Results 121-140 of 49,824 for speaker:Micheál Martin

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...

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

Micheál Martin: A meeting of party leaders will be convened. It would make more sense to wait until we see the announcement on the imposition of tariffs from the US side and the initial response from the EU. We have no issue with a Dáil debate. Next Tuesday would be a more optimal time because we will not have the full information as to what could potentially happen this afternoon or tomorrow. If...

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

Micheál Martin: -----Ireland's detractors seek to undermine us in making those assertions.

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

Micheál Martin: We have always objected to and fought against that idea and notion. We have increased investment in infrastructure exponentially. We have invested in research and development and will continue to do so. The results have been there to see over the last five years. A lot of foreign direct investment has come into Ireland over recent years for a broad range of reasons.

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

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for making reference to Dr. McMonagle, whose bravery and courage we should salute. I did not get an opportunity to see the footage yesterday evening but I will in due course. Every child in this country has the right to a school place. That is a fundamental constitutional right and it is the function of Government to vindicate it. That is...

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

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. This is without question the most serious issue to face the Irish economy in a long time. It is clear that the scale of these tariffs will be significant in European terms. Ireland does not believe in tariffs. The European Union does not believe in tariffs and does not want tariffs. The European Union has not started this; Ireland has not started...