First, I did not see the programme yesterday evening. One has to be objective and there has to be balance in the assessment of any story. The last five years has witnessed extraordinary expansion and investment in special education, which the Deputy has ignored completely in his comments. There is no excuse for, and I do not accept in any way, any child being in a cupboard, a stairwell or whatever. The fact is there …
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
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Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
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Debates they spoke in most
Plus 6,426 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Cork South-Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 23 January 2025 to now
Already this year we allocated a further €646 million on top of €3 billion to cater for the extra demand in special classes and places for special education. We took that decision earlier this year when the full scale of the demand revealed itself through the parents notify system and we were not found wanting in coming up with close to €700 million to deal with that. We will continue to do that. The Deputy made the …
The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, are doing everything they possibly can, given the extraordinary expansion in the last two years of numbers. In the last two years alone, the numbers seeking places in special classes or in special schools is quite significant. Yes, as a result of that expansion and the awarding of special schools, there had been issues with creating physical s…
-----but every effort is being made and the funding has been put in place to underpin that effort.
I thank the Deputy for raising this. I say to her, again, that I concur that nobody wants to go back to the terror and trauma of what transpired over 28 years ago during that particular period. As I said earlier, I found the events of the past weekend deeply depressing. I think we have to focus on the next steps on how we mediate our way through this.
I have given my views on the decision. I am not going to attempt …
I just want to acknowledge the presence of Every Child Matters and the presence of children with additional needs. They are very welcome to the House. Hopefully, I will get a chance to say hello to them later.
The Minister for foreign affairs, Deputy McEntee, has been in constant contact all weekend with various parties and with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State. I have been in contact with the British Prime M…
First, the level of suffering inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza and, indeed, in the West Bank is horrific. It is an affront to human decency. In my view, the Government has been particularly strong in comparison with many other governments across the world in terms of the diplomatic, political and humanitarian response to this issue. I have noticed since the outset of the war that it has moved from one iss…
Sorry, at the United Nations or in any other country-----
I did not interrupt.
In any other country, particularly those from Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority, people form queues after discussions to thank Ireland for its principled stand. That is what other countries say about Ireland. I include Jordan, Egypt - all of them. I am just saying that. It is only in here - maybe it is a good sign that people want us to be strong - we get the other kind of response.
We have been at the fo…
There are two things I would say. First, we never abstain at a UN General Assembly high-level week meeting. The whole essence of the United Nations is that every nation is there, irrespective of how badly it is behaving. We could walk out on quite a number of nations contributing at the United Nations, if the truth be told.
The whole idea is to maintain some channels and dialogue. You listen, but you may not necessarily agree. We do not agree with Iran. I could name 101 countries that I might not agree with. Maybe it is not 100 but I could name quite a number of countries that I do not agree with. If everybody started walking out on everybody else in the UN, we would not have a UN.
This is the classic, simplistic campaigning mode that some Members are constantly in.
Once this passes, it will be something else. There is always another agenda and another issue. I understand fully that people are very angry. In Ireland, we are very angry, and I have made the point numerous times. We are angry because we understand. We want fair play, justice and self-determination for Palestinians, and we hate to see children being killed. That is natural and it is deep in the Irish psyche. We hate…
They will listen to the US, though. They will listen if enough of a critical mass of countries can get together. That is the key.
Too many countries have been too slow in response to this, not at the football level but at the political level, the diplomatic level and the international level, and Europe has been divided. That is the problem.
We attended a meeting last week with four countries that were a year later than Ireland and Spain in recognising Palestine. The Deputy must admit deep down that that is where it lies, not with the football team.
I fully appreciate the work that the Every Child Matters campaign is doing. I support advocacy for children with additional needs. I have made the point that the Government has allocated an additional €646 million on top of the €3 billion already provided for special education. That has resulted in 34,000 students enrolling in special classes and special schools this year, an increase of 86%. Right across education, …
There has been comment from the Government. The Government has been very clear, and the Minister for sport has been very clear from day one, that it was a matter for the footballing community and for the FAI, who had to work within the UEFA rules and frameworks. The Government has always been of the position that the Irish soccer team should not be a casualty of this and should not suffer, rather than Israel. The out…
-----the undermining of the West Bank and so on.
I did not see the programme last evening but have made the point that the expansion in the number of teachers, SNAs, special classes and special schools has been exponential in the past five years. I do not know whether the programme acknowledged that or not but those are the realities. There has been a dramatic expansion in the past two years alone as well as in the past five years and that has created problems in t…
The Government has made a lot of progress in helping students. Undoubtedly, accommodation is probably the greatest difficulty many students face in terms of attending third level education. We have expanded places. We have created new special places for particular disciplines and so on and expanded them. We have substantially improved and enhanced the student support schemes and reduced the fees to €2,500 permanently…
There are two things. As the Deputy knows, the Parades Commission is independent so the Irish Government does not have influence over it in that sense.
Neither does the British Government because it is meant to be independent of everybody.
I know but let me answer the question to give context to it. The courts are independent so they have reached various adjudications. I have made my comments on the original decision of the Parades Commission. The Minister for foreign affairs has been in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Not everybody sees it the way we see it. We need to put that on the table as well. Therefore, we have…