Micheál Martin
Cork South-Central · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“At the beginning of April, the Government approved the establishment of the Cork city futures group to guide development of Cork city for the future.”
“We have to have a budget that reflects the need to sustain that level of work in our economy so that people will have access to jobs. The AI issue is causing a lot of concern. I take heart from the investment announced by Intel this week, which will be AI-propelled, actually.”
“Dublin City Council is progressing the establishment of this new legal entity, in line with the timelines laid out in the roadmap; a ten-year integrated area strategy for Dublin city centre to optimise funding and investment and tackle vacancy and dereliction; and accelerated delivery of landmark capital projects in the city centre throug…”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 30, inclusive, together. This will be a long answer because there is one task group and one futures group.”
“I think Deputy Hayes was being a bit petty, if that is the word I am looking for, in what he said about Spain. Well, using the word "petty" might be a bit uncharitable today. It is more a Spain is more vociferous than us kind of thing. We have worked very well together on the Middle East. It is a very serious issue.”
“A dedicated body, to be known as The Cork City Futures Group, will work to unlock the city’s full economic, cultural and academic potential, alongside further investment, innovation and infrastructure. I think people are familiar with the terms of reference.”
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“I welcome the raising of the issue. There has been work done and the review is under way, as the Deputy has said. The Minister for energy has engaged with the Minister for housing on this. One Department has the responsibility for the planning statement under the Planning and Development Act but the energy Department has significant responsibilities here as well. A further public consultation process will take place on the draft NPS and accompanying SEA environmental report. Communities, organisations and individuals will have the opportunity - we are hoping in the latter part of the year, perhaps late autumn. I will not have a specific date until the engagement between the two Departments is finalised and we are in a position to bring forward a draft statement.”
“I will raise the issue with the Minister. Garda vetting is an important mechanism but, from my understanding, the legislation provides for or obliges repeated securing of vetting for different functions or roles. There is a case to be made for some streamlining of that. If a teacher or escort, for example, receives Garda vetting, then I take the point that there is a need to look at whether they should need a second Garda vetting for another activity a month later.”
“The Department will continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including the Law Society and Bar Council, in advance of the reforms being introduced.”
“We need to be careful on all fronts in the sense that the Minister fully recognises the critical role played by the legal profession in the effective administration of criminal justice. There is no intention here to reduce the cost to the State of providing criminal legal aid. I will just point out that expenditure on criminal legal aid in the District Court has nearly doubled, from €19 million in 2015 to €37 million in 2024. The reform here is primarily aimed at improving efficiencies, speeding up case resolution - there is an issue if there are 29 appearances - and reducing unnecessary adjournments, while ensuring fair and sustainable remuneration for legal practitioners. There is a lot of merit in what the Minister is proposing. He met with the Bar Council on 27 May and the Law Society on 29 May, last week.”
“Aontaím leis an Teachta. Tá géarghá go dtuigeann na daoine a bhíonn ag obair Domhnach is dálach go mbeidh faoiseamh le teacht. I am confident that in the forthcoming budget we will have a comprehensive framework to try to programme decisions on tax and other areas to help middle-income and low-paid workers with their tax burden. We have significantly reduced the tax burden for the low-paid. In particular, the number who are not paying tax has increased significantly in recent years. Without question, there is a need to provide tax relief to workers. We will take the opportunity in the next budget. Obviously, a lot of work and discussions have to continue with the three parties in government before the finalisation of proposals in respect of the budget. That is one of the issues that is certainly under active discussion.”
“There were about 15 questions there but I think the Deputy started with the 199 Bray to Glendalough route, which I understand is a significant issue; other Deputies from Wicklow have also made that point to me. Obviously, there has been a significant expansion in transport services in recent years, with considerable public expenditure allocated to it. We are continuing to look at other services that need to be expanded and the Minister will be working with the NTA and TII on a range of issues in that respect.”
“I will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, in respect of that new school for Balbriggan. I do not have the specific details here, but we are working flat out to get as many places available through classes and new schools as quickly as possible to make sure pupils have places in September.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I will raise the points he made regarding Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore with the Minister for Health as to whether there are specific issues there. There is a lot of work under way in terms of development of surgical hubs, the National Treatment Purchase Fund expanding its programme in regard to particular specialties - the public-only contract should help in that regard - and continued investment in capacity. We acknowledge that more needs to be done in terms of getting the waiting times down. The sooner people can have intervention and surgery, the better the outcomes. We will continue to address the issue the Deputy raised.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for many people across the length and breadth of the country. We have a target for 2026 of 26.7 million home care hours. Additional hours will be delivered through a mixture of public and private provision, with a focus on addressing persistent waiting lists in certain areas of the country. Preliminary data shows that as of 31 March, 6.55 million hours were provided in the year to date, which is about 541,000 more hours than in the same period last year. A total of 61,000 people were receiving home support at the end of the month, while 66,000 had received home support since the start of the year. There had been issues previously in respect of recruitment and so forth but the Minister has made, and continues to make, significant progress in relation to that.”
