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 29 of 117.
“That is a big problem for the world, but that is the reality of it. In terms of peacekeeping, we should have greater freedom. That is all we are saying. We are not getting involved in any wars.”
“I think we need a small bit of cop on in respect of it. That is my view on it. Deputies may disagree and they are entitled to disagree. Again, we are committed to military neutrality. We are not joining any military alliance. Deputy Murphy is wrong in endeavouring to use the triple lock amendments. I do not believe Russia should have a veto on whether we involve ourselves in a peacekeeping operation or not. I do not believe the United States should have a veto. I do not believe China should have a veto on whether or not we participate on peacekeeping missions. I think the Dáil, the Oireachtas and the Government of the day should, because it is utterly ridiculous otherwise. The problem is that the UN Security Council is paralysed. It is not functioning. It is dysfunctional.”
“There is no US military base in Shannon Airport. It is wrong to characterise it as such. Go and look at what a military base is - structure, logistics and everything. That is not what Shannon Airport is.”
“It is not a military base. If you want to see a military base go to Spain, go to Italy, go to Germany. We need to be accurate with our commentary. This kind of denigration of Shannon Airport will damage Shannon Airport, will damage the economy of Shannon and will damage jobs in Shannon Airport. Charter planes are used to bring soldiers home or whatever.”
“It is extremely important economically that we have these engagements because there is an interdependence between countries all over the world. It is true that there is greater polarisation happening with the growth of both the US and China. It is very important that the US and China get on for world stability. The world is in a very difficult space right now. In terms of Lelia Doolan, who Deputy Bacik raised earlier, I admire her and pay tribute to her commitment to her views and her cause. I do caution Deputies Boyd Barrett and Murphy about this mis-characterisation of Shannon Airport. It is not a military base.”
“Ireland cannot resolve every system in the world. It cannot fix every system. We have to engage and we have to have dialogue. A lot of the dialogue was positive. There are huge issues between Europe and China in respect of manufacturing. Europe feels that there is a lot of excess manufacturing in China that is being dumped in Europe and that the renminbi is devalued and so on. These are ongoing issues. It was interesting that President Xi was anxious that Europe and China would develop a better relationship on trade that would be less susceptible to a ping-pong battle on given sectors, for example, critical rare earth metals and things like that, which could become a choke point for European industry.”
“However, our ambassador indicated to me that he would go down in terms of having an assessment of the situation as best one can given that it is, as Deputy Hayes said, a different model in terms of how it works as a society and as a system. We have expressed very strong concerns. I asked that he be released, even on humanitarian grounds, given his age and so on but there was quite a robust response, to be honest, and they defended it strongly. Our embassy is following that very strongly. We have a consulate general in Hong Kong. We also raised the issue of Tibet. We do that at the UN, in our work with the European Union and so on. In terms of our relationships globally, we have a twin-track approach essentially. That is a values approach, a multilateralism approach and also looking at interests.”
“I thank all the Members for their comments. With respect to Deputy Boyd Barrett and others, in terms of the human rights issues, we do raise them. China has no issue with foreign leaders raising human rights issues. Deputy Martin Daly emphasised the importance of raising them. However, one gets a robust response. They defend their position on the Jimmy Lai case. It was quite a lengthy conversation with the Premier in respect of that case and in respect of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. They invited us to go down, which they do with all ambassadors in particular. It is my understanding that our ambassador was going to go down. Some ask if one can have freedom to move around and so on.”
“My visit was an important opportunity to strengthen our bilateral relations with China, and I hope these will be built on in the coming period.”
“While in Shanghai, I met with Mayor Gong Zheng, discussing economic developments in the region and links between Cork and Shanghai, which recently celebrated 20 years of being twinned. We also explored the potential for further co-operation between Ireland and China in a range of areas, including connectivity and transport. While in China, I also had meetings with state agency clients in the tourism, research and innovation, pharmaceutical, and food and beverages sectors. I attended an education showcase where several partnership agreements between Irish and Chinese higher education institutions were signed. These agreements will expand our education collaboration with China, benefiting both Irish and Chinese students.”
