Results 18,561-18,580 of 50,297 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I have absolutely no difficulty in accepting a cross-party approach to this issue. My understanding is that the Covid committee has met a lot of experts.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Let me finish, please. The Covid committee has met a lot of experts who have discussed herd immunity and elimination strategies. There has been a reasonable degree of public debate on this on the airwaves. I have watched infectious disease consultants with different perspectives, some of whom advocate elimination and others who advocate herd immunity.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: There has been a public debate among the scientific community, the medical community and some politicians. All of my comments in response to the Deputy endeavour to be constructive. The Deputy referred to the three strategies, so it is reasonable to respond to them. If she is suggesting some new forum should be created in a non-contentious environment that would facilitate a calmer and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. She indicated that the directive has not been finalised. There is still work to be done on the directive and I presume negotiations are still under way. I will talk to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. My understanding is that the Chairman of the agriculture committee intends to facilitate a discussion at the committee on this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: My understanding is that a stakeholders' forum has been established in regard to this issue and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is engaging with that forum. It has met twice and I understand efforts will be made to come up with a compromise and resolution of this issue. I will take the Deputy's concerns to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and discuss them...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is open now for the first time to new entrants and seasonal workers. The Deputy knows that the Low Pay Commission is not the Government. It is an independent statutory body and the Deputy knows that, yet she came in here this morning trying to pretend that the Low Pay Commission is an arm of the Government. It is not. It is an independent body set up by this Oireachtas, including...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is not a point of order.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is not a point of order. That is an abuse of the House.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for her questions and the points she has raised. I accept that a debate on public health should transcend party politics and politics in general. I said at the weekend that it is important to communicate in different ways on different platforms to different age cohorts, ethnic minorities and migrant workers. We worked on the issue of employment in meat plants and people...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is fundamentally wrong of the Deputy to attempt to make political capital out of a decision of the independent Low Pay Commission, which is not dictated to or influenced by the Government. In fact, the past five recommendations from the commission have been accepted by the Government. The Government supports low-paid workers. We have the fourth-highest minimum wage in European systems...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy uses every situation to tell untruths, rather than the truth, about the reality out there. She is fundamentally wrong about the wage subsidy scheme. That scheme is about employers who employ people. The Deputy knows that there are various formulas designed to facilitate, for example, employers whose turnover has dropped to 70% of the previous year and so on. The Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The PUP was introduced early in the life of the pandemic as a 12-week temporary scheme. In July, the new Government decided to extend it to April. The rates were reduced but they are still at levels closely approximate to what people were earning before being laid off as a result of the pandemic. This was to make it more sustainable over the long term. A total of €3.5 billion has...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Let me speak.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We also need to talk to the unions so that we get a comprehensive sustainable sick pay regime.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We are working towards this. In the meantime, in the context of Covid, the Covid-19 illness benefit is available at a rate of €350 per week to employees and the self-employed. That is the case.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is paid for two weeks where a person is medically certified as self-isolating. It can be extended for a further two weeks for a maximum of ten weeks where a person is medically certified.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I ask the Deputy to stop interrupting. He disingenuously presented the Government's case wrongly.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: That benefit is available for a further ten weeks if a person is medically certified as being diagnosed with Covid-19. In a minority of cases where people continue to be sick after ten weeks they can apply for the standard illness benefit payment and can receive it for up to two years. We have extended this for people living in direct provision as well. The Deputy has missed the point...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: There is enough provision there for Covid.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: In terms of disabilities, we have been working with service providers, many of whom are not in a position to resume fully, not because of funding but because of protocols on Covid. We will continue to work with them on the funding issue and on restoring services as quickly and safely as we possibly can.