Results 15,821-15,840 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: The authorities in question should be able to give the Deputy the answer. An Garda Síochána should be able to give her the answer.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: To be fair to Deputy Harkin, she has raised this issue consistently in the House and the authorities involved should respond. It is an operational matter for An Garda Síochána but it should be fully transparent in explaining why it has taken certain decisions.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: I accept that there are issues in respect of dental health but provision was made in the budget for additional resources to expand the oral health programme and to add to the numbers of people involved in the provision of the public programme. I can get some figures for the Deputy in respect of that but I take the point he makes. Additional provision has been made in the budget and I will...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: I welcome the fact the Deputy has raised this issue because I checked the issue raised in the House yesterday by Deputy Boyd Barrett. The narrative I have received is somewhat different from that presented yesterday. For example, during Leaders' Questions, I think Deputy Boyd Barrett made reference to the article in the Business Poston properties located in Finglas, several of which were...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: I have no issue with the Deputy's point that we could do with a debate. I have no issue with a debate on NAMA's role. We are very clear the statutory underpinning of NAMA is one that must also be respected. NAMA represents the taxpayers and has an obligation to get value for them. That must be balanced with the current housing situation and our issues around housing. The Housing for All...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy's view on a tax credit could simply fuel inflation even further. That is just the reality. Supply is the key issue for getting rents down. Constitutionally, we cannot ban rent increases for three years.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: We simply cannot.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: That is the advice we have received. I note that in Northern Ireland the increases are in double digits. The Deputy's party is in charge of housing in Northern Ireland and it has not waved any magic wand to get rents down or get the housing issue resolved.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: Supply is the key issue. Very significant supports are being made available in the form of rental supports for low-income renters through the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: We are very conscious it is very challenging and difficult for people out there. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will be introducing a new Bill in early November to address the inflation concerns around rent and also security of tenure for tenants and tenancies of indefinite duration.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As he knows, the Minister moved early on an earlier report in respect of student nurses' supports and will bring this report to Government. Government will then act on that report.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in the House today. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, also met the consultants and would have notified me of the situation as articulated by the consultants, and as articulated this afternoon by the Deputy. It is an issue that the HSE is engaging with. Suffice to say, Covid has had a very significant impact on our hospitals.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: It has had an extraordinary impact, along with the cyberattack. Both have had a huge pressurising impact on people working on the front line. The degree to which the cyberattack impacted on many clinicians in the aftermath of the high point of Covid is not widely appreciated. Access to data, records and so forth was undermined by the cyberattack. That said, I want to make clear to the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: There is funding this year to hire a further 8,000 full-time permanent staff in 2022. That is a significant resource. We need to accelerate the HR side of this in terms of recruitment, but the funding is there to recruit additional staff. That applies across the country, including in Tralee. Additional funding has been allocated to the national clinical programmes. In terms of staffing,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: Action will be taken. The HSE has confirmed to me that the resources are in place to deal with some of the issues raised by the Deputy, including staff recruitment and measures to alleviate pressures on emergency departments. Presentations to our hospitals are higher than the 2019 levels. We are maintaining the full range of activities, in addition to the Covid issues. Hospitals are under...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: Hear me out, please. The HSE has mechanisms that it can deploy to hospitals if there are issues around governance, which is what the Deputy seems to be implying. I do not know if that is the point he is making in regard to the external review. The HSE has at its disposal units and mechanism to make sure that issues like this are rectified.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: It is all for political ends and electoral ends. Every time the Deputy does it, I will stop her in her tracks and say, "Stop peddling disinformation." I did not design any scheme and you know that-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----and you should acknowledge that, through the Chair. You should acknowledge that and keep to the truth.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: The last scheme was prepared in good faith by the last Government-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----which was welcomed by Sinn Féin at the time. The scheme has to change. The residents that I met put very good issues to me at the time regarding upfront costs in terms of rental if they were out of their homes when the houses were being refurbished, but also certification so that if there was remedial work done and something happened in ten or 15 years' time, they would be...