Results 18,301-18,320 of 50,297 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna – Questions: Cabinet Committees (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy Boyd Barrett would tax the imaginary whoever to fund it.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Cabinet Committees (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There has to be sustainability to what we do. We have to think ahead. The whole idea of the pandemic unemployment payment was to open it up to new entrants. We did that because of the acknowledgement that there would be further restrictions imposed. We also extended it to April. It is my sense that we will have to extend beyond that until we get a vaccine. The Government has to take...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Cabinet Committees (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: On the Debenhams workers, again, I am conscious of the efforts made by Mandate and others in terms of the liquidation. I am not happy with how Debenhams dealt with this. There are limitations, however, to what can be done. The Government will provide a statutory redundancy payment and will do whatever it can within its powers to get extra support for the workers where that is possible....

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: The data are being published. The data on ICUs are being published.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: Information on the case numbers is published on an ongoing basis. The NPHET letters are being published.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am talking about the letters-----

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----that were the key issue in terms of Thursday's advice and Sunday's advice. They have been published.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: Everybody should wear masks as often as they possibly can.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: The guidance is out there-----

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----on masks.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There was no bank holiday date in my mind yesterday. I do not know where that came from. There was a lot more on my mind yesterday than the awarding of a bank holiday. I do not know where that came from.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: It was not in my head.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There was a more fundamental issue about level 3 and level 5. Those were the issues yesterday. To respond to Deputy Tóibín's points, I am perplexed by the suggestion. There is no media monitoring of Government criticism by anybody in the Government Information Service or the Department of the Taoiseach. There is no monitoring of any criticism by political parties. That does...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There could have been a contract that was entered into earlier. I do not know. I will check it out for the Deputy and get an answer on it. Perhaps contracts were entered into in advance for a set period. I do not know with regard to the specific issue raised by the Deputy on CervicalCheck advertisements. The bulk of communications has been on Covid-19 with regard to the various...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Cabinet Committees (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 13, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment has been established and first met on 8 July. It has met on a total of five occasions, most recently on 22 September. The Cabinet committee is scheduled to meet next on 9 October. Membership of the committee comprises the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: The budget will hopefully deal with some of the issues to which Deputies are referring but I cannot pre-empt it today and I do not intend to.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will come back to it later.

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Advertising (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, 24 and 149 together. The bulk of the spend in 2020 to date has been to deal with the Covid-19 emergency. Of the €11.4 million spent to date, €4.2 million was on advertising in publications and €5.8 million on broadcast advertising. Since March, my Department has co-ordinated communications for the...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I must resist the attempt to underplay and undermine the progress that has been made in ramping up key aspects of the health service. The testing and tracing capacity has been significantly enhanced with an onshore laboratory capacity for 100,000 tests and 2,000 per day offshore. We are currently increasing capacity onshore for November and December and we will continue to have offshore...

Ceisteanna – Questions: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together. The economic division of my Department assists me and the Government in developing and implementing policy across relevant areas including economic growth and job creation, infrastructure and housing and climate action and social dialogue. This work is focused, in particular, on the delivery of commitments in the programme for...