“The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the docklands and, more recently, the schemes at Creamfields, Ballyvolane and many more, there are a lot of big housing projects under way in Cork. Moving from a levy to a tax will make a difference. The other key issue is that the grants are very substantial for derelict and vacant houses, at €70,000 and €50,000, respectively. That is having a huge impact, with about 17,000 applications. Nothing like that had happened before we introduced it in 2022.”
“The Minister has also signed off on a review, which, I think, is very important, but only made that decision following work up from her Department officials who have given considerable thought to this because what we will see now and into the future is a greater volume of what used be called orphan drugs for rare diseases. Where companies in the past never invested, now they are. That is going to come at us fairly significantly.”
“There are three points. First, we are acutely aware of the pressures and anxieties in families in relation to a number of drugs pertaining to rare diseases. There was good news last week in terms of the HSE drug group approving givinostat and sending it forward to the senior leadership group, which will now consider it. Hopefully we can get this progressed as quickly as possible. There are other drugs. Skyclarys is on the agenda, among others. In fact, we are increasing the number of approvals on a year-by-year basis. The recent pharmaceutical agreement arrived at with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, and the Government provides for better timelines in terms of getting drugs approved.”
“First of all, I agree that every fatality on Irish roads is one too many. For well over a decade or two, we had seen dramatic reductions in road fatalities and injuries, but in the last number of years, post-Covid in particular, there has been an incremental increase with some moderation of that. We have a clear road safety strategy. Progress has been made to deliver on phase 2 of the action plan for the period 2025 to 2027. There have been 12 primary transformative actions and 77 support actions. Progress to date includes the following. The default speed limit was reduced from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on rural and local roads in February 2025. Local authorities are now working to lower speed limits, where appropriate, to 30 km/h in urban and built-up areas by March 2027. The first national safety camera strategy was published on 29 April.”
“There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities and we have increased funding on a whole range of fronts. The bottom line is we are moving to Revenue to impose a tax. A lot of work has to be done to do this properly. That work is under way and will be resourced. It is very important that we do this with good precision and we do it comprehensively. I believe that this move, because it is Revenue and is a tax, will change the psychology around this and the implementation of it. It did not happen under local authorities for a long, long time-----”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue. There are a range of opinions and perspectives in this House and, indeed, among the public. The people voted to repeal the eighth amendment in 2018 and to provide free, safe and legal access to termination services. We have made a lot of progress since then on the implementation of the Act. I am aware of the arguments for and against the removal of the three-day waiting period. It is important we have a respectful debate in the House. I intend to vote for this to go through to Committee Stage. On Committee Stage, there will perhaps be a need for consequential amendments, which I think the Minister has flagged with Deputy Cullinane. That only relates to the actual issue and does not undermine - in fact, it enhances - the intent of the amendment.”
“I remember the negotiations when we were in opposition but part of the confidence and supply agreement to make sure the country had a Government, which is something the Deputy has never quite had to worry about because he is always in splendid isolation-----”
“The key question will be whether we can get community and political buy-in to the kinds of projects that the country requires and avoid partisan rows that would undermine the national and public interest in terms of getting these projects done.”
“The more important point is that there are no proposals from anybody around the privatisation of Irish Water or any of the water services. The more important focus for us is repairing and upgrading the existing infrastructure, but also expanding it. Utilities are key to the future of our society and economy, and that is why we are putting huge amounts of money and equity into Irish Water to make sure it has the capacity to do the type of work that is required. In the last three years, particularly in the context of the national development plan, the allocation underpins the significant growth and development of water infrastructure and supplies in this country.”
“It is likewise with the wastewater treatment plant and the Dublin drainage project. Big projects are under way, and that is where all the focus has been and will continue to be. It is arguable at this stage whether a referendum is really required at all in respect of this matter. There is unanimity in the House in respect of keeping it in public ownership. It will stay in public ownership. Of course, when it comes to constitutional amendments, the divil is always in the detail and in the framing of the language and the wording. That is always problematic and challenging at the best of times.”
