Results 19,561-19,580 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: If the Deputy could forward the details of the case to me, I will pursue it.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: The Minister for Finance has indicated that he is giving that further consideration. It is being pushed out to next year. A lot of work has to be done yet in respect of that issue. That is the current status. We are looking to next year before anything happens in that respect.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: All the Deputies from Tipperary have alerted me to the situation in Tipperary town and the challenges being faced, from socioeconomic challenges to education. I certainly will engage with those issues and work with all the Deputies to see how best we can pursue them.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We are very concerned, particularly in terms of scoliosis or other urgently-needed surgery, that it would be available to children. Covid-19 impacted on paediatric care as it also did on adult care. I am not sure of the clinical context here but I will examine this and determine the current position in terms of the delays.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Overall, since reforms were introduced some time ago, the national ambulance service nationally has been an effective service. It has been particularly effective during Covid-19 in terms of the work ambulance personnel have done on behalf of the State. I certainly will engage with the service and the HSE on the points the Deputy raised in respect of Cashel and follow up on that.

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

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. For the vast majority of people, giving birth is one of the most magical and beautiful moments that one can experience in life. For some, it can, as the Deputy has said, be very difficult and traumatic. In either situation, the presence of a partner is very valuable, important and, in ordinary times, essential. What has been happening in...

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

Micheál Martin: I agree 100% with the Deputy that they should be uppermost. We have to acknowledge the risk managers in hospitals, those whose overarching objective is to protect people. We should accept the motivation of all involved which, I surmise, is genuine. Nobody is wilfully doing this. This goes against the very grain of what is natural and normal in such situations. We need to be fair here....

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Sep 2020)

Micheál Martin: Funding will be allocated for the resumption of adult disability services in the winter initiative. There has been considerable investment in and allocation of resources to education for special needs assistants and support for the return of children with special needs to education and to schools across the board in September and, likewise, for the resumption of adult services. There have...

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...