Micheál Martin

There are enormous investments in greenways, walkways and cycleways across the country. Biodiversity and wildlife must be protected as well but the two are mutually exclusive. The specifications on some of the greenways are sometimes a bit higher than people would have anticipated. These issues should be resolved, and they can be resolved with a bit of imagination and creativity and not having to …

People allocated a medical card are allocated a GP. That is the basic position. Now, there is an issue with access to GPs more generally. That is acknowledged. Part of the response has been to significantly increase the number of people in training in general practice. There are different figures in this regard, but my understanding is that for every one retired doctor, there are at least two in t…

There are limits to what any Taoiseach should have to deal with and parking arrangements for first responders should be dealt with by the HSE and the local office. Let us call a spade a spade. There could be insurance issues, etc. I do not know, neither am I going to arbitrate on it. I hear what the Deputy is saying. There should be proper parking arrangements for first responders, but it is not f…

Ar dtús báire, aontaímid go léir gur institiúid an-tábhachtach é an Gailearaí Náisiúnta agus baineann muintir na tíre an-taitneamh agus tairbhe as an institiúid seo. Caithfimid é sin a chur san áireamh i gcónaí. Ach tá sé an-deacair ar fad é seo a thuiscint. Conas is féidir scanóir a cheannach agus níl aon rud socraithe roimh ré maidir le húsáid an scanóra? Níl sé sásúil in aon chor, agus tá an tA…

There is an overall feature here, but the House in general needs to focus on the specific and, more generally, on public value for money.

No, it did not.

I know it is.

I should not say this. To be fair, members of the Deputy's movement have always valued art down through the years, in different ways. I appreciate her close scrutiny of the National Gallery.

Politicians in this House cannot be responsible - I say this genuinely - for how individual agencies, such as the National Gallery or an arts centre, procure and deliver. We create boards, which are established by legislation. There are responsibilities-----

-----on those who decide these things. That is said generally. Politically - the Deputy said let us have a debate - I remember, was it Deputy Ó Snodaigh who spent €50,000 on 200 cartridges? That showed a tremendous focus on value for money, did it not? That €50,000 worth of cartridges was expenditure in this House. Before the Deputy throws stones, she is wrong. The €120,000 is crazy. A scanner sho…

The other point I will make-----

-----is that today I am publishing a report.

How much was Project Eagle? It was €7 million. Will the Deputy discuss the €7 million? No, because she will be in hot and heavy for the next inquiry, which will cost another €10 million or €15 million. There was never a debate on those issues.

I wonder does the Deputy reflect on the absolute contradictions within her presentation. Deputy Bacik is asking me to condemn President Putin and President Trump yet in the very same presentation she is suggesting they should continue to have a freeze on Ireland's participation in peacekeeping. That is exactly the Deputy's proposition.

It is exactly what she has said.

The reason we have consistently said that the triple lock needs to change is that the powers on the Security Council should not be able to stop or veto Ireland's participation in a peacekeeping mission. It is absolutely nothing to do with military neutrality as is asserted time and again in this House. Nothing. It is a pragmatic and sensible decision to take. We should control the destiny of how w…

I am absolutely committed and have articulated the need for a multilateral and rules-based order. The point I made yesterday was that for small open economies or states like Ireland, our ultimate security is not in optimal defence capability, it is in a rules-based order. That is our ultimate security. We support Ukraine because its territorial integrity and sovereignty were violated and the UN Ch…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is not acceptable that so many people in our society are in emergency housing accommodation, particularly children. In respect of children or families with significant medical issues, there is recourse to local authorities in the interests of prioritising the housing of such families. I do not know the background to each of the individual cases, and I d…

We have provided a range of measures in terms of security for renters over the past number of years. The Deputy should acknowledge that. That is not to mention bringing in the tax credit for renters as well, which is an additional help in what is a very difficult situation for renters in the context of cost and prices. The fundamental way to deal with emergency accommodation is to build a consiste…

That is the key. We are at levels now we have not been at for quite a long time. However, it will take a bit of time for that to have the cumulative impact we want. We will continue what we are doing through new social house builds and leasing and acquisitions. Combined, we will try get to approximately 12,000 units in 2025. This will help, particularly in the context of the housing first tenancie…

At the outset the Deputy mentioned €800,000 spent by the Oireachtas. That is his responsibility just as much as it is anybody's on the Government side of the House.

No, I am not.

No, I am not. It is the Oireachtas. That is the Deputy's responsibility. What has he done about it? We created the commission for the Oireachtas. The Deputy either takes it on board or he does not. That is a matter for the Oireachtas in its entirety. It does not justify it. It was wrong but the Deputy should not try to pin everything on the Government.

The other point is that this Government was not in government in 2017. This is a small little fact-----

-----that has passed the Deputy by. We are now responsible for something then. I am not blaming the Government then. It is perfectly normal to say that old equipment needs to be replaced with new equipment. What is inexcusable is that those in the National Gallery at the time decided to procure this without figuring out how they were going to deploy it and what room they were going to put it in. I…