Results 181-200 of 45,834 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: Deputies Niamh Smyth and Brendan Smith have consistently made the same point in respect of the roads in Cavan and Monaghan and the need for additionality.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The fundamental problem is that even though the funding has increased, inflation has been quite dramatic in terms of the input costs. Senator Gallagher pointed this out to me last evening. Having consulted road engineers in the area, he went through the input costs involved in getting a road repaired today compared with two years ago, which is quite dramatic for bitumen and other materials....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----at the effectiveness of the allocation. I am keeping it under review.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: Is the Deputy saying there has been absolutely no consultation at all?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The NTA has been consulting communities across the country. I have been involved in some of the consultations in respect of BusConnects in Cork, for example. We managed to get many issues resolved but not all of them. I will talk to the Minister. I am sure the NTA will engage if there are specific items, like those raised by the Deputy in her presentation. I will ask the NTA to consider...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Government did not lack any ambition during the Covid period.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: There are international assessments of that. On the specific issue of an evaluation of how this country did during Covid-19, that is nearing completion. There has been a change, as the Deputy referenced, with Deputy Varadkar retiring as Taoiseach and Deputy Harris coming in as the new Taoiseach. The three party leaders will bring this to a conclusion very quickly.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The most effective way to do anything about this is to try to implement, as quickly as we can, the policy position adopted recently by the Government in respect of direct construction of State-owned centres in parallel with the private sector, which is providing the majority of accommodation to date. The problem, as we just discussed with respect to the EU asylum pact, is that there are...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very serious issue for us as a country. After decades of the numbers of road fatalities and injuries going down, there has been a significant increase in recent years, with 188 road fatalities in 2023. As of 11 April 2024, 61 people have lost their lives in 56 collisions on our roads. That is an increase of 13 on this time last year. Clearly, we...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I know the Deputy is an avid follower of Fine Gael Ard-Fheiseanna down through the years-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----and that is commendable in terms of his broader interest in politics. I am not responsible for anything said at the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: What the Taoiseach indicated in the House the other day was that he would establish a task force in respect of Dublin. I think Deputy Gannon has called for one, has he?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I think he will probably welcome it so.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The details of that and the consultations will follow, and I am sure the Taoiseach will be in a position to apprise the Deputy of the detailed-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I would not accept those descriptions of the EU asylum pact. We do need a stronger system across the European Union in terms of those seeking asylum in respect of the efficiency of the system in terms of those who may not be entitled to asylum such that the cases are dealt with more quickly and, if people are not entitled to asylum, they are returned to where they came from and that there...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: The role will be very similar, the same as for the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, now and the Minister of State, Jack Chambers. For years, I think people wanted a senior Minister in the Department of Defence. I am the senior Minister in the Department of Defence as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs because for years people felt that having just a Minister of State dealing with...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I share the concern of the farming community at the incessant rain we have experienced now since last July. Bar maybe a few weeks in August, it has been raining. Our food production system is being undermined as a result of that weather - there is no doubt about that - which, on another day, we should also reflect on in terms of broader debates about the changing weather patterns. As...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: There is a context to all this. I will always recall, when I was leaving Kyiv, that there is an exhibition in the train station which recalls the horror facing the population of Ukraine at the time. There were desperate photographs of mothers with their children looking out the windows at their husbands, in-laws, grandparents - frightened children. That was the scene.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: Roscommon County Council made a judgment. It was a matter for it, on legal advice, to make a judgment on whether to pursue the pipe, essentially. It took a decision to withdraw. There might need to be some reflection on that. I know Roscommon County Council is now working with the OPW to identity a viable engineering solution to the flood risk. I am told the timeline is this quarter in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (11 Apr 2024)

Micheál Martin: I understand that can be done but the issue will be whether that will be a temporary emergency which is reversible or something else. The people need something more sustainable and long term to resolve this issue. The water levels are extremely high because of the weather over the past six months, which means the issue has been exacerbated. The OPW has been engaging with the National Parks...