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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“The additional resources have been allocated and the Garda and others are working flat out to make it as timely and efficient as possible. Legislation is there, so people are either constrained by it or have to operate under the legislative frameworks that govern vetting. It should be kept under constant review to make sure it is practical and pragmatic while at all times ensuring proper safeguarding and protection of people.”
“First, I appreciate the comments the Deputy has made and that he has acknowledged the encouraging signs the committee witnessed when it visited Lady's Island Lake recently. I have been engaged with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, on the biodiversity plan and national funding over a period, to enable implementation of the broader national strategy and plan. Obviously, we are committed to continuing the work at Lady's Island Lake to see how speedily or timely we can get that work done. I will speak to the Minister of State again on that.”
“I agree fully with Deputy Gannon that this is an appalling incident and we must condemn those who did it because they are impacting, presumably, on their own community. Young children now cannot avail of that play facility because of the burning that has taken place. I cannot comprehend why people would do that. I will alert the Minister for justice to the Deputy's comments. There has been increased visibility but gardaí are not going to be everywhere 24 hours a day. That has to be acknowledged as well. Nonetheless, this is a very serious incident. It is shocking in terms of the damage and the prevention of opportunities for children to play. I will certainly alert the Minister to this.”
“I spoke about this earlier. Again, my sympathies go to the family of Yves Sakila. It is an issue of the deepest concern and needs to be thoroughly and fully investigated. Obviously, there will be a post mortem to establish the cause of death, which will inform the Garda investigation. Fiosrú, the independent Office of the Police Ombudsman, was notified, as required under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024. It is fully independent in terms of its investigative and operational functions. There are very serious concerns and I do not want to prejudice any subsequent investigation, other than to say that everybody is deeply saddened. A person has lost his life in such circumstances, and the manner in which that has occurred has caused huge concern across society.”
“There is an obligation on Dublin City Council to act on derelict sites and it should have acted in respect of such derelict sites and buildings. That is first and foremost the responsibility of local authorities. Some have managed it reasonably well while others have not. That is why the Government took a decision last year to bring Revenue in on derelict sites so that Revenue will make sure that dereliction will be penalised.”
“The preponderence of people are moving more into the private sector. That is the reality. However, I take the Deputy’s point. There are ongoing reviews and discussions on this between the Minister and representative organisations. Recruitment has been ongoing and additional funding has been allocated over the past two to three years. I do not have the specifics on County Laois; I know the Deputy does. I will ask the Minister to engage with him in respect of County Laois specifically. In terms of prioritisation, those with special needs should get first priority in terms of interventions.”
“The public health side of dental health has been positive in terms of the basics people need to adhere to, but for those requiring treatment, many are waiting too long, particularly for orthodontics.”
“I do not have the specifics of County Laois per se , but it seems to me, and I will speak to the Minister about this, that we need a more fundamental re-examination of how we provide dental services in the future in the most efficient and effective way that meets the needs of those who require such treatment, and what is the best mechanism for doing that. The existing approaches and more traditional approaches of the past have not borne fruit in terms of where dentists choose to operate or tend to do their practise and so on. That is a difficulty. I will ask the Minister to engage with the Deputy in respect of the situation in County Laois more specifically because he raised that. Overall, dental health has improved fairly significantly.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that there are very significant difficulties and challenges with the dental treatment medical scheme and dental healthcare more generally in terms of the poor capacity in the public sector side of dental treatment. The preponderance of people has been towards the private sector and the difficulty in terms of recruitment and establishing a comprehensive structure within the dental public health service has proven problematic for quite some time. There have been negotiations with the IDA and the Department of Health and there has been additional funding allocated. The Deputy is aware of the impact of that in County Offaly.”
