allow me to respond.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am not getting into a league table. The Deputy deliberately intervened so as not to allow me to follow through on what I was about to say.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: My point is that I have consistently been an outspoken critic of Israeli Government policy in respect of Palestine. Ireland as a country has consistently called out, to use the Deputy’s phrase, the constant and consistent violation of agreements already reached on Palestine. Our view is that the Palestinian people have a right to a homeland. We believe in a two-state solution to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Who? Is it private operators?

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for the issues they raised. Funding has been provided by the Minister to increase the capacity of An Bord Pleanála. Along with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Attorney General, I was determined, coming into office, that we would get the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 passed so that the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority could be...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: My point is that we are not going to be able to retrofit houses-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----in the future to the scale we want if we do not have revenue. We will not get environmentally-friendly farms or protect people from fuel poverty if we do not have revenue. That motion was on the issue of turf, which can be resolved, and carbon tax. Parties like the Social Democrats, which talk about climate change, voted for that motion.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: No, but on the Private Members' motion. The point I am making is that future generations will not forgive this generation of politicians if we do not deal comprehensively and urgently with this. There will be significant challenges. We are up against it in terms of meeting the targets that have been set.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: We must tackle it on all fronts. It is not an ideological issue. Human behaviour must really be the way to deal with it.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: In terms of the climate action delivery board, we now have the Climate Change Advisory Council, which will report annually in respect of the targets Government has set and the targets set under the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Act. The delivery board will be reporting quarterly. There is no need for it to do the work of the Climate Change Advisory Council in respect of its...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens' Assembly (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 26, inclusive, together. The Government agreed on 8 February 2022 to the establishment of two citizens' assemblies, one dealing with the issue of biodiversity loss and the other dealing with the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin. The inaugural meeting for both assemblies took place on Saturday, 9...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 19, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change oversees the implementation of the ambitious programme for Government commitments on the environment and climate change. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 sets out Ireland's key climate change commitments. It sets challenging carbon...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputies for raising those issues in the broad context of the economy. There were quite a number on housing and energy. In the first instance, the Housing for All strategy has a suite of measures, not one set of measures. There is a very strong focus on social housing and a target for 2022 of 9,000, with the aim of getting to approximately 10,000 per annum over the next five...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: Over the last ten years we were not building enough houses so we have to rapidly increase and then consistently have an output of housing of 33,000 to 35,000 per annum for the next ten years. That will enable us to provide younger people, in particular, with affordable houses to rent or buy. In response to Deputy Barry, I often thought he might have kissed the Blarney Stone when he first...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: I do not accept the basic proposition that the Deputy has put forward in respect of what has happened at An Bord Pleanála in terms of every live file, for example, being considered. I dealt with this earlier in a reply. The individual concerned - the deputy chairman - has acknowledged what he has said was inadvertent, but there are other issues. The Minister has appointed a senior...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 May 2022)

Micheál Martin: In response to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, funding has been provided for home help. The service has been dramatically expanded and increased by millions of hours by the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. There has been an issue in terms of recruitment of staff. If the Deputy has specific instances where staff are available to care for people, I ask that he forward them to the Minister of State,...