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.”
The complete record
Every one of 5,818 lines we hold for Micheál Martin, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 16 of 117.
“I propose to take Question Nos. 1 to 24, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on infrastructure met last week on Monday, 18 May. The Cabinet committee works to drive infrastructure delivery and implementation of the national development plan. From the start, we have set out our ambition to deliver a step change in Ireland’s infrastructure. The revised national development plan sets out unprecedented investment of over €275 billion for critical infrastructure across the country to 2035, including an overall investment of €112 billion up to 2030. This includes funding for major infrastructural projects in transport, water and energy, which will support our continued development, notably in enabling the delivery of much needed housing at scale, but also to improve competitiveness and sustainability.”
“Basically, we are spending about €1 billion annually in general practice to support patients. Some 43% of the population now has access to free GP care and Government investment has significantly increased. There is a strategic review of general practice currently under way, and I presume it will take on board some of the issues the Deputy has raised in terms of growth areas in population and the need for greater access to GPs more generally. There has also been increased access to pharmacy capacities in respect of some conditions. There are about eight conditions pharmacists can now diagnose and prescribe treatment for. We have to become more flexible in how we enable people to access primary care services. We have invested significantly in general practice.”
“This is a complex matter, particular as it relates to those who are dependent. Where would the Deputy draw the line in devising a scheme for fuel allowance? It could be broadened exponentially. We have already expanded it to those on the working family payment. Approximately 470,000 people are now entitled to the fuel allowance. We have expanded it significantly from where it was. I will raise the point the Deputy made with the Minister for Social Protection, but it is not easy. The Deputy is introducing the idea that people working in a house would be entitled to the fuel allowance.”
“There are issues here. The Deputy can attack us for even mentioning what I referred to. She cannot attack us just for mentioning the unmentionable.”
“That is a fair point except, but we all need to be honest about it. We need to understand the problem and the challenge. When I refer to migration, I am not blaming anyone. I am simply stating the fact that more than 50% - it is even higher in the Dublin area - are non-Irish citizens. That is just the reality. The composition of homelessness has changed. That is all I am saying. That realisation then informs different responses. When, for example, we came forward with the exemptions for developments in gardens and so on, our proposal was lampooned. However, that proposal could provide a solution for a certain group of people. Everything that increases supply will help us to deal with this matter. Some Europeans who have come here have an entitlement to emergency homes without being entitled to local authority houses or social housing.”
“Orphan drugs, which may not relate to cancer alone and which may be used to treat a range of other conditions, are going through similar technology assessments. The process is taking a long time. We need the co-operation of the companies involved in terms of dealing sensibly and practically with this, but there is no doubt that it is a growing issue.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is a pertinent and important issue. There is no question but that medicines are advancing at a rapid pace. In the context of therapeutics and more generally in the area of oncology, there are new drugs, perhaps every five years in some instances. Health systems all over the world are struggling to keep pace with the rapidity of change. Thankfully, survival rates relating to cancer are increasing all round because of the advances that have been made. I have engaged in discussions with the Minister on this matter. Working with the national cancer control programme, we need to look at how we can deal with the rapidity and volume of new drugs coming on stream.”
“In many respects, the scheme, which was introduced by the then Minister, Eamon Ryan, has had a strong impact in the context of recycling and so on. There have been positives to the scheme. There is no doubt about that. We keep all schemes under review. Bin-scavenging needs to be examined more in terms of scale, prevalence and how we deal with it.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very sad situation. It is devastating for the family to lose such a beautiful young daughter in circumstances that no one can comprehend. It was a wonderful day. Everyone headed to the beach and the unthinkable happened. In terms of the emergency preparedness group, risk assessments and the idea of a national protocol that could be triggered in anticipation of a change in weather of the kind we have experienced this week, which has been relatively sudden and quite dramatic in its impact. The Deputy makes a fair point. I will ask the emergency group to consider it. I will come back to the Deputy.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I met the Johnston family. What happened to Aoife was extremely and profoundly difficult and traumatic for the family. It should not have happened and the HSE has apologised. The Minister has met the family. There was an investigation and examination of it, which yielded a lot in terms of what went wrong. I will speak to the Minister. I did not realise there were issues around the naming of that new block. I will talk to the Minister about that to see if we can get that rectified.”
“A scheme was outlined and there were estimates as to what it would cost. It is not as if there is a pot of money over there. We have, over the years, supported different categories of people in terms of redress relating to specific areas. Industrial schools were the most significant and over €1 billion was allocated at that time. That was just the financial support but there was much more to it, including counselling, educational support and housing support. We continue to keep issues under review.”
“Obviously, part of that is the tax framework and I have no doubt but that the various Deputies and political parties that make up the three pillars of the Government will bring forward proposals following consultation with their members and consider the most effective way of giving workers a break.”