“Irish Water is entirely publicly owned and will remain so. Recently, the Government, in the context of the national development plan, NDP, allocated unprecedented funding to Irish Water for the development of water infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country. The urgency and imperative right now is to fundamentally improve the water supply infrastructure. It is a key utility, and the State is investing unprecedented amounts of taxpayers' money to make sure that we get the big wastewater treatment plants through. These include the eastern and midlands project. It will be interesting to see if the House will support that very important public infrastructure. If it does not happen within a decade or so, the midlands, Dublin and other areas on the east coast will be running out of water.”
“Sometimes people might say Deputy Bacik is textbook Opposition and that everything has to be the Government's fault but the point I make is that a lot of progress has been made in a lot of areas. We need to do more-----”
“It is also the first phase of this because this is a mammoth task. Notwithstanding the Derelict Sites Act being there, the database as inherited is not sufficient to immediately introduce a tax when we do not have a comprehensive database on derelict registers the length and breadth of the country. This is a tax that is coming in, so it will have to be done properly and in a very precise and effective way that will make a difference. It is very important that we get it right and do it properly. We expanded the living city initiative in the last budget and that will help significantly with regeneration in cities as well. The URDF and the rural community development fund are doing an awful lot of work in towns across the country and in cities in terms of bringing back to life city streets.”
“We have a very double-standard approach to regional delegation of power and local authority devolution. The reason we are transferring this to Revenue is because we believe Revenue has a tendency to concentrate the mind a bit more than local authorities have done. That is the bottom line. When people see Revenue coming, behaviour will change but we are going to have to do it in a comprehensive way. We are going to have to do it in a proper, precise way, again illustrating some degree of inaction by local authorities in terms of having ready registers and ready maps of properties-----”
“In terms of the replacement of the derelict site levy with the tax, I think we all have to agree. It seems very clear to me. Deputy Bacik mentioned 35 years with regard to derelict sites. Does anybody acknowledge there has been some weakness here in local government in terms of implementing the derelict sites levy? No, but Deputy Bacik chooses to blame central government. We need to make up our minds in the Oireachtas. When we delegate and gift powers to local authorities, there comes a time when there has to be accountability from local authorities as well. When we look at the tables in terms of who did what at local authority level, there are differences. Some are far more proactive than others but no one on the Opposition side ever wants to criticise this aspect of it because it has to be the Government's fault for everything.”
“The Government has allocated €150 million through the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund to tackle vacancy and dereliction, and €142 million of that has already been allocated. Again, this charge of inaction, as it nothing is happening, is just not true. There are many more initiatives as well. The Government launched the CPO activation programme in 2023 to support proactive local authority acquisition of vacant and derelict properties. Approximately, 11,000-plus properties engaged, 400 CPOs commenced and 250-plus were completed. Proposals are also being advanced to centralise certain CPO powers to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The existing unpaid derelict site levy will remain a charge on affected properties and continue to be collected by local authorities.”
“-----is the introduction of the grant to refurbish derelict and vacant housing. There is no question about it. I took a personal interest in that because when I walked in rural areas or urban areas I could see dereliction. The Minister at the time, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, introduced it. Some 17,500 applications is no mean change and 13,000 of them have been approved so that has been a significant initiative. So, it is not years of doing nothing. That is a very significant measure the Deputy chooses to ignore. Around €285 million has been paid out by quarter 1 of 2026. That grant scheme has been extended to 2030. The vacant above the shop grant will do significant work as well.”
“I do not have access to that information. What I can say to the Deputy, however, is that the Minister is extremely strong on this. The Government brought in this contract, which, in itself was a radical change from what had historically been the case. We are determined that it has an impact and an effect. As far as the Government is concerned - I was very clear last weekend in my statements on this, and the Minister likewise - we will not tolerate any variation from the contracts that people have signed up to.”
“First, the Deputy mentioned whistleblowers. I have not had access to those whistleblowers. I do not know whether they have formally given their information to the HSE or to the Department. Are they whistleblowers as per the Act or are they people who have gone to the Deputy directly? The Deputy might clarify that at a later stage; he does not have the opportunity now and I appreciate that. That is an important point. It needs to be clarified and the Deputy needs to be very transparent about that because I do not have access-----”
“The HSE has governance and programme structures to strengthen its oversight, reporting and accountability and the Minister is very clear about engaging with all of the hospitals to ensure compliance and implementation. In terms of the Deputy's two questions, the answers are "No" and "No". I was not aware of what was contained in the report at the weekend in respect of gifts to consultants who turned up. Again, as the Deputy knows, Revenue is independent, but I am sure Revenue read the article, as the Deputy and I did. It is a matter for Revenue now to pursue any issues that arise from that.”