“I also had a bilateral meeting and a working dinner with Premier Li Qiang, during which we discussed ways to improve collaboration between Ireland and China through our membership of multilateral organisations. I stressed the importance of a strong multilateral system to promote peace and security and to ensure a fair global trading environment. We also discussed political, economic and bilateral relations, including exploring the potential for increased collaboration in areas such as education, tourism and culture. In all of my meetings, I raised a number of human rights issues, including Jimmy Lai’s sentencing, the situation of minorities in Xinjiang, and the human rights situation in Tibet. My meeting with the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, was similarly positive.”
“My programme in Beijing included meetings with Chinese President, Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Zhao Leji. In my bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping, we discussed the strong political, economic and cultural relationships between Ireland and China. We discussed EU-China relations, particularly our trade relationship and Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the EU in the second half of this year. We agreed the importance of international rules and open dialogue, as well as constructive and predictable relations on trade. We also discussed global issues and conflicts, including in Ukraine and the Middle East.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together. I travelled to Beijing and Shanghai in early January, the first official visit by a Taoiseach since 2012. While there, I met with key political figures and Chinese leaders in a variety of fields, including business, tourism and education, with the aim of strengthening our political, economic and cultural links. Ireland’s economic and trading relationship with China is informed by our support for accelerating the market diversification agenda as a means to encourage competitiveness and resilience. The latest available data from 2024 shows that Ireland's goods exports to China were valued at €10 billion and goods imports at €11.8 billion. Services exports to China in 2024 are valued at €12.7 billion and services imports €4.7 billion.”
“There had been issues with the administration of ACRES, which is a €1.5 billion scheme. By the way, a lot of the funding from this Government for ACRES comes from the carbon tax. It is 60% funded by the Government and 40% by the European Union Common Agricultural Policy. I would take the Deputy's point. The Minister is doing everything he can to improve and enhance the administrative capacity of ACRES. The scheme that is announced is an important scheme of €100 million in value. There has to be a degree of working out of that both in terms of farmers, usage of fuel - some categories of farming have a higher usage of fuel than others - and then the farm contractors as well. We are fully aware of the need to have a seamless and a proper delivery system in place.”
“There was a cancer consultant who spoke to a friend of mine. The consultant spent a week counselling cancer patients whose appointments for chemotherapy had been postponed. The cancer patients were worried about not getting that appointment, is it going to grow, etc. There needs to be some balance here and we need to have a discussion and some consensus as to what is right and what is wrong.”
“I do not believe the main street of the capital should be shut down for a week. I do not believe motorways should be blockaded for a week because it is an infringement on a basic human right - the right of free movement. It is a very basic right. I have problems with that form of protest. I have articulated that from the very beginning. It is regrettable that others in the House cannot accept that the right to free movement should not be restricted by self-appointed groups. There are legitimate ways to protest - no issue with that - but the idea that you cannot drive on a motorway because of a blockade is a terrible restriction. I read in the newspaper this morning that a mother of a child with a life-limiting condition had to cancel a hospital appointment in Temple Street because of the blockade and conveys. That is not acceptable.”
“I will talk to the Minister concerned. We are looking at an additional €700 million increase in the current budget of the Department of education. It is largely around increased teacher allocation. That is over and above the budget that was passed only in October last. School transport costs will increase very substantially because the numbers are increasing all of the time but I will talk to the Minister. I will talk specifically about that issue of the distance threshold for the concessionary applicant and ask the Minister to engage with the Deputy on it. I will talk to her as well.”
“No. The bulk of the last measure is for the general reduction of excise on diesel and petrol, which will impact on everybody. That is far greater than the €100 million package for agriculture and €120 million for transport. By the way, transport is the lifeblood of everybody. We are not doing haulage for the sake of hauliers alone. We are doing it because we want to get goods and services across the country. We want to put stuff on supermarket shelves. We want to export goods that are produced by workers. It is a bit inaccurate, to be polite, to do these simplistic calculations. Food production is very important for the economy. Both food and production and the haulage industry are engines for all of us to keep our economy going and workers going to work and so on like that.”