“Last year's budget was one of five budgets and people need to realise that. We were strong on infrastructure in the first year, which was the right thing to do because if we do not invest in infrastructure now, it does not get completed any time soon. That was why we had to do that. Of course, disability featured strongly, as did supports for children and housing, which is the number one priority. We will be examining the full range of supports we can give to families in what is a very pressurised environment in terms of the cost-of-living pressures.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue for the DAA pension scheme and workers. I hear what he is saying and will ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will meet the workers. Perhaps the Deputy could liaise with the Minister, too, but I will raise the issue. I understand the negative impact on the workers concerned if its value has gone down to 50% of what the wage was.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising a potential loophole. I will talk to the Minister for housing in respect of it. There are significant protections in the legislation the Minister introduced, particularly the six-year rule, which have probably had some short-term consequences but in the overall provide good protection. The legislation provides probably the strongest protection yet given in terms of security of tenure. I will follow up with the Minister in respect of the issue raised by the Deputy.”
“I said to the Deputy last week that the Minister for housing was considering this and would be coming back to the Government with proposals to increase the threshold. Three years ago, we did it. In 2023, it went up by approximately €5,000. I would support the increase in the threshold at which people would be entitled to social housing.”
“I commend the Pope on the publication of his encyclical, which is a very important document in the context of how he sees the dehumanisation of people as one of the significant potential consequences of AI. We have not engaged in any light-touch regulation. We have adopted the AI Act. We have also adopted the Single Market Act and the Digital Markets Act. Why is the Deputy talking about light-touch regulation? European legislation has been strong. We have strong domestic and European legislation in respect of online platforms. In fact, a big criticism of Europe, including Ireland, is that it has over-regulated. That is a debate in terms of technology more generally. I do not accept the criticism that we have a light touch.”
“Sorry, but I did not interrupt the Deputy. Redress is more than just financial. Many supports, from those of the National Counselling Service to educational supports, have been provided for survivors. Trauma brought about by abuse is lifelong, and there has to be continuous and consistent engagement with survivors in respect of both that trauma and the most effective way of responding to it on a continuing basis. The Government has engaged substantially right across the board and has allocated very substantial resources to address it.”
“Over the past 25 years, or from any historical perspective, the State has done more on redress than has ever been done before. That needs to be acknowledged. Very substantial funds have been allocated for redress. It is taxpayers' money. It is not our money; it belongs to the people, but I would not be as dismissive of what the State has done so far.”
“The solution to the housing issue is supply. We need far more supply than we are getting, notwithstanding the fact we are building more social houses than we ever have per annum. We will continue to build social houses over the next ten years because the investment is being made. There is massive State investment in housing, and there is additional, discrete ring-fenced funding for emergency housing but also to deal with those on the emergency housing lists and provide them with homes. In the budget, the Minister secured ring-fenced funding to enable him to do that. We will continue our work on supply. We will not be out there objecting, as the Deputy is doing in respect of apartment after apartment in her constituency.”
“I am sorry, but the Deputy is interrupting again. For over two and a half years, we have been seeking to suspend that association agreement, but we have not been able to get any support. Only last week, because of Hungary’s change of government, we were able to get sanctions on violent Israeli settlers at a European level. We are now trying to get at least a common European position on the occupied territories, but it is still difficult because the Slovenian Government has now changed with a completely different approach and response.”
“We are implementing what we said in the programme for Government. Read the programme for Government. That is exactly what we are now doing. The way to deal with Israel effectively is through the European Union. There is no other way. We have not been able to get agreement across Europe because some countries historically have a position of supporting Israel come what may. The Deputy and I know that. The Commission is the competent authority in terms of trade with Israel. We have sought to get a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Ireland and Spain have been the two countries for well over two years now-----”
“We all have a moral framework by the way. The Deputies do not have a monopoly on that. We have taken a lead on this. The easiest thing for politicians to do is put the chin up and be great people in sloganeering and rhetoric, but we have a deeper responsibility.”
“We are one of the few European member states that has stood out there. If you talk to the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt or anyone in the Gulf and the wider Middle East, the first thing they say is, “Thank you to the Irish Government for leading on this”.”
“-----but for the workers’ representative, he lacks all virtuosity when it comes to protecting Irish workers. We have to take everything on board and be sensible about it. At the same time, we have been principled.”
“-----and that is the problem. The Deputy has now moved on very quickly. By the way, we do not have the power, even if we wanted to, to stop trade with Israel right now. That is a European competency and Deputy Boyd Barrett knows that, but he is not interested in that because, as far as he is concerned, the EU can go to pot as well. He is not particularly interested one way or the other. It is about campaigning. It is about attacking this Government. It is not really about trying to explain to people the impacts and implications of all of this. Does the Deputy want to ban trade with Israel?”