“This means that about 69% of all consultants working in our hospitals are now on the public-only consultant contract. Consultant numbers themselves have also increased significantly, with 51% more consultants now working in our hospitals than in 2020, strengthening overall capacity. The fundamental issue and the rationale for the contract is delivering stronger consultant presence on site, including at evening times and at weekends, so that the patients see the benefits of this contract. As the Deputy knows, the contract allows for rostering from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. At the moment, current figures show that only 37% of consultants are rostered for evening working and only 11% for Saturday. That is far too low and simply has to improve.”
“Strong progress has been made in contract uptake and in increasing consultant capacity, but the clear focus now, on the Minister's behalf, the Department's and the HSE's, is on delivering in practice, particularly extended hours and weekend services for patients. More consultants are now rostered for evening and Saturday work, but the current levels remain too low and need to improve further. We are fully committed, from the Government's side, to the implementation and enforcement of the public-only consultant contract. As I said, there has been strong national uptake - about 3,416 consultants had signed up as of 29 May of this year, including 1,220 new entrants and 2,196 consultants who have switched from the older contracts.”
“First, the last Government moved in terms of negotiating the public-only consultant contract. We spent a lot of time and did a lot of work on it. We negotiated that with the IHCA. The Government not only expects that to be fulfilled, but will work relentlessly to ensure its enforcement and fulfilment. People cannot be signing contracts and then arbitrarily varying those contracts or deciding to ignore them. Neither can hospitals that are funded predominantly by the State do that either. It is an imperative that the public-only consultant contract is implemented and that it works as it is supposed to across the entire health service.”
“-----and in a way that ensures there is a very defined and precise database to enable the tax to be levelled by Revenue. We will do everything we can to accelerate this. There is no delaying of this in any shape or form. It will be legislated for in the forthcoming Finance Bill, which it has to be legislated for. I welcome the Deputy’s support for it.”
“I appreciate the Deputy’s support for the Government’s initiative on the tax front. It is not being delayed. In many ways, what is happening here is illustrative of the inaction and the absence of a comprehensive database to bring in a tax in the first instance. Work is ongoing between the Department of housing and the Department of Finance in that regard. Local authorities have had the Derelict Sites Act for decades. There are deficiencies in terms of identifying all of the properties that come under dereliction, not necessarily vacancy because not all vacant properties are derelict. We have to make that point. This is going to be done properly and comprehensively-----”
“-----in any effective way. That has to be said and articulated. Tá an Rialtas ag déanamh gach aon iarracht an fhadhb seo a réiteach. Tá dul chun cinn le feiscint anois sna deontais éagsúla a chuirimid i bhfeidhm.”
“Limerick and others had the capacity to do it; others just did not bother. I do not want to be criticising people for the sake of it but the bottom line is this. On another day in this House people will decry the lack of devolved authority in government in Ireland but here is an area where local authorities really did not go after it-----”
“In terms of the derelict property tax, the Government took a decision last year to change it and to move the function from local authorities and to move it from a levy to a tax to be implemented by Revenue. I would appreciate the Deputy’s support for. She is indicating she will support it wholeheartedly. It needs legislation and it will be legislated for in this year's finance Act but a lot of work has to happen and is happening to make sure it is accurate, comprehensive and up to date. There is a tendency always for the Deputy and others to be all things to all people. She has said the local authorities did not have the capacity; they did have the capacity. The reason we are moving this to Revenue is that local authorities have not succeeded at all in implementing the derelict sites Act as it was fashioned. Some local authorities did.”
“The town centre first policy is a significant initiative to support community-led regeneration and reuse of vacant buildings in towns across Ireland. Cappoquin in Waterford is a good illustration. It has gone from 33 derelict properties to 11 in five years through a plan from the Cappoquin Development Association supported with investment from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht through the town and village renewal scheme and Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. We provide support to local authorities to address vacant housing. The local authority vacancy rate was 2.75% at the end of 2024. It had been a 3.18% prior to that. That is the national residential vacancy rate. We have made a lot of progress in terms of social housing.”