“I am sympathetic to an increase in the threshold because there is a cohort of people working whose income limits are not high enough to sustain a mortgage or cannot get a mortgage and who would like the opportunity to access social housing. We need to try to seek ways to accommodate people in that cohort. I will talk to the Minister about that. We have an open view on it.”
“There are special classes and so on. We have a very large school expansion programme on the way. Huge funding has been allocated to it. I will alert the Minister to the fact the Deputy raised it here this morning.”
“To be fair, the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary, alerted all of us to the ferry companies operating to the islands when we were discussing the package at the weekend. It will be covered under the transport package. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will ensure the ferry companies operating to the islands are covered. I appreciate the Deputy raising the question because it is an important one and Government was very happy to be in a position to do that. It is an important form of connectivity to our islands, which are a treasured part of our heritage, but also people need these ferries as their lifeblood.”
“The issue then from a funding and policy position is to get it funded once we get through stage 2A to stage 2B. That is an issue that the Government is considering more generally in respect of school accommodation. A number of projects have been sanctioned, but there is a big-----”
“First of all, I thank the Deputy for her long-standing advocacy and work on this project. It is a large-scale project involving both refurbishment and extension of Boyne Community College. It is actively progressing through stage 2A, with work ongoing. As the Deputy knows, stage 2A involves a design team, developing designs, full cost planning of the campus project, and preparing documentation to facilitate the lodging of statutory approval applications to Meath County Council as part of stage 2B. There are complexities on the site in terms of design. Work is ongoing to bring this stage to a conclusion as soon as possible. The Deputy is correct that significant modular accommodation has already been provided to the school. The next step is obviously to complete this stage 2A process.”
“----- provide measures, as we did in the budget, to try to cushion, first of all, low-income groups. We felt we had to target prices there. The child support payments and so on were significantly increased, and we will in the forthcoming budget have a very strong focus on the cost of living. We will try to do it in an embedded way, not as just a one-off, but we will examine all options. The Deputy mentioned third level colleges.”
“The Deputy described it as 10 cent. It is 32 cent. If we can have factual analysis, that would be fine. If we did not do it, petrol prices would be 32 cent higher now. Sinn Féin has voted against reductions twice now. The key is that we have to-----”
“First of all, it is 32 cent on diesel that the Government has reduced prices by, and 27 cent on petrol. If the fuel package scheme is taken along with the green diesel reduction, you are up to 20-plus-----”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is interesting that more and more people now want to continue their careers into their 60s. That is a positive story about lifespan. We are living more healthily with a better quality of life. As the Deputy is aware, the legislation allowed it to 62 years. He is ahead. He has all the detail. As he said, 112 gardaí have availed of the opportunity to continue working since the September 2024 increase to the mandatory age of retirement from 60 to 62. The Garda Commissioner may, with the Minister's consent, go beyond that age of 62 for retirement. To date, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, has already consented to a number of such requests from the Commissioner and will continue to do so when requested. However, I will talk to the Minister. What the Deputy is saying is a good idea.”
“First of all, I introduced SouthDoc to west Cork, so I am a great believer in SouthDoc and that whole model. I thank Dr. Fiona O'Reilly for the work that she is doing. We are not responsible here in the Dáil for every management decision at local level or in the various co-ops. This is the first time that the Deputy has brought this to my attention. The Minister is here as well and she will follow up on the case. We should avoid language like "bully boy tactics" because the Deputy is impugning the character of people in management in a given organisation. It is not the kind of language-----”
“We write the cheque, but when it comes to health and safety and the protection of children, there are balances. The buck stops with the company, if we are honest. I hope that this initial breakthrough, whereby up to eight children can be driven by people up to 72 years of age, will be expanded. Perhaps we will learn lessons from this and see how it works, with a view to being in a position to expand it.”