“Let us be honest about what has happened here. We recognise Palestine and the Deputy moves on quickly. We intervene in the legal case by South Africa and he moves on quickly. We double down on UNRWA and he moves on quickly. We go to the ICJ and he moves on quickly.”
“I again thank the Deputy for raising it and maybe to some degree with a bit more honesty than others. First of all, let us accept the distinction he has made compared with others. He is not really interested in the occupied territories Bill on its own because it just deals with the illegal settlements. He knows that. All along, he has been shouting about the occupied territories Bill but all along he wanted an Israeli boycott.”
“-----based on what it has produced so far, in terms of the substance of what it has put forward. Soundbites will not build houses. It is good play but it will not build houses. I do not mind having an honest debate on housing but the Deputy consistently fails to acknowledge any progress at all in terms of the social housing issue, for example. There have been 58,000 social houses built in the last five years. That is dramatically better than anything built in the previous ten years, but the Deputy cannot acknowledge that. She cannot acknowledge anything at all. I acknowledge there is a homeless crisis out there. I have said from day one that housing is the number one crisis, but we are doing something about it with concrete policies.”
“The Housing Commission said that the existing renting situation could not continue and that we had to create a more permanent framework for the rental market to give certainty to all concerned. What the Deputy suggested towards the end of her contribution would actually make the situation worse because supply would be depressed. We need more supply and we need it as quickly as possible. It is interesting that any form of supply we have proposed in the past three months has been opposed by the Social Democrats and by others in the Opposition.”
“We hope to increase that figure for 2026 and probably will. What is interesting is that commencements are up by 176% this year, with about 11,000 commencement notices in the first four months. Real dwelling investment is up by 19% and construction employment is up by 33% since 2020, 10% year on year. That is because of the increased house building that is taking place. There has been a 55% year-on-year increase in terms of land for housing and deals to facilitate housing. The Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, loan book is up by 25%. Whatever metric one is looking at, there are increases happening. The issue is the speed and how we can exit people from homelessness as quickly as possible, and from emergency accommodation in particular. If we do a temporary eviction ban, we will depress supply again. We have been through this.”
“Without question, when you analyse the figures and talk to people, population growth is a key area, but we also need to respond in terms of social housing, for example. We are building more houses in direct builds per annum now than since the foundation of the State. Last year, over 9,000 social houses alone were built. Ultimately, the provision of increased social housing is the best route to dealing with homelessness. No other way will sustainably deal with it. In addition to that, we are building a lot of affordable homes and giving a lot of support to people in terms of starter homes. Across the board, in terms of housing assistant payment, HAP, and other things, we are giving assistance to people who need to access housing. Without question, the momentum is towards increased house provision. Some 36,000 homes were built last year.”
“The population increase in the last ten years has been quite phenomenal as well and is having an impact on the housing situation. Migration - and I mean this in a general sense, not casting any aspersions - has had an impact on housing also. One only has to look at the figures now of the people who are non-European or non-Irish in emergency accommodation. It is well over 50%. That is where we are in the modern era. We have to deal with that. We have to help people who find themselves homeless. Of that there is no doubt, but we also need to understand what the drivers of homelessness have been in the past five to ten years.”
“We have strong labour protection laws in this country and frameworks that govern any redundancies or situations pertaining to workers' rights. I would not understate the protections that are there.”
“There are two dimensions to this. In itself, AI will change the world of work. We should not be blind to that. We need to prepare for it. There is investment in skills, in particular, and thankfully, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has identified Ireland as one of the top countries in terms of an AI-skilled population and workforce. Equally though, I accept that because of the extraordinary investments some of the global players are making in AI , they are cutting costs in terms of human resources. It may not necessarily all be AI driven. There are certain investment decisions being taken. One of the negative consequences of that is a cutting of labour forces globally, not just in Ireland. We have to prepare for that.”
“Nearly every Irish construction company was in there, with different companies doing incredible frontier-type solutions for Intel in terms of clean room technology and so on. We do have a healthy ecosystem but we need to invest more on the skills side as it is key to the AI issue. The skills round table, aiready.ie and the national skills observatory the Ministers, Deputies Lawless and Peter Burke, are putting together are a good solid response to what is happening.”
“I was at a Japanese pharmaceutical facility in Kerry recently and again it was the same story in terms of the clean room technology and laboratories. We now have companies at a calibre that can actually supply into very sophisticated operations. While we do need to develop our SME sector, work with Enterprise Ireland on high potential start-ups and do better at scaling up companies, quite a lot of Irish companies have scaled up on the backs of having originally won contracts with a big multinational. Take, for example, all the companies that have supplied into Intel in Kildare. I visited the Intel site about two or three years ago in the midst of the next Fab being built.”
