Results 15,201-15,220 of 50,218 for speaker:Micheál Martin

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Government remains focused, calm, flexible and in solution mode on the protocol and on the relationship between the EU and UK. There must be political will on all sides. There cannot be unilateralism, which is the opposite perspective to that of the Good Friday Agreement. Unilateralism is the opposite type of impulse than that represented by the Good Friday Agreement. My sense, until...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Bank of Ireland is a private institution and it makes its own decisions. The Government has decided to focus its work through An Post and through other initiatives such as the remote working hubs and enterprise centres, plus the Housing for All and Town Centre First strategies. We are using our mechanisms on a number of fronts to revitalise towns and to get investment back into towns. When...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: This issue is not acceptable but it will need change. That is being pursued on a number of fronts, not just in the context of the case the Deputy has identified but it has wider implications for other cases as well and that has to be corrected.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The NDP is fundamentally about the allocation of capital funding, which dovetails and aligns with current policies and programmes that individual Departments and the Government collectively have identified and prioritised. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, in particular, has identified the requirements for childcare into the future in terms of the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Last year about 7,000 people were waiting and that has been reduced to 1,300 now.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: One of the issues facing the sector is getting enough skilled workers into the home care sector. That is our biggest challenge now. More than €5 million was allocated last year which has had a dramatic impact on reducing the waiting times and also had an impact on the flow through hospitals. The issue will be getting personnel to work in the sector.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Obviously, it is the Government's intention to get the legislation passed through the House and that will affect the timeline for the subsequent election to take place. It really depends on getting the legislation through.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I cannot give that right now.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is working on the ratification process. In the meantime, we are allocating substantial resources across the board in respect of children with special needs, both in education and in the healthcare area. More critically, we must work on facilitating people with disabilities to work in the workplace as well-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----which is an important point. We are not doing enough either in the public service or more generally to facilitate people with disabilities to work.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: As I have said, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will work on that. If the Deputy wants my honest perspective on things, one can ratify conventions, but we need the system and we need people to work and deliver. That is the most pressing issue for me right now.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thought the Deputy was against wealth taxes given that he votes against most of the taxes on wealth when they are introduced in the House. However, to be serious for a moment, the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, are working on the recognition of front-line healthcare workers-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----and will come back to the Cabinet in respect of that issue, and then will bring it before the House.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I agree with the Deputy that the vaccine task force did an exceptional job. It was multidisciplinary and involved different aspects of the public sector and some of the private sector. Our vaccination record of 93.5% of adults is an extraordinary achievement for the country and reflects very well on all concerned. The waiting list initiative is now key. As we emerge from Covid-19 we...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I am surprised the Deputy is raising that issue. I am informed that nobody in south Tipperary is waiting for home help hours as of the end of August. If the Deputy talks to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Minister has produced Housing for All, an unprecedented, comprehensive strategy backed, in an unprecedented way, by resources to make a far greater number of houses available to enable people to buy houses and afford them. More than 90,000 social houses will be delivered over the period of the plan, along with thousands of cost rental and so forth. I have always stated that housing is...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Eleven hundred apartment units were planned in the area. I do not know what the individual case-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The point is that the Deputy keeps opposing it all, and that is a problematic issue-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: What has been announced in Housing for All is unprecedented. The investment is unprecedented.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: It will be the largest number of social houses built in the history of the State. It needs delivery, but to get delivery we need to ensure all of us in this House show leadership in respect of the housing applications that come before us from here on. Otherwise, there is no point in having this kind of across-the-aisle stuff about how one group should get a grip on the issue when the Deputy...