Results 12,621-12,640 of 50,136 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is just an illustration of how ill-prepared she was and the lack of homework she did on the subject.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: However, we will do everything we can to alleviate these pressures. Since we came into office, we have increased the payments to those with low incomes on the fuel allowance by €1,239 a year.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: We have doubled those payments from approximately €630 to €1,239, if you take the €200 electricity rebate into account. What we have been doing to try to help people has been very progressive. I accept that, as the Deputy has said, we cannot cushion the entire blow to the public but we will do everything we can, right across the board. In the package announced a month...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: -----we provided a once-off grant of €125 to those on fuel allowance, we cut electricity bills by €200, we reduced the threshold for the drugs payment scheme to €80 and so on. The measures are significant but we understand fully that given the scale of what has occurred, it will not be possible to cover everything that has occurred so far.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: These issues will be kept under constant review by the Government. The measures we have announced today will cost approximately €320 million. That is on top of the €550 million package we announced just one month ago. The €125 fuel allowance payment will occur next week and that one specific decision will benefit approximately 390,000 recipients. On the broader...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Government has decided to effect reductions in excise duties of 20 cent in respect of petrol, 15 cent in respect of diesel and 2 cent in respect of marked gas oil to take effect from Thursday, 10 March.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: The Government has been working on this in recent days. No one in this House has a monopoly on knowledge of what is happening out there in the real world.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: Quite obviously what is going on here is the international-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: With the greatest of respect, Deputy Healy-Rae, stop trying to seek glory for yourself and allow people-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: We can have this both ways. People outside in the real world want to hear-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: They are not interested in the antics of Deputy Healy-Rae in terms of gaining profile for himself.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: I want to make this point and I will say it again. Everybody knows that global factors have caused the massive increase in the price of oil and the price of gas. Oil is an internationally traded commodity. We are price takers. The price increases have been beyond the Government's control and the control of most governments across Europe. The impact of the war in Ukraine has been stark in...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Funding (9 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: There is no provision in my Department's budget allocation for grant payments. My Department has no record of providing financial assistance or grants to any non-governmental organisation since 1 January 2020.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: That is the key point in this regard. With regard to schools, there are now 159 primary schools with a multidenominational ethos. That is nine above the 2009 figure of 150. At post-primary level, the number of multidenominational schools has increased by circa 11%, from 321 in 2009 to 359 in 2020. That is 359 out of 800 or 850, if I am not mistaken. I can check that figure. It has...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: That has happened. On the transfer of buildings, I will follow that up because the State has invested a lot in these school buildings. In many cases, we built new schools on existing sites. That has to be reflected. The mission of the churches in the past was to commit to education. That ethos should continue as a contribution to the State.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: I am sorry. In respect of the mother and baby homes, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has written to the religious orders. He has not had a substantive reply yet with regard to contributing to the payments scheme. I hear what the Deputy is saying in respect of the redress scheme. That has to be legislated for. A Bill will have to go through the House so there will be opportunities to come...

International Women's Day: Statements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: I will begin my statement today by again acknowledging the bravery of the women of Ukraine, the women of Afghanistan and all the women who are experiencing conflict at this time. Women face particular challenges and hardships in times of conflict and it is important that any response to conflict and the displacement of people specifically and particularly acknowledges the needs of women and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the national maternity hospital and the Sisters of Charity. The Government is not handing anything over to anybody. That is the first point I will make on the national maternity hospital. The original objective of all of this, in terms of clinical advice, was that a new maternity hospital should be aligned with a tertiary hospital. This was recommended 20 years...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: This has gone on too long. It has gone on far too long for the well-being of women in particular. I read the recent correspondence from consultants who are adamant. Everybody who has anything to do with this is adamant that all procedures, operations, diagnostics and everything allowable in this country will take place in this maternity hospital. What worries me is that from the time of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (8 Mar 2022)

Micheál Martin: First, there is an overall theme in the replies. Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of Saudi Arabian oil as opposed to Russian oil. I believe Deputy Cowen hit the nail on the head. It is not to choose, but to end our dependency on fossil fuels and to end our dependency on Russian gas and oil, in particular, because there is a vulnerability-----