Results 1-20 of 35 for and segment:8892319

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: All those statistics are cold comfort to Amy and her husband, who were in my office this week. Amy is out of work on illness benefit at the moment and her husband is a bus driver. Their net income after tax is €48,000. They are facing homelessness because of an eviction on grounds of sale. The only accommodation available costs €3,000 in rent per month. Because they are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: What I would say to Amy and her husband and Niamh and Anthony is that the Deputy's proposals would make the situation catastrophically worse.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: .... It is evident in terms of the policies. About 4,000 affordable homes were delivered in 2020. That is double. A total of 12,000 social houses were delivered last year. We are being realistic and honest with people. I am not going to create some sort of fairytale and say there is a wonderful world awaiting us if only People Before Profit was in government and that we would then have-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: Exactly. That is where the Deputy wants to be. He is not really interested in going through the bricks and mortar of getting houses built. That is not his interest. It is electoral-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Paul Murphy: ...€300 million to developers while 4,000 children are homeless, that is what he is interested in. Fianna Fáil is in the pockets of those who were in the Galway tent. It pretends to build houses and puts money into the pockets of developers. That is all it is interested in.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Paul Murphy: I will. I believe in rent controls and building public homes on public land. Do not fill the pockets of developers.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----that in this Dáil, demonstrable and clear progress has been made on cardiac services and the cath lab, in addition to a wide range of other healthcare services and the broader economic developments in this area.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I hope in the future, when the Tánaiste comes in and starts quoting statistics, that he will refer to money rather than percentages. I remind him that University Hospital Waterford, which has one of the largest patient catchments in the country, has the lowest funding and lowest numbers of staff and beds of all model 4 hospitals in the country. It is a case of taking a hospital that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----and the hours extended. I did not give percentages to the Deputy. Over the five years, €89 million in addition to the base figure has been allocated. I gave the figures in respect of the staff, not percentages, when I said-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----including 46 more consultants, 97 more non-consultant hospital doctors and 348 more nurses. I gave actual figures on real people who have been recruited to work in University Hospital Waterford, and rightly so. It is a great hospital, one of the better performing hospitals in the country.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: We need to continue to resource the hospital and broaden services.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy knows that the elephant in the room, which he has not referenced, is clinical decision-making, national clinical standards and so on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: ...fair to the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, she has fought for this tenaciously. I have to give her credit. It resulted in a second cath lab being put in place, the extension of the hours and the additional staff to staff it. We will keep at it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On behalf of People Before Profit, I extend my solidarity and support to the families of the 48 who never came home from the Artane fire in 1981. I hope that today is the day they finally get the truth and justice they deserve after their 40-year long struggle. Next Tuesday at 5.30 p.m. outside the Dáil, the Raise the Roof campaign will hold a major rally demanding secure and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: As I said earlier, housing is the most important issue facing this country and our people. We have to focus on policies that will increase the number of houses we can build every year. This will also increase the number of houses that are available to the rental market. What the Deputy has put forward would, I suggest, depress the number of houses available to the rental market and lead to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: We do not have to do this as we have already curtailed the bulk purchasing of property through the planning laws and through a stamp duty.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----and the evidence is there in that the vast majority of house purchases-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: ----in the country are by citizens and individuals. We have had the highest number of first-time buyers in years on an ongoing basis. What does that tell the Deputy? It tells us that affordability is improving-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----for quite a number of first-time buyers. We doubled the number of affordable homes this year and we will continue to increase the direct intervention by the State. This is not spin, because Housing for All is a fairly substantial document. It has been updated, and so forth and there are quarterly reports.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: ...no other substantive document from any party saying how we are going to get to building 40,000 or 50,000 houses per annum. We can all pluck figures out of the air but we need an actual programme and clear policy platform as to how one gets more houses built-----