Results 1,201-1,220 of 50,909 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: Okay. In general, it went to all sorts of applicants. The bottom line is there were approximately 60,000 commencements, which we now need to see them completed and delivered. We are not extending it. I want to make it very clear to everyone out there: build what you have signed up for and get it built before the end of 2026.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: No, I am not-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: This will go on and on forever. I will talk to the Deputy again.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I will have to examine that. Presumably, they could have applied for more at the time if that is what they wanted to build.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: Anything will push you to An Bord Pleanála. That facility was created to enable them to get a faster permission and to go directly to An Bord Pleanála. I will check the background to this, but my understanding is 96-beds is what was sanctioned from an earlier bed review. I will check it out, because we want to provide beds as quickly as we possibly can in UHL. Obviously, it has...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the case of William Jonathan Moore. Normally, the treatment abroad section is very responsive to cases. I understand that the guidelines stipulate treatment should be within the European Union, although with the common travel area with Britain, we also send people with rare conditions to get treatment in the UK. If the Deputy can send me the full details of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: As I said earlier to Deputy Bacik, who raised this on Leaders' Questions - I have just responded to Deputy Nolan, who has also raised this issue - the Government's obligation is to vindicate the right of every child to education and to a school place. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, are working flat out with the National Council for Special...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am not disagreeing with anything the Deputy is saying. The issue is solutions and we have got to work on it. My own view is that the progressing disability programme, which was developed back in about 2013, has not worked, or the particular models. I want to pay tribute to people working in CDNTs because they have had huge burdens and workloads but the problem is, prior to 2013, special...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, have met the parents. We are saying we are doing everything we can to provide places. We have already provided 372 school classes. We are making very significant progress this year. Delivery is more important than making promises. Next September, we want every child to have a school place that is appropriate for...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am not an expert on discs in terms of presentation and so on. I will ask the Minister responsible to come back to me on it and to respond to the specific query the Deputy raised this morning, if that is okay.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am very familiar with the service, and Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan would have raised it with me. I think Councillor Tony Fitzgerald, as the Deputy knows, has done fantastic work in that area over the years and has been very active on this. Hence the allocation. I spoke to the former Minister, Roderic O'Gorman, on foot of representations from Deputy O'Sullivan and Councillor Fitzgerald...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I am not familiar with the full background of the specific application and this specific wind farm development. Obviously, I would want to be apprised of that in terms of what the issues are around planning and so forth. The Government will not be introducing a moratorium on onshore wind, however. It is just simply not in a position to do that given the huge pressures we are under in...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. She had been raising the issue for quite some time previously on the floor of the House in respect of special needs education more generally, but here she is specifically referencing Offaly School of Special Education. She referred to the most recent pilot scheme, which was announced last summer, in respect of 11 special schools across the country....

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I acknowledge there is a vacuum. We need a structured approach as a country between health and education. We are all aware that the CDNT workforce has grown. There have been issues with recruitment but progress is being made. We want to do this in a way that does not undermine capacity within the health service. We want to recruit and retain more therapists overall in the public service....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a key infrastructural issue in terms of facilitating the construction of thousands of houses but also in terms of the broader economy. The existing Uisce Éireann strategic funding plan, which was from 2025 to 2029, was approved last November. That committed over €10 billion in capital investment by Uisce Éireann in that period. There...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has made a number of fair points there. In the context of the national development plan, we will look at some of those issues in terms of, first of all, the need for additional capital funding for water because that is key, in my view, for housing and economic development, particularly in the context of the trade war that is potentially on our doorstep. We need to be very nimble...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: That is our commitment. That is what the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, are working towards to make sure that happens and also for future years. The growth in numbers identifying with additional needs is growing exponentially. If one looks at the most recent census compared with previous censuses, one can see that there has been a significant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: On Monday afternoon, the Minister received from Ms Nunan, the negotiator who was appointed, her report on negotiations with religious organisations associated with the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. The Minister will have to review that report and come back to Government in relation to it. The Government has not gone cap in hand to anyone. The Government took its own...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Apr 2025)

Micheál Martin: As I stated, our view is that the orders have a collective and moral responsibility to respond to Ireland's legacy in relation to the mother and baby institutions. As I also stated, we just received the report on Monday. We will assess that report and then consider what options we can take - within the law, obviously - in terms of persuading religious orders in respect of the mother and...