Results 101-120 of 45,834 for speaker:Micheál Martin

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: Again, I say to the Deputy, everything or the majority of what she has outlined there or some of what she has suggested would reduce supply of houses, which is about curtailing the market or restricting.

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: It is working.

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

Micheál Martin: It is working, despite all of the Deputy's spin-----

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: I have seen 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-----

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

Micheál Martin: -----and how one gets more houses into the private rental market. I would suggest the Deputy's policies would take more houses out of the private rental market.

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

Micheál Martin: Which party is that?

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

Micheál Martin: There are different constituent parts to it.

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

Micheál Martin: Deputy Shanahan has an undue paranoia of Cork hurling.

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

Micheál Martin: No I am not. Deputy Shanahan seems obsessed with senior hurling and Cork. We will park that for a moment. Since this Government came into office, there has been a very focused prioritisation and commitment to the south east on a whole range of investments. At different times when I have engaged with the Deputy, he has acknowledged that, particularly with regard to health. Then, every...

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

Micheál Martin: When I mentioned October, it was in reference to the task force that was put together, came together and developed a cross-sectoral plan. That was what I referenced. The Deputy keeps saying nothing is being done-----

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

Micheál Martin: -----and just ignores what has been done. He creates the scenario, for a political reason that suits him, that the Government does not value apprenticeships. That is nonsense. Of course the Government values apprenticeships. Come on, cop on with the nonsense. That kind of language is grand for politics and the back and forth, but it does not make any real sense.

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

Micheál Martin: We want to grow craft apprenticeships and construction. We have expanded in that regard. There are now 17 programmes across the broad categories of construction, including electrical engineering, which are relevant to the construction sector. We have actually expanded. That includes the plumbing, electrical, geo drilling and scaffolding programmes and so forth. The numbers who...

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

Micheál Martin: We have to deal with the backlog.

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

Micheál Martin: I will make the point, and I have said it repeatedly in the House, that housing is the single most urgent and important social issue facing our people at this moment in time. Access to housing is fundamental to our security, social cohesion, opportunity for people and progress as a nation. There is not a family in the country untouched by the crisis. I respectfully suggest the Deputy does...

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

Micheál Martin: First, I will say that all of our thoughts are with the families of those who died in the Stardust tragedy in 1981. For over 40 years now, the families have pursued their search for truth and justice. In a couple of hours' time, we will hear the verdict of the Dublin Coroner's Court. This will be an important moment for the families and for the entire country because the Stardust tragedy...