Results 121-140 of 51,744 for speaker:Micheál Martin

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: The bus driver is very important.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: That is not true.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: We will not be introducing price controls. They failed in the past and would fail again. In terms of child poverty, consistent poverty is the key metric, not relative poverty. The Deputy did not qualify which he was talking about.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: Consistent poverty is what we have to deal with. Our child poverty programme in the budget was very significant, the highest in a very long time. The once-off payments were just that, for two years in a row and before that. During the Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, we had to intervene. They not sustainable over the decade and they cannot just keep going on. We would not have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: We do tax them. We have a very progressive tax system-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----which basically means income inequality has reduced despite very significant, strong economic growth. We believe in enterprise; the Deputy does not. He has a broader view of how markets and economies should run-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----and that is fundamental to every specific proposal he introduces on a given issue in here.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: It has to be seen in the round in terms of what kind of society we want.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: I respectfully suggest that the people do not quite want the society the Deputy advocates.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: We just had Leaders’ Questions and no one asked that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: It is quite interesting that a representative of a far-left party like Deputy Murphy is an advocate for universal credits, which benefit the wealthiest in society as well as everybody else. That is quite an extraordinary contradiction of the viewpoints he often articulates. The Minister has established a national energy affordability task force because there is an issue with energy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: We want to build infrastructure, water and grid, which are central to housing. That is what enables us to build more houses.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: Water, grid and public transport are the fundamental pieces of infrastructure that make house building possible.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: A total of €4 billion alone in current expenditure is being provided for housing for 2026. This is an increase of €600 million. Key elements of this will go to homeless services-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: -----to ensure that local authorities can provide emergency accommodation. Well, it has to be done. For God's sake, we have to provide it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy would be very first guy condemning us if we did not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: There are homeless prevention measures, tenancy sustainment measures and so on, and enabling people to exit emergency accommodation as quickly as possible. We will fund over 5,000 new homes under the social housing current expenditure programme. We continue to support over 40,000 existing homes under the scheme. There is €470 million to support an additional 7,000 new tenancies. At...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: That is not a soundbite or rhetoric. That is unprecedented investment in housing and that is reflected this year as well.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: First of all, I would reject completely the analysis of the Deputy. We have been listening to a lot of empty rhetoric on the side of the Opposition in respect of housing. As I said earlier, housing supply is not where we want it to be but it is significantly way up on where it was five years ago on an annual basis. In the second quarter of this year, there were very high figures - the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Oct 2025)

Micheál Martin: Of course we did not wait for the housing action plan. We have brought in a range of measures since the beginning of the year, most of which the Deputy has opposed, as she opposed most measures in respect of housing from the planning Act right through. This budget allocates significantly more resources again on very substantial State investment in housing - a 20% increase in overall...