“I appreciate what those on the flotilla are doing. If we passed the occupied territories Bill in the morning, there would still be a flotilla, and I understand why there would be. Earlier, I listed all that has been done. If we look back at the debate before we did the recognition and before we intervened in the South African case, all the Deputies opposite were saying, "If only you would do this, it will achieve a fundamental change in Israel's position". We did all of that. We did so for the right reasons, because we think it is the right thing to do. Has it impacted on Israeli behaviour? Let us be honest: it has not. The Minister will progress the occupied territories Bill-----”
“I disagree with the Deputy's fundamental premise on this issue. People know my voice on Gaza and the Middle East. They know it in the European Union, both on the Foreign Affairs Council, when I was Minister for Foreign Affairs, and back in 2007, when I went to Gaza. I do not really need lectures from the Deputy in terms of my sincerity about Gaza.”
“We have organised medical evacuations of sick children from Gaza, along with their family members, for treatment, and plans are ongoing for further missions. We have supported over 300 people to leave Gaza and travel to Ireland since the crisis began. We will now work to get those people released and safely home”
“We have given a lot of support to the Palestinian people and rightly so. We will have allocated about €144 million by the end of 2026 in support of the Palestinian people. That is not insignificant. We have consistently supported UNRWA and have given €68 million since 2023. We intervened in South Africa's International Court of Justice, ICJ, case against Israel under the Genocide Convention. We made a submission to the ICJ on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the occupied territories. We subsequently co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly back in 2024, which sought to implement the court's advisory opinion. We recognise Palestine as a sovereign and independent state.”
“We will engage and are engaging with the Israeli Government on the release of all Irish citizens who have been wrongfully detained by the Israeli military in international waters. It is unacceptable behaviour. Let me be clear: the humanitarian situation in Gaza is equally unacceptable and has been for quite some time. Very often what tends to happen is people very quickly pivot away from attacking the Israeli Government and want to attack the Irish Government more than attacking the Israeli Government. That seems to be the standard course of action here which I do not think adds a whole lot to trying to help the overall situation in Palestine. Most Palestinians I meet and when I meet the Palestinian Authority or people in the area, they are very appreciative of successive actions the Irish Government has taken on this question.”
“First, I extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Mr. Sakila. The full circumstances of what happened there need to be examined and investigated fully and thoroughly. I understand that Fiosrú has been notified and is involved in that as an independent statutory body. The situation is deeply concerning and very concerning to many people who witnessed it. I just want to make that point but obviously we cannot pre-empt the outcome of any investigation. In respect of the Israeli action against the Sumud flotilla in international waters and the detention of those onboard, I strongly condemn what the Israeli Government has done and I condemn the action of the Israeli military forces, as I have done previously and as we did very early on. The Deputy's picky attitude to timing is just wrong and unnecessary.”
“Over 9,000 social houses were built last year. Those were direct builds that the State funded. Housing is the number one issue facing the people of the country. Our population has grown exponentially, and if we dig deep under the demographics and the population figures, we can see the impact on the pressures on the housing situation because of the different parts of that demographics story. I can deal with that at a later time. We need to increase housing supply, and this is what the Government is focused on in a whole range of initiatives that we have introduced, from social housing to cost-rental to affordable housing. There are a significant number of drawdowns for first-time buyers, for example. It is much higher than it was back in 2015, when the percentage of first-time buyers was 26% of all household buyers.”
“People enter the market and people leave the market continuously, and have done so. The Deputy knows that. It is just a fact. The bottom line is that she cannot spin away either and pretend that nothing is happening in terms of housing supply.”
“Construction employment was at 191,900 at the end of 2025. That is up 30% since 2019 and 12% year on year. The HBFI loan book grew 25% in 2025. We allocated €1 billion to the housing infrastructure investment fund. Residential planning permissions in Dublin exceed 78,000 units. Some 24,246 apartments are under construction or on active sites across Dublin. There were 50 new schemes active during quarter 1 of this year alone. In total, 31,936 homes were either built or under construction across 202 active sites in quarter 1 of 2026. That is evidence of very significant momentum within the housing area and supply is the key. On social, affordable-----”
“No, I am sorry; the Deputy cannot have it both ways. We need to have a settled landscape out to the next decade or so in terms of the investment side of the equation to get more in. The bottom line is 36,000 homes were delivered last year, which is the highest since records began and up 20% on 2024. A total of 38,000 new dwellings were completed in the 12 months ending quarter 1 of 2026, which is an increase of 26 year on year. Since 2020, about 177,000 units have been built. Planning momentum is very strong, with 8,000 permission in quarter 4 of 2025, which is up by close to 20%. Some 20,000 houses were granted permission in 2025, which is the highest number since 2009, and there were 8,400 commencement notices in quarter 1 of 2026, which is up 184% year on year. Real dwelling investment is up 19.4% in the first three quarters of 2025.”
