Results 19,521-19,540 of 50,453 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: In terms of inquiries, I would make the point that the demand for such inquiries usually comes from the Oireachtas on behalf of the public. Once a chairman is appointed, an inquiry is independent of the Taoiseach's office in terms of the conduct of its work, but it is open to the Oireachtas or the Government, at any time, to put forward proposals to terminate that inquiry or give it a final...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The matters the Deputy has raised come under the Department of Health Vote rather than the Vote of the Department of the Taoiseach. However, I am well aware of Bantry General Hospital and, as Minister for Health, I was very supportive of it. It performs a critical role for a wide rural hinterland. In regard to the appointment of an anaesthetist, the issue is not funding, as the Deputy...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy has asked a good question. It is, of course, within the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General to review these Estimates. We have no difficulty with that and we would welcome it. The Comptroller and Auditor General reviews all Government expenditure, both by Departments and by Government agencies. In the case of the Department of the Taoiseach, there are different Votes,...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will check that for the Deputy.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I do not need to pander to any electoral base. I am totally self-confident in where I come from. The people from whom I sprung fought for Irish Independence, understood it and never gloried in it. We have long gone beyond this business of trying to ask people if they are for it or against it. The Good Friday Agreement is about relationships. It has been for a long time. It is not about...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is what I take issue with.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: That is why we are setting up a shared island unit - to go through the nuts and bolts. What would an all-island health service look like? How would the political structures work? If we believe in the three sets of relationships there could still be an assembly. That is a longer debate. The Deputy has provoked me into saying that.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Commissions of investigation are important. The Deputy says we need more control. That is within our hands. The minute one exercises control one is interfering. The minute a Taoiseach of the day says to a tribunal that he or she will cut its resources or undermine it, the charge will come from the other side of the House that the Taoiseach is interfering and undermining an independent...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I accept that.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: We have about five matters to get through the Citizens' Assembly under the programme for Government. They are the priority right now but depending on the progress of Covid-19 and the capacity of the Citizens' Assembly to get its work done-----

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: My apologies.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, the Government Information Service is broadly responsible for the Covid-19 communications campaign. The staff in the GIS are established civil servants. I accept the principle, as enunciated by the Deputy, that there is a need to keep the GIS non-party political and that it should not be used to advance a party in government. In fairness, over the past six months that has not been...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes, perhaps people could expound on matters. As Deputies, we have all come across matters in individual cases. My experience has been that solicitors are not shy about sending matters to our constituency clinics, and that is where the heavy lifting is done in many cases. The matter arose in the allocation of portfolios with respect to migration policy and the security dimension, and...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I would not say they won. A bit of logic won out as well. In fairness, the Department that will deal with children, equality, disability and integration will take on a lot that is over and above what it had previously. A substantial section of that new Department - in respect of disability services - would have been part of the Department of Health. There is a discrete piece around direct...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: Yes. If the Office of the Chief State Solicitor comes to us, we will respond sympathetically. On the survivors and victims of child abuse in primary schools, the outgoing Taoiseach told me that 13 settlement offers were made after the judge's review and that the redress scheme was being updated and changed. That has not come through yet but I will examine it. I am meeting officials to...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: I will look at that agreement with Hong Kong.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: On the first question, there will be no additional cost to the Department arising from those offices. The Estimate at the beginning of the year indicated an extra €800,000 for staff in general within the Office of the Taoiseach.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: No. The cost will be met with the existing Estimate. The Deputy asked about staff salaries being tied to particular grades and that will happen. There will be specialist advisers and people who will be qualified in their own right. I believe in the principle behind this in the political world.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: There must be an avoidance of overlap. This is an efficient Department. The citizens' assemblies could also be covered within the administrative framework and the Estimate provided. The real issue with a citizens' assembly will be Covid-19 and the capacity to get work done. It is a challenge and we must develop innovative ways in which a citizens' assembly can do its work. 5...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Micheál Martin: First, within-----