Results 18,981-19,000 of 50,353 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I am very clear that we must have this engagement with the meat industry and with other sectors that are important and which create employment. The rights of workers in the meat industry need strengthening and I believe collective representation for those workers is important. That will form part of the Government's continuing engagement with the industry.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Of course I will visit the areas. I did not want to do so during the period of the severe restrictions but we were in touch with the chambers of commerce. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, the Tánaiste and others were in touch with affected people in the three counties and we will continue to engage with them. On the data hub, the Deputy heard...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank Deputy Murphy for the series of questions raising very real concerns and issues relating to people from the Deputy's county, the impact of the lockdowns and the whole situation around high-risk areas such as meat plants, which to a large extent represented the perfect storm in the spread of the virus, and related issues. Again, the decision to intervene in the three counties by...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I have dealt with it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has a tendency to develop a melodramatic posture when he is addressing people from time to time.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has. The Government introduced the Covid-19 illness benefit. Some €330 is available per week to employed and self-employed workers. It is paid for two weeks where a person is medically certified as self-isolated, and can be extended for a further two weeks and for a maximum of ten weeks where a person is medically certified as being diagnosed with Covid-19. We extended...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Hold on. Last month, the Government also approved the extension of Covid-19 illness benefit to the end of March 2021. It is important to note that the Covid-19 illness benefit payment and the pandemic unemployment payment are also available to people living in direct provision centres as well as to applicants for international protection who live in the community outside of the direct...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know that. I accept the necessity to intervene here. We all agree on that. As I said to the Deputy, I will constructively engage with his legislation, which has more longer-term implications for the broader workforce.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We have intervened in direct provision.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: We have discussed this with the acting Chief Medical Officer. We are collectively on the same page with regard to this. We have made provision for it from the State's side so that workers know-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: -----that if they get sick or have to self-isolate, they will not lose out. That is something we have communicated and will continue to communicate.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: In the first instance the Deputy has asked about three key points in his part of Leaders’ Questions which I have noted and will deal with. The Government’s plan is to suppress the virus and from the very beginning all political parties in this House took it as a basic principle that they would go with the advice of the public health authorities and that was accepted in this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I know that the local Deputies and public representatives in those counties from all political parties took much heat and I want to thank them for working with the health and public expenditure Departments to see what we could do to help people in those situations.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I apologise for going over time here but on the question of sick pay, we will work constructively with the Deputy on this legislation which has many including, of course, financial implications. We have already moved ahead to create an infrastructure around Covid-19 illness payments, particularly in direct provision and meat plant contexts to make it very clear that every worker in such...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Government did not make this decision relating to Electric Ireland, as Deputy knows well. It is not correct for the Government to interfere with every regulator come hell or high water. We will do everything we can, as we have, in an historic and unprecedented way, to support people in difficulty. That is the Government's objective as we go through an unprecedented global pandemic....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I fully accept that this news will come as a blow to many consumers in the light of the very significant and severe economic environment within which we are operating. It is not a Government decision. As the Deputy noted at the conclusion of her remarks, the regulators of such utilities and the companies themselves are centre stage in decisions of this kind. That said, I have no doubt...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Deputy McDonald seeks to politicise this all the time. She uses language such as "a passive approach". I am not adopting a passive approach to all-island health - not at all. She knows this but it does not stop her from saying the contrary for political reasons.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy's presentation is always about politics, not the substance of the issue. She keeps going on about the all-island approach. I did not open up Northern Ireland to 57 countries.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: You are attacking the Government here.