“-----who have actually entered the market. As some people exit the market, more enter the market and it needed to be sorted and to be solidified as well, and the Deputy knows that. Her objection was she tried to portray it as an incentive to developers and landlords but it is the protection elements of the reforms that have caused some smaller landlords, perhaps, to exit. She cannot have it both ways.”
“I again do not accept the full presentation because the Deputy is being somewhat disingenuous. She attacked the rent reforms. By the way the whole reform of that was advised in the first instance by the Housing Commission and she urged us to implement its recommendations. That is the first point, and it did need to be reformed and the reforms have added protection for tenants. One of the outcomes of that is, in terms of those who are objecting to the six years, that some landlords opted out but there is always a churn in terms of tenancies, landlords and so on and there is a higher number, over 13,000-----”
“The point I am making is that the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is meeting with the director general and the chairman of RTÉ today. I believe they are making a sincere effort to try to get this reorganised. There has been some progress made but what has happened is unacceptable. What is more important is that there is consistency across the board in RTÉ in terms of how people are treated from a human resources point of view and that rights and conditions apply to everybody in RTÉ and not just some.”
“The Minister has brought through the legislation that will bring RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which is a stronger regime of public accountability for RTÉ than has been the case hitherto. There has always been sensitivity in the relationship between the political system and RTÉ. In the midst of all the turmoil and noise, we need to keep an eye on that too. It will go before the public accounts committee. Deputy Carthy can laugh away because it would be of no concern to him.”
“Táimid den tuairim go gcaithfidh RTÉ sin a dhéanamh agus táim muiníneach as an Aire go bhfuil seisean go láidir den tuairim sin chomh maith.”
“I fully agree with that, and that is what the Minister is doing. It is going to the C and AG, and it will be before the public accounts committee. It took some time to get through the Houses, but the Minister is doing that. It took some time because of you guys, rightly. I have no issue with pre-legislative scrutiny, but you cannot blame the Minister for delays with pre-legislative scrutiny. They cannot do that. They cannot get away with that kind of stuff and I am not going to let them get away with it. An rud is tábhachtaí ná go mbeidh soiléiriú ann maidir le RTÉ ar chúrsaí pá, costais, caighdeáin, agus coinníollacha a bhaineann leis sin, agus go bhfuil cothrom na Féinne á tabhairt do gach éinne atá ag obair laistigh de RTÉ. Tá sé sin ríthábhachtach.”
“These are options that politics can take. We can decide to abandon public service broadcasting altogether and just have a free for all. I do not agree with that but just saying that when Deputy McDonald has a go at the €700 million, there are choices facing the Government. You either cut it down, undermine it, let it go to waste or let it go private. What is the Deputy saying? Is she saying the €700 million should not have gone into it?”
“-----in terms of his role. There may be others. What this speaks to is a lack of structure in terms of how people are recruited, designated and treated from a human resource point of view in RTÉ. The wider issue that the bonnet needs to be lifted on is whether there is consistency across the organisation in respect of the treatment of people and the treatment of employees of the company. There is a real disparity in terms of how some are treated compared to how others have been treated, and this is a problem for RTÉ that needs to be sorted out. There needs to be far more transparency than we have experienced in recent years in terms of this issue. In terms of the funding issue, collectively, as an Oireachtas, we need to make up our mind on whether or not we want public service broadcasting and a national broadcaster.”
