The guidelines are being worked on. I believe there will be new guidelines brought forward by the Minister for climate and the Minister for housing, who are working together in respect of the planning statement to cover this. I would be cautious of a moratorium. We are in the middle of an energy crisis at the moment, brought on by our dependence on fossil fuels.
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
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Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
688,766
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197
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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
No, I am just making the point. We have great debates in here about giving another billion euro to reduce energy prices and so on. There is a balance needed, certainly, and there will be guidelines produced. Invariably, from across the House, people will come in and say they do not want a solar farm, they do not want wind energy, they do not want gas generation. Where does all of that lead us?
It is not quite within my domain, but I agree with Deputy Timmins and support him in his endeavour regarding the avoidance of name-calling.
We are now entering the winter, which is going to be very challenging. My understanding is that we had about 491 patients waiting for admission to an inpatient bed at 8 a.m. today. The Minister has, for example, completed a national procurement in terms of short-term therapeutic beds with a view to aligning with the winter emergency planning for our hospitals to try to provide additional short-term capacity that will…
I dealt with this issue in the House yesterday. My understanding from the presentation I received from the Department and from Irish Water is that there has been salt water ingress to the system, which is a very serious issue and requires serious investigation as to what has transpired here. All engineering options are being considered by Irish Water, such as the ones referred to by the Deputy. The Minister, Deputy F…
The Deputy has some nerve. He has some nerve to ask when will I stand up for CUH. No one has overseen more investment in CUH than I have, particularly when I was the Minister for Health.
I am just saying to the Deputy that there is a new maternity unit. It is there a good while now but that did not happen by accident. There are the cardiac and renal centre. There has been huge investment and the population has grown and all of that. Let us not get into whether I will or will not stand up for CUH.
I will make this point. There have been huge funding increases for CUH. It has increased by 109% over the past five years. It has gone from €306 million to €636 million over the past five years. That has driven notable growth in staffing numbers.
There has been an expansion of the workforce and there will be continuing investment. On the safety issue, the Minister did not lash out. The Minister asked Dr. Colm Henry, the chief clinical officer of the HSE, to go down to CUH because safety is important. Nothing has emerged from any examinations that there is a safety issue. Of course, there are pressures. There are real issues there and we have to manage those.
You have to work with people to ensure there is good management in those situations.
I will engage with the Minister for housing in respect of this. In terms of a timeline, I do not have a specific one here. If legal advices have been sought, they need to be sought. The Government has responded to the overall defective concrete blocks debacle and scandal very comprehensively, in an unprecedented way. That does not often get acknowledged. There is a suite of schemes. Approximately €400 million is bein…
I was delighted to see a BBC report this morning showing the excitement in the locality at the arrival of the key component parts of the bridge through Narrow Water. The shared island unit has been the key funding enabler to make that happen.
Queens University and Dundalk is a very exciting partnership that will create the first all-island university and that is something we will proactively support. My understandin…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I will engage with the Minister of State to see if a meeting can be organised with those who have raised this issue and who are concerned about it.
Today, I welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery Sheila, Austin, Kieran and Oliver Stack, the wife and sons of the late chief prison officer, Brian Stack. They have campaigned tirelessly to uncover the truth of what happened to Brian in March 1983 and to keep his memory and legacy alive, following his death in September 1984.
Unforgivably, we still do not have the full truth of, or any justice for, what happen…
Ar dtús báire, ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Nuair a fheiceann tú siar ar stair na hÉireann, go háirithe nuair a bhuamar ár neamhspleáchas, is léir gurb é an téama is mó a thagann amach ná cé chomh dílis is atáimid sa tír seo maidir le cúrsaí síochána, coimhlintí ar fud an domhain a réiteach agus a bheith páirteach i misin síochána ar fud an domhain. Is é sin an téama is mó atá le feiceáil, go háirithe in a…
Tá sé áiféiseach ar fad é sin a chur san áireamh. Is é sin atá á dhéanamh ag an Teachta McDonald agus ag daoine eile. Fundamentally, peacekeeping has been one of the great manifestations of Ireland's outreach to the global world. It is not the only one, but by any yardstick it is one of our most significant commitments to the rule of law and to many marginalised people in conflict and humanitarian crises all over the…
There is no balance to what Deputy McDonald is saying. She uses language such as "military adventurism" and "military entanglement".
Who is going to engage in military adventurism? Does Deputy McDonald think Dáil Éireann is? Does she think an Irish Government is?
I do not take lectures from the Deputy on the conduct of foreign policy.
I have been Minister for foreign affairs on two occasions. I invite the Deputy to go back over my record and my engagement from 2007 onwards.
Frank Aiken, a member of the Fianna Fáil Party-----
-----was an architect of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was an extraordinary Minister for External Affairs. Fianna Fáil does not take lectures from Sinn Féin, and neither does Fine Gael nor any other member of the Government, a party that once supported Nazism during the Second World War.
But you did.
You cannot take it.
When Éamon de Valera-----