Micheál Martin

Over the past three to four years, significant improvements were made to the minimum wage, workers' rights and sick leave pay. In 2022, for the first time, a statutory right was given to employer paid sick leave in the sick leave Act. The Deputy made the exaggerated comment that we are engaging in despicable action against workers. Sick leave has gone from three to five days. That was introduced i…

On what?

I am sorry but we have significantly increased the minimum wage. We have significantly increased it over the past number of years, and it will continue to increase. The Deputy talks about the living wage. The Government does not pay the living wage. He does not pay the living wage. Employers pay the living wage. Shops pay the living wage. The Deputy's local Centra pays the living wage, which is wh…

The Deputy raised this a number of weeks ago. There are laws in place and there is a regulator. The regulator is the Central Bank. There is a tendency in the House to keep asking if we can investigate this and investigate that, but the established regulators have a function and an obligation to investigate if they receive complaints. I am not clear whether the individuals who have been defrauded, …

I welcome that the fraud squad seems to be, or is, involved, as the Deputy said. That is good news. It is reprehensible for anybody to defraud another person of funds, particularly their savings, through fraudulent investments. Nobody is untouchable. They can be touched and investigated and there is a process for doing it. We in this country are always going back to investigate the investigator. W…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a key issue for the country and Europe, which is the development of renewable energy and the mechanisms to enable us to do that. There is no doubt that Ireland is a wind energy success story, particularly in onshore wind, but because of a lot of controversy around locations in certain aspects that narrative does not often get told. We get a greater share of o…

I again thank the Deputy. On the mapping question, as part of the RED, there is, as the Deputy knows, a legal obligation on member states to carry out co-ordinated mapping for the deployment of renewable energy and related infrastructure at a national territory level by May 2025. The directive requires that we show those areas available for renewable energy and those that have the potential to be …

I dealt comprehensively with that issue earlier. The Deputy chose not to raise it during Leaders' Questions, which is fair enough. The housing activation office has been established. It is in the programme for Government. I made the point yesterday that no decision has been made as to the person who will head up that office. I said that to the Deputy yesterday. I also said to her yesterday that wi…

There are people earning substantially above that. The Deputy knows that well.

Has the Deputy heard of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA? It is has been in existence since its establishment in 1989. The Deputy knows that but comes in here and feigns not to. Of course she knows the NTMA has been there for 30 years. No decision has been made to appoint any individual. The Government will decide and the Minister will progress that in the time ahead.

Garda numbers are increasing in terms of the numbers being trained through Templemore. People have commented on the increased number of gardaí on the streets of Dublin. In more recent times, people have commented positively about that. I have been talking to the Minister for Justice and we need to ensure that as people are coming through Templemore, we spread them out across the country. That is t…

The Minister is not responsible for the inquiry or how it was conducted. Let us not try to politicise this. Let us look at the fact that the commission of investigation was established. The statement by the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court is very serious. There are limitations around the Commissions of Investigation Act. I have made the general point that commissions of investigati…

The fundamental review of the regulatory framework governing energy prices did not happen. The Deputy knows that as well as I do. It relates to the user pays principles, be that user a commercial entity or a household. On investment in the grid, price review 5 fell on the user of energy. The Minister has established a group to look at the regulatory framework. There will be enormous investment in …

The Meals on Wheels service is outstanding for a number of reasons in terms of the food and nutrition made available and the contact and engagement in the neighbourhood or community. The Minister of State, Mary Butler, has done exceptional work in substantially increasing the funding to Meals on Wheels. The funding allocation for the service has increased by close to 80% in the past three years. I…

The amount of users and also the costs I accept have gone up, but 80% is a fairly significant increase. The programme for Government commits to further increased funding for the national Meals on Wheels network and to developing a plan to ensure that we support providers in every town in the country. Then, €10 million was made available in capital funding for community capital funding initiatives.

If the Deputy is saying the LDA has identified the sites, I will talk to the LDA about where current plans and progress are in terms of advancing housing on those particular sites. The whole idea of the housing activation office is, if there are issues with the sites in terms of water, grid or whatever, to unblock those at a local level. I will certainly pursue that. Existing cities and towns are …

My understanding is a lot of work happened during the time of the last Government. It would have been, I think, the Department of children at the time. I will ask the Minister for Justice to examine the issues the Deputy has raised. I presume he or other people have written to the Minister.

If the Deputy is suggesting there are irregularities or whatever, I am not familiar with those and I cannot comment on that. I will raise the issue with the Minister.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in the frank and honest way he did. I wish him personally the very best as he responds to the condition of MS. It is very important that we create national awareness around this issue and related conditions. Is it 150 km the Deputy is going to do?

That is fair going. The best of luck on that. I will talk to the Minister for Health. I think it is her ambition to complete all the neurorehabilitation units. This is very important. Neurology has been a challenging area for quite a while in terms of neurologists. We have made a lot of progress in the past couple of years compared to where we were. Neurology and neurological conditions cover a wi…

Wexford has always been open for business and has many high-quality hotels across the spectrum of accommodation. One of the great marketing steals of the century was the "sunny south east" logo, if I can call it a steal. It has stuck. It is interesting. There seems to be some dispute between the industry and the CSO, which is unusual, in terms of the figures. Nonetheless, the Government has trans…

Absolutely. It was a very impactful visit, if I say so myself, and very worthwhile. Fantastic work is going on at Kildalton college. As the Deputy knows, Kildalton college will split the delivery of the programme with the Waterford campus of South East Technological University. Its engagement with the Veterinary Council of Ireland is currently ongoing in regard to the professional accreditation o…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I understand from a certain perspective why the Deputy is concerned about it. My understanding is that it stems from an EU directive in respect of grants for fossil fuels essentially, for installations that have a fossil fuel dimension. However, I will examine it. I understand there is some leeway in terms of purchasing second-hand boilers and so forth, bu…

It is a very sad and shocking situation for the family of Aoife Winterlich. I believe a full and comprehensive apology should be given in respect of this. My understanding is that this has been in the courts as well.

There would have been a full assessment of this during the court process. In my view, when something like this happens, the response should be fulsome and it should be without conditions.