“I advocated strongly with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, although it was the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who responded. This is a matter for CIÉ and Bus Éireann. They have responsibilities too, and the board has responsibilities.”
“That will be key because it would mean regular interaction for children with particularly severe needs on a regular basis with speech and language therapists.”
“We are doing a number of things. We are recruiting more therapists. We are changing the system. There were too many therapists involved in the assessment of need process and not enough in the provision of therapy services. We are also creating a new school-based therapy service, starting with special schools. There will be speech and language therapists and occupational therapists in the special schools and we will extend that into the mainstream as we progress. The Minister for education received funding this year from the Government with a view to implementing in-school therapy services in our special schools and we hope that the first phase of that will conclude in the next school year. We are committed to doing that and to building it up.”
“I have the greatest of respect for her, given her views, commitment and perseverance. It was an extraordinary journey to make in the context of her views on Shannon Airport. However, we need to be clear that Shannon Airport is not a US military base. Spain and Italy have US military bases, but Ireland does not. We need to be very careful that we do not mischaracterise Shannon Airport. That would damage the airport. I have concerns in that regard. Throughout the war in Gaza, there have been attempts to mischaracterise Shannon Airport as some sort of military base. It had no role, good, bad or indifferent, in respect of Gaza, nor does it have a role in respect of the war between the US, Israel and Iran.”
“Some 420 new special classes have been sanctioned. There will be more. Our objective is obviously that every child will have access to an appropriate school place. There has been exponential growth in the past two years, and the decision by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to extend the deadline has resulted in applications from a higher number of children than was anticipated. We are now working flat out to meet that additional demand, which is far above what applied, for example, last year.”
“As I said, our objective was never to impact on domestic or, indeed, smaller operations involved in peat extraction. The funding for just transition was designed to try to support people who had lost out with the closure of power stations of an older hue, namely peat-fired stations and so on. I will engage with the Minister. I will ask him to perhaps meet the Deputy and see where we can take the issue from that perspective. Notwithstanding all the various policy directions that people have moved in, the Deputy is saying that practicality or pragmatism are in order here. I will engage with the Minister and ask him to engage with the Deputy.”
“I will have to engage with the Ministers concerned in light of the points the Deputy has raised and I will try to get a more updated position for her in terms of the detail of the situation.”
“I believe we are on the cusp, hopefully, of something significant in Offaly and Laois and the midlands, in particular, around a new form of energy, new types of initiatives and new types of investments that can create jobs in the area. Just as we set up Bord na Móna decades ago when the State needed employment in the midlands, it is our objective that we now reposition Bord na Móna and turn its land and its assets into opportunities for economic development. I have been at a number of investments around the energy field in the area, Shannonbridge on the last occasion, which was quite exciting and interesting. Just transition is there, then, to try to help people who are impacted by the change. I acknowledge that.”
“I appreciate the Deputy's concern on the issue and thank her for raising it. As she knows, there has been a long-standing policy in terms of peat extraction because of the impacts it has in terms of both biodiversity and climate perspective. In the last iteration of this policy in the previous Government, my understanding was that small and turbary rights domestic users of turf would not in any way be impacted. It is still my view that they are not impacted. I think the Deputy is talking about smaller commercial extractors, or what she would describe as small, which would be 30 ha. That is not quite small. The trajectory of travel has been trying to wean ourselves off commercial extraction of peat. As I said earlier, Bord na Móna has transformed its operations very effectively.”
“I put it to the Deputy, however, given his capacity for campaigning for any group that develops an opposition to something, if a nuclear facility was proposed for Cork North-Central, I am not so sure what side of the coin he would be on.”
“There are challenges, yes. That is why we have to invest in storage as well. That is a technology that is developing fast as well. I was at a recent investment in the midlands in Offaly. I believe Offaly and Laois can become a real powerhouse for energy into the future with a lot of industrial development alongside of it. That investment was from a Korean company partnering with an Irish company in terms of storage. On the integration of renewables into the grid, we have a good record in that respect in this country. We need to keep striving to do more of that. There are other forms like anaerobic digestion.”