“That is the kind of dishonesty that characterises every one of her presentations here in recent times on Leaders' Questions. She does not really care about the truth any more. Whenever something breaks out, let us have a go at the Government and let us blame the Government and that is it. It is a simple formula and that is what Deputy McDonald is about. I do not believe the current management is laissez-faire . I do think it wants to get to grips with this. That is my assessment, and I think the board does as well. Yes, everybody knew Derek Mooney was a presenter and not a producer. Deputy McDonald said the dogs on the street knew it but I would say that the dogs in the wild knew it-----”
“The Oireachtas pre-legislative scrutiny took a considerable length of time. Deputy McDonald's party and members were involved in this legitimately. Please do not come in here, after taking time on pre-legislative scrutiny, and then say the Minister is acting in slow motion.”
“I know she has to do this for electoral reasons and politics and to play the game but there is a serious undercurrent here, and coming from the Sinn Féin Party it will create its own challenges in good time and I want to put that on the record. I would say what has happened is unacceptable. The Minister has had a meeting, or will meet, the director general today. Deputy McDonald made a comment on the legislation. The Minister brought it before Cabinet today. Again, she implied that he was at fault for the delay in bringing the legislation. That is not true.”
“I do not agree with Deputy McDonald's assertions once again. No matter what any State agency does, or what anybody out there does, she will blame the Government. That is her standard practice. The Government is at fault for everything. Her latest assertion is that the Government must now run RTÉ. Just think about that and reflect on it. Is that what Deputy McDonald is actually saying, that politicians should go in there and run the national public service broadcaster? That is what she is saying.”
“When I was Lord Mayor of Cork, one of the great privileges I had was to give a half day and give the homework off. Unfortunately, the Department of education came down on that practice after I left my job as Lord Mayor of Cork. As the Minister for education, I repeated the act. To be more serious, education and learning have evolved a lot. We know that children learn more through play in many instances than just through formal academic rigor. We do not want to dictate to schools across the length and breadth of the country but we think schools, particularly at primary level, should factor that into curriculum development. The teacher in me says that doing the odd bit of homework reinforces the message and makes sure that students have picked up and absorbed what was taught in the class.”
“I thank Deputy O’Meara for raising this issue. Clearly, he has assembled a formidable Tipperary team for that public information meeting that will involve both Tipperary and north Kilkenny. I anticipate it will be this year. Hopefully, we will be in a position to open for applications in the next month or two. It is a vital scheme that reaches into communities. Across the length and breadth of the country, we can see the impact of this scheme, with first-class sporting facilities in communities and clubs from all different codes. It is important that we can facilitate the applications again this year.”
“There are issues we have to take on board in terms of the nature of these professions and the work that is involved. We have come a long way from 55 to 62. That simply has to be acknowledged. It is and will have an impact on the Defence Forces and the Garda. While I did not catch his name, I appreciate the public service the gentleman-----”
“We should acknowledge that we have made a lot of progress on this. In the previous Government, we went from 55 to 62 across all the uniform grades. That was significant. We will keep all of this under review. I cannot make any specific commitment to go to 65 today or anything like that.”
“I agree with what the Deputy has said. The use of that language is deliberately demeaning to undermine what is an important initiative. It is not a silver bullet in and of itself but we have many different people looking for different types of accommodation in the country. This provides a further option. As the Deputy said, we are looking at buildings and modular units that are quite modern in terms of their configuration and so on. People have used the term "sheds" and all that for naked political reasons as opposed to any informed assessment of what is happening and what potentially will happen. I will ask the Minister and Minister of State to talk to the Deputy again but my understanding is that there has to be a degree of screening in terms of the various environmental aspects to this, planning and so forth.”
“I thank the Deputy again for raising this. On the last occasion, I said to him that sometimes we have to be patient but I accept that 24 years is a long time. Often, it depends. The IDA will bring people to various sites. Ultimately, it is up to companies to decide the location of any particular site. I will engage with the IDA to see whether it has any different plans for the site. It would be a big boost to Fermoy if we could attract a foreign direct investment, FDI, company to that particular site. It would make a significant difference to the economy of Fermoy. That is the balance. It could be used for something else, such as indigenous enterprise and so on, but that would cut off the prospect of FDI.”
“I am reading some stuff on the by-election in Dublin Central that is quite appalling. Stuff just appears online irrespective of the candidate, and it is just appalling that this kind of stuff can happen. We need to collectively address it.”