“Then we have the new vacant above-the-shop grant which was introduced last April. That provides up to €140,000 to convert vacant upper floor commercial space into housing alongside a €5,000 expert advice grant. We have regeneration and local authority action. Government has allocated €150 million through the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund to tackle vacancy and dereliction. About €142.5 million has already been allocated and more than 1,300 properties approved for intervention. Dublin City Council has received €10 million with approximately €9 million still available for deployment. That allows local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties, carry out works and return them to productive use our or sale.”
“I would dispute what the Deputy has said and her analysis and presentation of it. Dealing with vacancy and dereliction is multi-stranded and must involve a multi-stranded approach. As far back as 2022, the Government introduced what I would consider to have been a game-changing initiative in terms of the vacant property refurbishment grant, which provides up to €50,000 for vacant properties and up to €70,000 for derelict properties. Since its launch in 2022, a total of 17,486 applications have been received; over 13,000 have been approved; €285 million had been paid out by quarter 1 of this year; and over 5,300 vacant or derelict homes have been returned to use. That is proactive and going at this in a very significant and pragmatic way, and it has yielded results.”
“I will engage again with the Minister in light of this discussion with the Deputy and others in respect of a need to change and maybe demonstrate, by experience, an improvement.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know he has raised it previously. Uisce Éireann is subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General and is accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts but that is more in terms of the broader governance issues. It is also subject to requirements of the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and has, I understand, established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. It has acknowledged, as I said earlier, that there are concerns around the effectiveness of communications of Uisce Éireann with public representatives. It has undertaken a review of elected representative engagement, with input from across its entire business, which is due to be concluded shortly.”
“It is a no-brainer. I am appalled that there are cigarette butts on the ground outside State institutions. It should not happen. It is just unacceptable. Every individual has responsibilities in that regard but we do, as institutions of the State, have responsibilities to make sure that does not happen. I will ask for a re-examination of that and see what measures can be taken to clamp down on this.”
“I will talk to the Minister of State. If this modular building is complete, there will be classes. We have allocated an extra €646 million over and above the Estimate of last year to the Department of Education and Youth. A significant amount of that will be allocated to special education for the express purpose of more teachers and special needs assistants. We want every child to have a place in September. If the Deputy can send the details on to the Minister of State, I will alert him that the Deputy has raised an issue with me here.”
“I will go back to the Minister. We do not want people to have to flood the system with a load of parliamentary questions about a particular scheme. That information should be provided to Members automatically. I am hearing now of Members using AI for parliamentary questions. If we keep doing that, we will have thousands of questions in here and the system will be paralysed. I know the Deputy is not doing that, in fairness.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I cannot get involved in every single scheme with Uisce Éireann but I would say to Irish Water that it needs to reflect on its relationship with public representatives because the number of TDs who are complaining about not getting replies is too high. Something needs to be resolved here to have a proper flow of information. I will check with Irish Water but the Deputy is saying he cannot get any information. I do not know.”
“It has been passed by this House. People have different perspectives, as they are entitled to. It has been passed, signed, and is coming into law. That is all. This is a new development where TDs are coming in to say that a matter was only won by this amount or that and we must have another debate, despite the fact that legislation went through all Stages. This is misinformation and let us call it out. All last week, there were emails going to everyone about how a terrible day was going to happen on Friday when legislation that was debated here at length was commenced. Legislation is commenced all of the time. That is all that is happening. By the way, it gives us control.”
“This is parliamentary democracy. By 86 votes to 62, the International Protection Act 2015 was passed in this House. It has been signed by the President. Why are Members inventing and deliberately misinforming people? That is what is going on here. This law has been debated in this House at length.”
“I condemn, and I have condemned, what happened on last evening. "Racist pogrom" is a good description of last night in north Belfast. I made the point in my earlier remarks that there were certain media outlets of a particular political disposition that sought, from observing some of the interviews, to raise tensions. That is unacceptable and I roundly condemn that. Everybody has a responsibility for what is said because the dignity of every individual must be respected. To have families and young children subjected to what happened last evening is unacceptable. What happened the previous evening was savage and has created huge anxiety, fear and anger. That must be acknowledged, but all of us in political life, as public representatives, must call out the level of racism that was evident last night.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I also recognise the strength of his advocacy in regard to the ring road in Galway and the absolute necessity for it. It is with some degree of dismay that we read that there will be a judicial review of the planning. I urge the authorities - and I will engage with them - to see if mediation can bring about a speedier outcome to the issues that have been raised. My understanding is that the county council is the lead authority but I will talk to TII, the county council and relevant Ministers. I have spoken to the Minister for Transport on this because, for the wider public good and for Galway generally, this road needs to be built.”