Results 17,981-18,000 of 50,297 for speaker:Micheál Martin
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: The reaction is interesting. Sometimes it is dangerous to stand on the high moral ground. That is where Deputy McDonald has positioned herself in respect of this issue and people's alleged connections. It is a very dangerous place to be and she and her movement should approach it with a greater degree of humility. That is all I will say.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I think the Tánaiste came in-----
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: No, absolutely not.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I am simply saying to the Deputy that the high moral ground is a dangerous place to be.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: There absolutely is in terms of Sinn Féin and its friends.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: The Tánaiste came into the House yesterday and apologised for an error of judgment. I do not know where else the Deputy wishes to take the matter. He apologised for an error of judgment that was made during the term of the previous Government in respect of an agreement with GPs that, in essence, had been published. The essentials of it had been published and the Deputy knows that....
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: The essentials of the deal were published long before any document was sent to the president of the NAGP. The essentials had to do with chronic disease management, the reversal of FEMPI and other areas.
- Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: When I spoke to the House yesterday evening, I made it very clear that I believe that what the Tánaiste did when he was Taoiseach was not best practice, was inappropriate, was the wrong way to deal with that issue and was the wrong thing to do. To be fair to the Tánaiste, he had no issue with coming before the House. He has come into the House, addressed the issue and answered...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: As regards Deputy Paul Murphy's question, Irish migration authorities operate within their own set of policy parameters and within the legal framework that has been laid down by the Oireachtas. That will remain the position. I will follow up on the specific assertions the Deputy makes, but the work and role of Irish officials in relation to migration policy generally is certainly not as he...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I reject the assertions made by Deputy Tóibín. They are simply wrong and overly simplistic. There has been very regular contact at multiple levels. That is the way it has to be. I am engaged with the First Minister and the deputy First Minister. At the first North-South Ministerial Council in three and a half years, which was due to the Executive being collapsed, an assembly...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I would kind of agree with the Ceann Comhairle there.
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 8, inclusive, together. I last reported to the House on this matter on 20 September. Since then I have maintained contact with Prime Minister Johnson. I spoke with the Prime Minister on 8 October when we discussed latest developments around Covid-19 and in particular the situation in Northern Ireland, when I supported the cases for additional...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: To start with Deputy Kelly's questions, the Department of the Taoiseach has not brought in additional staff to deal with Covid-19, as I stated in my reply. It has reprioritised and reallocated work within the Department, as senior members of the Department have been dealing with it on a consistent basis since the outbreak of the pandemic early in the year. The judgment call was that it was...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I last reported to the House on this matter on 23 September 2020 and since then I have continued to be in regular contact with First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill. I spoke to the First Minister and deputy First Minister on the evening of Friday, 16 October, when we discussed the evolving Covid-19 position. Prior to that I had a videoconference with the...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I should have included the North-South Ministerial Council and my visit to the North on two occasions when I formally met with the First Minister and deputy First Minister.
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. My Department continues to play a central role in co-ordinating the State's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. To date this work has been carried out from within my existing staff cohort, although this has involved significant reallocation and re-prioritisation of work within the Department. This work is co-ordinated through...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: We have answered that question.
- An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I do not think that is the basis on which I should respond.
- An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: I would like to make a final point, if I may. We all enjoy, and engage in, the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate. There was nothing untoward or unparliamentary in what I said. I made a debating point and it was an important point from a policy perspective.
- An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2020)
Micheál Martin: People say things about me and I accept them in the full spirit in which they are given in parliamentary exchange and debate. What I said was not a slur, smear or aspersion on anybody's character. My comment was about policy. I was speaking to the policy of this issue.