“I join with the Deputy in condemning those racists attacks on the Dublin Rose who has been selected. It is absolutely appalling and there should be no tolerance of such racist abuse of any person in Ireland, or anywhere for that matter. Again, all of us in the House need to reflect on this. I recall in the last Dáil that there was legislation on hate speech, which eventually ran into a roadblock politically because others suggested that it undermined free speech and so on. To be honest, the Dáil collectively shied away from some aspects of that. We did bring in the additional penalties for criminal convictions and so on. At least it was done in terms of assaults and that. However, there is a huge issue, and the Deputy is correct in terms of the monetisation of this.”
“First, I have not read that article in The Currency . I will read it before commenting. Second, it does not justify a full trade boycott with Israel because we need to work out what the implications of that would be for Irish jobs and workers in particular. The Government favours a suspension of the European Union-Israel trade association agreement, which at the moment gives preferential tariffs to Israel. A full-on boycott and divestment could have serious implications for Irish jobs and companies as well. We need to just figure that out so that people can make informed decisions and not make them on the fly.”
“There are also the questions of alternative premises for quite a number of the organisations involved and of working with State agencies. There are a lot of people working there but there are also disability services. It is quite shocking and devastating what has happened to the people. Every effort will be made to try to help those in distress at the moment.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, and I appreciate his genuine commitment to this. I saw him there yesterday and I know the Ministers of State, Deputies Butler and Cummins, and all the public representatives in Waterford are obviously shocked at the impact of this fire, which has been terrible. The dislocation of so many groups and people has equally been very profound. It is very serious. The CEO was in touch with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in terms of the fund idea. The Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, was down yesterday. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has also been there. We are working through a humanitarian approach. We are looking to pull that proposal together with a view to seeing if we can progress it as an option.”
“There have been some good planning decisions in Galway that have come through An Coimisiún Pleanála with the ring road and, indeed, the port and other developments as well.”
“I thank the Deputy, but just before I respond, I want to welcome the group from Laois, Mountmellick and Portarlington who are in the Public Gallery, accompanied by Deputy Fleming. They are very welcome to Leinster House. In terms of the train service from Athenry and the budgetary situation, Deputy Dolan has spoken to me about that as well. We are engaging with the Minister for Transport. That service is working and has worked very effectively. In terms of additional services, there has been substantial expansion of public transport and rail services, but we do need more. We are continuing, through the national development plan, to provide for the expansion of public transport more generally and particularly with a focus on Galway.”
“That is a huge increase. That is because of the help to buy scheme, the first home scheme, and the derelict and vacant housing grant schemes, which are helping first-time buyers. The costs are too high but the only answer is supply. We need more and more supply. We need fewer people and political parties objecting to housing to make sure that we have sufficient housing to provide for the younger people in the country. That is the target and objective of Government across social, affordable, and private housing.”
“I do not accept the Deputy's proposition at all but the key point is that people who are looking for housing is the top priority of this Government and indeed the previous one. It is interesting that our supports for first-time buyers are having an impact. The percentage of first-time buyers has been steadily increasing from 26% of all household buyers in 2015 to 40% in 2026.”
“A strategic environmental assessment and public consultation will be carried out in line with EU requirements. That is currently under way.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Planning and Development Act 2024 replaces the ministerial guidelines with national planning statements. The existing section 28 guidelines, including the 2006 wind energy guidelines, remain in force until replaced. The Department of Climate, Communications and the Environment, as the lead policy Department for renewable energy, supports the development of the national planning statement. That will include environmental reporting, public consultation, EU obligations, and matters such as setback distances, noise and shadow flicker. A focused review of the wind energy development guidelines is informing the new national planning statement. That national planning statement will address noise, setback distances, shadow flicker, community obligations and dividends, and grid connections.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this and for his strong advocacy for the fastest-growing town in Kildare and the country. Kildare is growing apace. I will talk to the Minister about the 115 bus service and the role for Dublin Bus more broadly with regard to extending its remit, and of course the NTA, which oversees the whole route development programme.”
“We have included a recent €750 million package to support its operation with regard to the increased fuel costs. I will alert the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to Deputy Collins's continued interest in Local Link.”