Results 18,781-18,800 of 50,453 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is true that Covid-19 and its impact will be with us for much longer than anticipated. We must also recall there are 213,000 people on jobseeker's payments right now and a range of others on social welfare payments and in various schemes who also need support. Therefore, there is a much broader picture here than is being painted by the Deputy. In the context of the budget and of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, it has to be said that the measures taken and announced last Friday were necessary in the public health interest to save lives and to protect people. The vast majority of people accept the premise upon which those measures were taken and announced, on the advice of our public health doctors and NPHET. They are necessary to get the numbers down and stabilise the number of cases in...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Covid-19 Paindéim (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: An tosaíocht atá ann faoi láthair ná chun bileoga eolais a scaipeadh ar theaglaigh. Déanfaidh an bhileog seo achoimre ar An Creat um Bearta Sriantacha atá i bplean meántréimhseach an Rialtais Teacht Aniar agus Téarnamh 2020-2021- An Plean maidir le Maireachtáil le Covid-19. Beidh seo dhá theangach. Aistreofar an Phlean é féin go...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Seanad Reform (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Seanad plays an important role as part of our legislature under the Constitution. In a democracy, any reform of the legislature must enjoy the confidence of the public as well as legislators. In this regard the Government is committed as a priority to the establishment of an Electoral Commission to enhance the governance of our democratic electoral processes. The all-party Seanad...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Communications (22 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Department’s press office manage the official social media accounts on behalf of the Department. As part of the press office’s normal operation, both traditional print and social media are monitored for content of relevance to the work of the Department.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It has to be all but that applies to Sinn Féin as well. Sinn Féin needs to adhere to international agreements, the Good Friday Agreement being one of them. I do not believe Sinn Féin should have collapsed the Executive over a heating initiative but it did. We were without an Assembly and an Executive for three years. This cuts all ways. I do not believe in or agree with...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I do not have to, because the Deputy is creating all these straw people.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is wrong, but worse-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am trying to give my political views on this and respond to the question. I am simply saying that these things are deliberately misleading, and are deliberately said in order to be misleading and misrepresent people's positions for the electoral base and electoral advantage. We have had too much of that in the politics of the island, particularly insofar as they relate to a fundamental...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Good Friday Agreement.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I only wish Deputy McDonald and Sinn Féin were consistent on the agreement since it was signed. There is provision in the Good Friday Agreement for a referendum. Of course there is. Equally, I have made the point that I believe it would be very divisive to have one in the next number of years because we need to bring people together. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett's points on...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is no longer about whether one is the purest on the national question.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is about doing something pragmatic and significant on issues such as health, education and work.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The North needs an economic transformation. I have said consistently that the disadvantaged areas in the North, both loyalist and nationalist, need a Marshall plan for school completion and access to third level education. The levels are too low in some communities in the North and have been so for too long. I want the shared unit to delve into those areas because that is ultimately how we...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, I have not personally spoken to Electric Ireland. I told the Deputy that I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. We have been in touch with Electric Ireland, and when we get a response, I will revert to the Deputy. I also told the Deputy that there was a reduction in utility prices earlier this year and that the presentation she made on the previous occasion in the Dáil was...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We are not going to produce optimal solutions left, right and centre.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It is an option and some people avail of it. The third option is some other model to be developed which has to be fleshed out.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: It has to be fleshed out. It is not as simple as just calling for it. It has to be developed-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----and worked through. In terms of mental health supports, additional psychologists have been recruited under the roadmap to the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. In addition, there is full provision for school guidance counsellors. That is something to which I committed during the confidence and supply arrangement and it is now 100% restored because of my commitment...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (16 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes. Everything that has been done so far in the reopening of schools has been done in partnership. It is important that the inspections take place and that they are done as a way of ensuring improvement and constructive compliance. I surmise, and I will seek further information on this from the Department, that it wants to bring schools with it and that it does not wish to be naming and...