-----but there will be an expectation that, over time, you would regularise your planning.
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
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questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
688,766
words spoken in the chamber
686,628 as a minister, 2,138 as a TD
197
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
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Contributions to debates 6,546 in all
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| December 2024 | 11 |
| January 2025 | 6 |
| February 2025 | 438 |
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| May 2025 | 426 |
| June 2025 | 424 |
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| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 198 |
| October 2026 | 222 |
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
I thank the Deputy for producing that Bill. I want to engage with him regarding how I can fast track it. It might matter for the House to be of assistance in that regard. In terms of tougher laws on the generation of images, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration are examining that issue. We do have very strong laws preventing the sharing of intimate images and very strong laws …
I will raise the issue with the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, although there are offences and they are well provided for - any assault on any person. It gets a bit complicated if we start categorising. We have specifics for emergency care workers, bus workers and transport generally. The attack in Temple Bar was appalling. The issue is the behaviour of the individuals who do this sort of thing. We…
Wicklow got about €14.9 million, which is a very substantial amount. In terms of the storm damage, we have told the county councils to continue and work away at fixing those roads. Estimates are coming in from the councils separate from their normal road budget, although there are contingencies built into their normal allocation. Nonetheless we do accept that under Storm Éowyn there were particular impacts, so the De…
I thank the Deputy for his commentary. It is a sign of the high esteem in which An Garda Síochána is held in this country that every part of the country is looking for more gardaí but I know it is also to have greater security and safety. The new Commissioner is very clear on the importance of the visibility of An Garda Síochána on our streets. It will get there. The through-put in Templemore is very good, with incre…
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Obviously, I cannot deal with every school extension and so on. However, I will raise this with the Minister. There is, again, record funding for school buildings this year, with a particular focus on school extensions for special classes and special education. I will see what we can do in this case.
To be fair, the Minister, Deputy Naughton, who was the Minister of State with responsibility for special education in the previous Government, would be more than willing to meet with the various groups. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, has been travelling the length and breadth of the country meeting with parents, schools and stakeholders in respect of these issues and continues to engage with both the NCSE an…
I propose to take Questions No. 1 to 18, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee oversees implementation of the programme for Government commitments in relation to health, receives detailed reports on identified policy areas, and considers health reforms, including Sláintecare, the reform of public health and health system preparedness for future health threats. It also receives reports in relation to programme f…
Is it the principals of schools?
The Deputy referred to beds. It is an elective hospital.
I thank the Deputies for the questions.
We began with Deputy Boyd Barrett in terms of special needs mental health and basically the recruitment issue. Yes, recruitment is the issue. We have allocated resources and what has stymied our endeavour to expand capacity has been actual recruitment itself. In fact, going back over the last two decades, we have increased places fairly significantly in allied healthcare profe…
The other key challenge has been clinical placements in terms of people pursuing various disciplines. We are expanding that too. This morning, the Minister received further sanction for additional places in all our third level colleges in respect of medicine and allied healthcare professionals. The Deputy had a specific query in terms of clinical psychology and the short number of places. Again, you cannot overnight …
I am not clear but I would have hoped that there was a multidisciplinary team that would oversee the conduct of biopsies, either recommending them or not recommending them with a view to both the diagnosis and also the trauma on the child and the potential implications, negatively, obviously, as the Deputy has outlined and articulated.
I might take that offline with the Deputy and we will see if we can pursue it.
Deputy Quaide raised the issue of long Covid. I would be open to meeting the group again. I did meet with the group last June, as the Deputy said. He knows the narrative in terms of the position in that the Labour Court made a ruling in respect of this. I will again engage with the Ministers responsible. There are complexities around cons…
Is there a project in the offing? I did not pick up----
I could not disagree with what the Deputy is saying. If you are onsite it is more seamless and faster, and better facilitates everybody working together on the situation. I will explore that and see what we can do. It is a good hospital, St. Luke's, with a very good track record in many areas and always was an innovative hospital in terms of how they do things.
To Deputy Martin Daly, I will have to investigate----
No, he is not actually; he is after Martin Daly.
I have my notes here. I do take notice.
That auld bit of paper does not do you good but I would say it does not lead you astray too much.
Deputy Daly raised the issue of the failure to go ahead with a ten-bed rehab unit in Roscommon hospital, and that it was in the capital programme for 2025 and taken out in 2026.
That is crazy.
It clarifies the issue. I will pursue it. I do not think that should happen. I think we need certainty. If we are putting something into a capital programme in 2025, it should be in there in 2026 if it has not been progressed. I will pursue that with the Minister and with the HSE. Roscommon has proven itself to be a very good hospital for services. I remember the row we had back in 2016 on the emergency department. I…
I appreciate that he will be pursuing and advocating on behalf of them. On the 24-7 cardiac care, I will have to go back with the Minister. The commitment is there. I remember it going through Cabinet last year. We were told by clinicians for a long time and all the expert groups that it could not be done. Now it can be done, following the reviews, and I am determined that we pursue it and fulfil it. There has been p…
I will look at that because I think we should be in a position. Very often the health service is not responsive because it wants to do general approaches to supports but I have often had a view that visually impaired and hearing impaired should be carved out somewhat, particularly where it facilitates employment.
We should really support employment. We do not do that as well as we should. I will pursue the matter De…
We have to get tough again on tobacco. In the manifestation of all these new technologies, we are witnessing the revenge of tobacco following the smoking ban and other smoking cessation initiatives. The Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002 was comprehensive. It was not just about the smoking ban; it was about getting rid of ten-packs and the sale of single cigarettes and putting cigarettes out of sight in shops in order …