Results 201-220 of 45,834 for speaker:Micheál Martin

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

Micheál Martin: It was based on the commentary of the court and so on that the council took its decision. We can get advice from officials here, there and everywhere, but when people are in the heat of the kitchen or courtroom and sense it might not be going in their direction, they take actions. We have to be cognisant of what we can legally do. I would argue anywhere that the protection of people's...

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

Micheál Martin: Whatever we can do to prevent flooding and protect that village, we will do. I do not know whether the Deputy has produced legislation or whether the legal advice he is getting-----

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

Micheál Martin: It is an important point. Sometimes Deputies present us with Bills and say "Here is the answer". It has to be about the people the Deputy represents. We cannot just say there is a panacea of emergency legislation. That can be judicially reviewed and we could end up with one. There is an engineering solution on the table, I understand. I would have thought we should get that engineering...

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

Micheál Martin: That will be faster. We still have to provide the engineering solution, no matter what laws we pass in here. We will engage with Deputy Fitzmaurice and the other Deputies on this issue and with the Senators who have raised this with us. I am up for whatever is the most effective, efficient and timely way of dealing with this for the people whose livelihoods are involved.

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

Micheál Martin: I will.

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

Micheál Martin: I was involved in that. That was around procurement.

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

Micheál Martin: On one level, I admire the excellence of the Deputy as a polemicist and propagandist. This is about the restoration of excise duties and was well flagged. They were reduced during the crisis. The Government staggered the restoration but Sinn Féin in its alternative budget proposed the excise reduction be restored in one go on 1 April 2024, unlike the Government's two-step restoration.

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

Micheál Martin: Your budget said the excise reduction should be restored in one go.

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

Micheál Martin: Then you mentioned October. I presume you are referring to the carbon tax.

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

Micheál Martin: It is sleight of hand by you. In your budget you factor the carbon tax revenue into your calculations.

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

Micheál Martin: You are playing Tadhg an dá thaobh all the time, are you not? Are you for the carbon tax or against it?

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

Micheál Martin: Why do you put it into your budget then?

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

Micheál Martin: You are a Tadhg an dá thaobh. You are flip-flopping. You are U-turning.

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

Micheál Martin: I will deal with the triple lock. First, in 2023 and 2024 to date, no applications have been received or exemptions granted to permit the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft flying to a point in Israel. Second, no airport in Ireland or Irish sovereign airspace is being used to transport weapons to the conflict in the Middle East or any other war. People should stop trying to...

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

Micheál Martin: It is an absurdity for the Deputy to suggest that any amendment to the triple lock is about ditching neutrality or aligning with any other member state. It is not.

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

Micheál Martin: The Deputy rarely condemns Russia or Iran in here.

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

Micheál Martin: I try to be balanced and look at things in a balanced way. It is extraordinary and interesting that the malign influence of Iran in the Middle East barely gets referenced in this House. Iran has meddled, has manipulated and has been a huge issue in respect of the escalation of violence in that environment.

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

Micheál Martin: I am answering the Deputy's question. I do not believe Russia should have a veto on whether Irish Defence Forces become engaged in international peacekeeping anymore. That is the bottom line as far as I am concerned. We are depending on a rogue state on the Security Council that can veto any peacekeeping proposal from the United Nations. I am unequivocal about it. It is not about...

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

Micheál Martin: I respectfully say to the Deputy that we should be able to debate these things without making assertions about what we are doing.

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

Micheál Martin: We are not ditching military neutrality. We support military neutrality in Ireland and we are not going to change it in any shape or form. We have said that consistently and that remains the position. Amending the triple lock does not amount in any shape or form to undermining our policy on military neutrality.