Results 15,921-15,940 of 50,294 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: First, I want to say to the Deputy that the health service has performed heroically during Covid-19 in dealing with the impact of the disease. The front-line workers right through to the administrators and senior management have worked very hard, night and day, to protect the people of this country. No services were restricted or closed down without the most serious consideration being...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: Does she mean stopping the project in its entirety? That is all done. The site was chosen independently a long time ago. Obviously, the objective now is to build a first-class paediatric hospital for the children of this country and for future generations. There have been very significant challenges in the context of the site and that is no secret. There have been significant issues and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate the Deputy's concerns. By the way, I know Professor O'Reilly and he is an exceptional oncologist, if it is the same person we are talking about. Covid has had this impact, not the Government. Governments do not want to close down services willy-nilly. There is no agenda. We have allocated more resources to the health service in 2021 than ever before. Historic amounts have...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I do not know what that means.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I am aware of the airstrikes overnight in response to the incendiary balloons launched from Gaza. We want all sides to respect the ceasefire. It is important that the ceasefire is made permanent and is long-term in nature, for the benefit of all the people across the entire region. All efforts must be made to ensure that is the case and we will be communicating that to the new Israeli...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that is very close to my heart, to be honest, in terms of what I see as an historic gap in the allocation of funding to community facilities. Whereas we have historically and traditionally allocated grants and lottery funding for sports facilities, there has never really been a dedicated capital fund nationally for community centres. It is my view...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I commend the Deputy on an audacious move to secure a pilot project for Newcastle. I will talk to the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, again to see what we can do in conjunction with the local authority and to discover whether we can provide some supports for what has clearly...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: There is no doubt but that the impact of Covid-19 has been severe on children. It is a once in a century pandemic, which has turned everybody's world upside down, but that is particularly true for children. It has led to isolation at a family level. Children born in the past year, for example, have not been able to see their wider families which is important, at a basic level, for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Government and I are very clear in prioritising the needs of children. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will be to the fore in advancing the issues that fall within his remit. The same applies to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. We will be working together. We work collaboratively through the sub-committees on social...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I take responsibility as Taoiseach, as I do all the time in respect of advancing policies that are beneficial to children-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: -----and that is what we intend to do. There is no question but that Covid-19 had an unprecedented impact on children and we accept that. It was a damaging impact.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: We need action across the board and I am keen on that. We are doing that. We have already published the economic recovery plan, which focuses strongly on children and young people in terms of the allocation of resources to support them in the time ahead.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I do not accept the arguments or assertions put forward by the Deputy. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working proactively to protect renters and the legislation he introduced did just that. The 475 people who applied did so because they were vulnerable as a result of Covid-19 and they then received the protections that were provided under the Planning and Development, and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has no substance to her policies and she has no solutions to the housing problem. Sinn Féin wants a blanket ban on evictions and a rent freeze for another six months only with no focus at all on what that will do in growing the number of houses that are available to rent. I told the Deputy earlier that 3,857 fewer houses are available for rent in 2020. That is a significant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: When the Land Development Agency legislation is passed we will have capacity to increase dramatically the supply of cost rental accommodation, along with more affordable housing and serviced sites.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I am more into solutions to the housing problem. I am not trying to make it worse, which Sinn Féin is in the proposals it is advocating.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 together. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment has been established and first met on 8 July 2020. It has met on a total of thirteen times, most recently on 27 May. The next meeting is not yet scheduled. Membership of the Committee is comprised of the Taoiseach; Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise,...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: National Security Committee (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 20 together. The National Security Committee is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government and comprises representatives at the highest level of the Departments of Justice, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Environment, Communications and Climate and of the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. The secretariat to the Committee is provided by...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (16 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: The Cabinet Committee on COVID-19 meets as required. It last met on 27 May.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (15 Jun 2021)

Micheál Martin: I recall that it was the Labour Party many years ago which stated that there would be 500 multidenominational schools. That was without a plan at all and had to do with the amalgamation of existing buildings. Be that as it may, I am very committed to the provision of multidenominational schools. When I was Minister for Education and Science in the late 1990s, I was responsible for the...