Results 15,361-15,380 of 50,294 for speaker:Micheál Martin

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: In the public health area, consultants will be appointed for the first time ever. We committed to doubling the staff in public health and that is happening.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Out of 255 appointments, 151 have been made. In home care alone, 5 million hours have been provided.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Just listen. It went from 7,000 on the waiting list in March 2020 to 1,400 in 2021 and the statutory home care legislation is coming. In the community diagnostics programme, some 70,000 scans have been carried out. Some €25 million was allocated to the GP access to diagnostics initiative. That is very important. There are 6,000 more people working in the health service than there...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Critical care beds have gone from 255 to 296 and will be at 321 by the end of the year. Bed capacity has gone up 800. For the proposals in relation to elective hospitals, the business cases have been made.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I do not know the circumstances and am always loath to comment on the comments of judges but the point the Deputy has raised is a serious one. It is not good enough that any person is in jail who should be in a secure mental health facility. That is not satisfactory. I will ask the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, to examine that.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: May I raise a point of order?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I hope I will be corrected if I am wrong but it is my understanding that the word "lie" was used by Deputy Doherty. In the time I have been in this House, every time a Member has used the word "lie" he or she has been asked to withdraw it.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I will first make a point regarding the Order of Business. The Government wants to co-operate and engage with the House. I am very interested in seeing a balance that involves getting laws passed in the House rather than Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday being simply about general debates, general statements and Ministers coming before the House to discuss this, that and the other. We have...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----but the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has never had an issue coming before the House-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----and engaging in debate-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----on a range of issues so that people can air their disagreement and so on. Deputy Barry raised the issue of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA. He said that we must not allow it to be slipped in. CETA has been on the agenda for years. There is no danger of it being slipped through. It has been before an Oireachtas committee for the last year. When we were in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I do not disagree with the Deputy. The pathways to work strategy we launched in July is very heavily weighted towards, and focused on, skills and upskilling. The key to work is more on the skills side than on the cliff edges and anomalies side. We have to do everything we possibly can to provide people with the wherewithal on skills education to enable them to access a wide range of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I do not accept the juxtaposition of the tourism industry expanding and developing accommodation, and students. The tourism industry will grow and develop. We want that to happen to create employment and so on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: We do not want students renting hotel rooms. We want proper, purpose-built, affordable accommodation for students. That is what Housing for All aims to do and that is the agenda. The most effective way of dealing with all manifestations of the housing crisis, be it student accommodation, homelessness or the lack of affordability is to build far more houses and apartments than we are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: Those are the challenges and why we have set up a delivery model to make sure that all aspects of delivering Housing for All are attended to and dealt with.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for the question. I accept that work is always the best option and there is an onus to facilitate and incentivise opportunities for work in the economy. The successful reopening of the economy and sectors of society over the past six months is having a significant impact on the numbers of people at work. For example, the number of people in receipt of the pandemic...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy raised the homelessness issue in the first part of his question. The Government's Housing for All strategy has fundamentally changed the State's approach to housing. Some €4 billion per annum will now be allocated to increasing housing supply - social housing, affordable housing, cost rental and private sector housing. We need housing supply to increase under all...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, quite frankly, I hate short termism. Throughout my political life I have always thought to do that which benefits the medium and longer term. That is why I initiated the first ever major public investment in research back in 1999, when I was Minister for Education and Science, with the programme for research in third level institutions, which in itself was transformative for the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, I agree with the Deputy and take the question in the very good faith in which it was articulated. The world has changed. It has changed most fundamentally and the long-term impact of Covid, in terms of how we live, work, recreate and experience and organise life, will be profound. That relates to all those areas. In respect of the lessons we have learned from Covid, the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Sep 2021)

Micheál Martin: That was on the record of the Oireachtas committee at the time. There are other areas that have not yet been developed, and the regional structure is one, but there is a reason for that. We have come through a pandemic, a once-in-a-century event. I take the Deputy's overall point. The pandemic changes the way we do things.