Results 15,561-15,580 of 50,294 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: As for the entire environmental approach in respect of compact cities, for example, the agenda there would be to activate brownfield sites to create housing opportunities within cities. However, the costs are proving particularly difficult, and the constant refrain from the sector is that they are not viable from a cost perspective, yet from a public transport perspective and a services...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: I am just saying what people who are in the field building are saying. They say they cannot do it. I do not know whether they are right or wrong. They say they cannot and those sites have not been built on. That is the reality of brownfield sites. We have not had the development recently that we would have wanted. We will look at how we can get a town centre first approach in towns, but...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Deputies have to listen too to people who are out there in the field trying to get projects off the ground because all I hear is-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: Yes, people will build to make profit. We need a private sector as well.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: We will not get to 30,000 or 40,000 houses a year if we do not have a balance between State-driven social housing, State-supported affordable housing and private sector development.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: We are not going to get there.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: It simply will not happen.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: I think Deputy McAuliffe-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: My apologies.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: May I respectfully say just one thing? Deputy McAuliffe summed up eloquently, with precision and factually a lot of the progress that has been made over the past year, and that will stand on the record of the House.

Ceisteanna - Questions: European Council (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 16, inclusive, together. I attended a meeting of the European Council on 24 and 25 June in Brussels. The agenda covered Covid-19, economic recovery, migration, Turkey and the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, relations with Russia, Ethiopia and a number of other external relations issues. We also discussed the fundamental values of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: A number of issues have been raised by Deputies, particularly with regard to stamp duty. This was signalled some time ago by the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Darragh O'Brien, in the context of the decision to increase to 10% the stamp duty on investment funds so that they could not compete with first-time buyers. This was allied with planning decisions made by the Minister, Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: We need to move to a different model of leasing. First, the State should own in the local context. Second, I would like to tell Deputy Boyd Barrett that I do not believe the State should be competing with first-time buyers to buy houses.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: It is not better-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----because it is squeezing first-time buyers out of the market. The real issue is that we are in transition here. We are a year in government. The housing for all strategy will make this transition from the current leasing arrangements. Some of this is in the pipeline but there is an immediate issue of 2,400 social houses that can be provided through this leasing model.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: Allow me to make the point, please. We want those 2,400 families housed. Local authorities in some instances need to develop capacity and land to get into direct building. The leasing we are talking about here is not the dominant form or model for the provision of social housing at all. That gets lost in the debate because one would imagine that every social house is going to be leased...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: On the school secretaries, the matter has been subject to discussion and negotiation. The Government, including the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, wants to resolve this. The matter has been subject to a process. We want to resolve it. It is important that it be resolved. On Deputy Michael Collins's points, I will talk to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. There is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10 together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Monday, 5 July. The next meeting of the committee is yet to be scheduled. This committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. There is significant work under way on these commitments across...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, I appreciate that Deputy McGuinness his a long-standing advocate for the O'Farrell family in respect of calling for a public inquiry. The Dáil has passed a resolution in that respect. The scoping inquiry was established. In my view, it makes some sense to get the outcome of that scoping inquiry. I accept that it has gone on for a long time. Covid-19 has had an impact on that....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Jul 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, I think that is a very constructive proposition by the Deputy. I do recall the amnesty 15 years ago. I will engage with the Minister for Justice in respect of the Deputy's proposal. Obviously, the Minister for Justice will take advice from the Garda Commissioner. There is a real concern in relation to the rise of knife crime in our communities at the moment, particularly in...