Results 18,381-18,400 of 50,297 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Planning Issues (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is a recognised need for more comprehensive and holistic tools to better assess well-being as an aid to policy and budgetary decisions. We are committed to developing such new measures of well-being and progress as envisaged in the Programme for Government. Much work has been done in this area which we can learn and build upon. The Department of Finance has conducted research exploring...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff (6 Oct 2020)

Micheál Martin: My Department takes an active approach to managing sick leave consistent with the relevant Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sick leave circulars. These also set out the sick leave entitlements of staff across the Civil Service including various limits which apply. The most recent validated sick leave statistics for my Department relate to 2018.My Department's Lost Time Rate for...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: As I said, there is no security committee of Cabinet in the first instance. The main focus of the questions as they evolved is around pay, recruitment and retention. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Defence are engaged in terms of what measures can be taken, in particular to assist the Naval Service in its situation without creating issues for the wider...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is the intention. I am making it clear that depends on the company, as it looks at it. I do not want to pre-empt its work but, obviously, it has to be done in a timely way. The point is that students will have to be given assurances in terms of places they already have. A lot of work will have to be done with the third level colleges, the universities and the CAO system to assist...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is important that that be done. There is a set timeframe which the Minister will reveal. It is very, very regrettable. Believe me, it is not something about which I or anybody wanted to hear, least of all the students themselves. I know it will cause additional alarm and worry. The objective now is to reassure students in terms of the places they already have and, if necessary, in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: No. The Department will make a presentation on that this afternoon publicly and comprehensively, which is the correct thing to do. The Department has carried out a series of further checks. It has identified no further errors in the coding and it has checked that the coding-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is no issue with the Minister coming in. She will present to the Dáil.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: That depends on logistics. My understanding is that a comprehensive statement will be made at 4 p.m., which is important.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It will be made publicly such that students and everybody else can hear it. That is the intention of the Minister.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Of course, the Minister will make herself available to come to the House and answer questions. The Department has contracted Educational Testing Service, which is a US-based non-profit organisation that specialises in educational measurement to review the essential aspects of the coding that underpinned the calculated grades system. The results data are now being rerun through the corrected...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together. While there is no formal Cabinet committee dealing exclusively with security matters, I receive regular updates on the security situation and any relevant incidents and events. Ministers can also update the Government as necessary on security-related issues that arise in their areas of responsibility. In addition, the national security...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We would.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It will not happen.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together. The Cabinet co-ordination committee meets in advance of Government meetings and last met on 28 September. The committee was established by the Government to review the activity of Cabinet committees, review the agenda for each week's Government meeting, discuss political priorities, and review the implementation of a specified element of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: This is very worrying and upsetting for the students concerned. Of that there is no doubt. Covid-19 has had an extraordinarily negative impact on their educational year. In the first instance it resulted in the cancellation of the normal physical leaving certificate exam as we knew it. In May, it was decided to proceed with a calculated grades process which in itself was a unique approach...

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic Plan (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, we have not been giving money hand over fist to big business. The funding has been directed through wage subsidy schemes and more than €3.5 billion has been paid through the PUP alone. There are 350,000 workers whose jobs are underpinned by the wage subsidy scheme. By any standard that is an extraordinary intervention as the Covid-19 pandemic is an extraordinary event. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic Plan (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I said it was last week. I do not have the specific date. That was when it was initially alerted and then the Department had to find out what was involved and the details. The economic plan is the subject matter of this question. We want to think about where the economy and society will go after Covid-19. Today's Economic and Social Research Institute report mentions a potentially...

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic Plan (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. Both the high level review of the economy and the development of new measures of well-being and progress will be taken forward as part of the ongoing work on the development of a national economic plan and its associated work streams. As committed to in the programme for Government, work is under way to develop a national...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Government has a very strong climate change agenda. It is quite radical and transformative and I hope the Deputy will support all aspects of it. Her party opposed the cross-party approach to climate change in the previous Oireachtas and tends to take anà la carteapproach to climate change when it suits. We take the Supreme Court judgment on board. The new climate change Bill will...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. The programme for Government identifies insurance reform as a key priority. The Law Reform Commission report published today is positive in certain respects. The Government has formed a special Cabinet sub-committee involving a number of Departments to deal with this in a comprehensive and very focused way. The Minister of State,...