Results 17,381-17,400 of 50,297 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is an exploitation and abuse of the students, but the Deputy will not call that out because it does not suit her political story.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The lack of housing supply across the board remains a major crisis in our society. As a result of that, I have chaired a number of housing Cabinet subcommittees, all designed to try to break up the bottlenecks and move things on as fast as we possibly can both legislatively and in terms of various projects. From the July stimulus onwards, for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, we need the truth here. The Deputy and her party campaigned for the reversal of financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, for years, from 2013 onwards. FEMPI involved payments to the people the Deputy just outlined. She knows that, of course, but it suits her to twist and distort the truth about the reversal of FEMPI cuts. Legally, in terms of those cuts, one...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Cabinet Committee on COVID-19 meets as required. It last met on 26th November. A date has not yet been set for the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Health is scheduled to take place on Monday, 14 December.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cabinet Committees (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment first met on the 8 July. It has met on a total of eight occasions, most recently on 4 December. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Bodies Data (9 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: National Economic and Social Council The National Economic and Social Council is an independent statutory agency operating under the aegis of my Department. The Terms of Reference and composition of the NESC are set out in legislation - the National Economic and Social Development Act, 2006, and in the National Economic and Social Council (Alteration of Composition) Order, 2010. I appoint...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: To respond to Deputy Paul Murphy on the student nurses issue, and to Deputy Bríd Smith, who asked me what I would call what happened, I call it an instance of abuse of student nurses. It should not happen in our hospitals-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: It should not happen, and in my view, it calls into question the very essence of what the nursing degree programme was about. In my view, the HSE should be written to. I do not know whether complaints have been made to the HSE in respect of those individual cases but if not, they should have been and someone should pursue that on behalf of those student nurses. It is not acceptable in any...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: They should never be put-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: Let me speak. I listened to the Deputy. They should never be put in that position. I am of a view that if someone is told to work a roster, he or she should be paid for working that roster. If we allow that to happen, we will undermine the whole basis of the degree programme - that is the point. We should not allow lazy or wrong practices by those who are meant to supervise and be in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----1,400 additional nurses have been employed and recruited since Covid began. That is not the excuse. It should not be an excuse-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: Undergraduate students should never be abused like that. That was not the purpose of the nursing degree programme. That is a very important point. Otherwise, we are regressing backwards to earlier times from which we thought we had sprung free. We invested a great deal in a nursing degree programme to make it better for younger generations to apply for and study nursing, and to aspire to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----that in addition to the reviews of allowances that will happen before the end of December, and in addition to the pandemic unemployment payment, pay for fourth-year nursing students will also be reviewed. The results of that will be available in November and we will pay higher allowances after those reviews. Of that I am certain.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: Equally, however, and separate to that, there should be a comprehensive review now of the degree programme and how it is operating on the ground. Deputy Boyd Barrett talked about the preceptors and he is correct. A whole range of management posts were created and resourced by the State to supervise the degree programme in our hospitals for a reason, namely, to prevent the exploitation and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: I apologise that I could not get to all the questions.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank all of the Deputies for raising these issues. To Deputy Richmond, the first overall point I will make is that we have made every effort to try to align our positions, North and South, on Covid-19. Early on, there was the memorandum of understanding between the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, in the Republic and the CMO of Northern Ireland. There have been sensitivities and differences...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: But it should not be the case and the Deputy should not be saying it should be the case. If he is saying that everyone should be paid, then he is saying that we should go along with it.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: We should not go along with it. To go along with that is to undermine the whole programme and go back to an older and, in my view, less advantageous model for nursing in general. That is the point.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Dec 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am starting with reality. In my view, we need to deal with that core issue. I have said to the Minister and others that there should now be an overarching review of nursing education in general. Australia, which often gets mentioned, has the two models running in parallel - a nursing degree model where the students do not get paid and an apprenticeship model. That is my understanding....