“The payroll employee index is up 2.2% year on year, and we are close to 2.8 million workers. We have a very robust and resilient employment story made up of the SME sector as well as the multinationals but we can never look at them as an either-or. They are both inextricably bound together. I was in Dexcom in Galway recently where a factory has been built that will accommodate 1,000 workers by 2028. At the moment, there are 300 workers there. What was interesting is that in an investment of about €300 million, Dexcom procured about €180 million of that locally through the local supply chain, although the figures might vary. In other words, there are lots of smaller companies that are able to plug into the Dexcom investment.”
“First of all, I want to take the opportunity to welcome Deputies Daniel Ennis and Séan Kyne. I congratulate them on their election and have no doubt they are looking forward to being effective and productive legislators and, of course, diligent representatives of the people who elected them to Dáil Éireann. It is a great day for them and for their families. We hope their families, in particular, enjoy this historic day for the Deputies and for them. In respect of employment more generally and the impact of AI and the decisions of certain tech companies, overall, we should not lose sight of the fact that our economy is continuing to grow significantly using GNI as our figure. Modified domestic demand is expected to grow by about 2.1% in 2026. It increased by 4.95% last year. Employment has been fairly consistent year on year.”
“It is just sloganeering. All that is happening is sloganeering and shallow rhetoric that is devoid of any substance. There are two major powers that could influence Israel. Fundamentally, the US can. Second, maybe, a unanimous European Union position on the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Those are potentially the two ways to get----”
“Very few countries have gone down this route. Spain and Ireland are going down this route in terms of the banning of goods. We hope Belgium and the Netherlands will follow suit. It looks like Slovenia will not be in a position now because the Government has changed in Slovenia. The Government that has been elected has a completely different issue. It must be at European level if we are to have any impact on Israel. Even at European level, I am trying to be honest with people here, how does one have impact on the Israeli Government, Netanyahu and these people? The bottom line is-----”
“-----that people are turning a blind eye to in terms of this being something we can do casually to which nobody is going to pay a blind bit of notice. There have been a lot of attacks on Ireland because of the leadership stance we have taken as a Government.”
“On goods, by whatever yardstick is used, about €200,000 worth of goods - fruit and vegetables - come in from the settlements. That is what comes in. Services are intangible, as someone described them. It is impossible to implement. Could we have some honesty about that? There is an issue in terms of what will happen if services were included in terms of jobs in this country and potential attacks on multinationals that are based here.”
“There is no justification for the assertions Deputy McDonald has made. I know her objective is to sort of attack the Government, sometimes even more than the Israeli Government. That is the objective. In terms of the occupied territories Bill, we need a bit of honesty across the House. We need absolute honesty here. Let us not overstate the impact of this either way.”
“-----International Court of Justice in terms of the case there in respect of genocide. We have provided very significant support to Palestinians, up to €146 million up to this year. In terms of UNRWA in particular, we took a leading role in Europe to stem the momentum at the time of taking aid away from UNRWA after Israeli allegations against UNRWA personnel. We held back that momentum and then we doubled down in terms of doubling our own provision of finance to UNRWA itself. We did this consistently in all international forums. The Attorney General has argued before the ICJ in respect of the impacts of the illegal occupation of Palestine. At the United Nations General Assembly, we, of course, sponsored resolutions in terms of seeking to implement the court's advisory opinion.”
“We recognised the State of Palestine, along with Spain, for example, and Slovenia did so after us, in a broader move to try to get a peace accord going within the Middle East in terms of a Palestinian State. We intervened in the South African case before the-----”
“Ní aontaím leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta mar tá Éire agus a Rialtas chun tosaigh agus muid ag seasamh suas do na Palaistínigh. Tá sé sin ráite ag na Palaistínigh. Deir Údarás Náisiúnta na Palaistínigh i gcónaí go bhfuil ár dtír chun tosaigh maidir le tacaíocht a thabhairt do na Palaistínigh. I do not accept the Deputy's proposition in terms of how she has distorted the Irish Government’s position in relation to the cause of Palestinian self-determination. From the outset, we have taken a series of measures that have been at the leading edge in terms of any Europe Union's member state's response to the genocide in Gaza, the continued violent behaviour of the settlers in the West Bank, and the continuing war in Lebanon, which is completely unjustified.”
“First, I welcome the fact that talks are in progress right now through the labour relations machinery. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of those talks or say anything that might harm them. Dialogue is key to resolving this. We have modernised the service very significantly over the years. Everybody has been involved in that, including workers and all concerned. It is important that these discussions can get a resolution to this.”
“Again, I do not have the specifics of that. The Deputy said it is going to the Mater Private. Can she send me a note on the case so that I can see the different stages? It seems unusual and I do not know what the relationship with Temple Street is, with the system there or with CHI more generally.”
“The Department had been awaiting responses, but that engagement is vital to trying to get this resolved for Friedreich's ataxia cases.”