“I see solar as a very significant growth area. Solar has grown exponentially over the last two to three years in terms of rooftops and so on, but a lot of companies are using solar, which is reducing their dependence on imported fossil fuels. In companies like Eli Lilly in Kinsale, for example, 25% of its energy is powered by a solar farm in the environments of the factory. There is rooftop solar in PepsiCo in Carrigaline. Many other companies are moving in that direction. I suggest the direction of travel has to be in the renewables area. I do believe in climate change. I know a lot of people do not; I do. It is interesting. I take the Deputy's point about nuclear-----”
“There is potentially strong European funding for greater interconnection and grid connection across Europe. That is a key strategy of the European Union. The reason our Anglo-Irish summits are so important is because we have a very strong economic relationship but we also have a strong energy relationship. We have the gas interconnectors with the United Kingdom. We are exploring with the UK further combined work in terms of offshore wind in particular and how we can complement supply chains in the context of the generation of energy through offshore wind. In terms of nuclear, again, the investment in nuclear is enormous. We are putting about €18 billion into the grid over the next five years' investment to both absorb additional demand and also to further integrate renewables into the grid expertly, which we do very well as a country.”
“Ireland will continue to produce its own energy, but it will be in renewables overwhelmingly. We have a very poor record in terms of oil and gas exploration over the decades. Kinsale gas was first brought onshore in the 1970s, and we have had Corrib. Barryroe never showed any prospects. Barryroe could have been exploited if it had the prospects which Deputy O'Flynn said it had decades before any legislative prohibition on oil and gas exploration. We are overly dependent on imported fossil fuels. I accept that. There needs to be a strong grid connection with Europe and the UK. The interconnection with France will be a significant milestone. I hope it will come on stream next year. I met the Spanish Prime Minister recently, and we agreed that we would explore a grid connection between Spain and Ireland.”
“That is what we are committed to doing; just as we significantly increased the thresholds around the carer's allowance, which was a substantial measure in the budget, and just as we put an extra €500 million into disability to improve services for people with disabilities.”
“There is very strong potential in solar. We are supporting ordinary people in terms of the installation of solar panels on their roofs. We created a retrofitting industry in the past five years in this country through successive investments and commitments, and that remains. On the cost of disability, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is working in consultation with stakeholder groups, to have, once and for all, a proper programme and provision in respect of a cost-of-disability payment. It is not simple, and it is better that we do it systemically and embed it in the budgets of the future.”
“The vast majority of those involved are reasonable, decent people who, correctly, were highlighting and identifying fuel protests, but it is disturbing. I accept fully that the Opposition wants the Government to get a kicking. I do not expect the Deputy to defend the Government. That is accepted. However, it is disturbing that she does not have the courage of her convictions in calling out that. There is an element of people out there - not even in politics but in communities - who are afraid to say that and who feel intimidated to articulate it. That is, unfortunately, where we are.”
“That is a reasonable point to make, and I should not be condemned for making it. I am not condemning anyone other than saying protest absolutely. It is important we have protest. It is important that we have people advocating and agitating for change in society. I believe passionately in that, but I also believe in human rights for people. I received an email earlier in terms of people belonging to a particular group who said they had to leave the protest at Whitegate because they could not believe what happened. A lot went on that no one here is prepared to call out. I refer to lorry drivers being intimidated, a GAA club being targeted online because buses were parking there and the bus company involved being targeted and intimidated. These are elements.”
“Last Sunday was Deputy Cairns's first speech, and that is fine. I am just making the point. I accept fully the point on more investment in solar. We have invested a lot in solar, and we will do more. There is a €750 million package on top of the budget. We have a further winter to go. We do not know where the war is going to go, what the trajectory will be or what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. There are two dimensions to this. One is supply, which is critical. That is why I could not understand the blockade of an oil refinery and why we could not get consensus. That makes no sense, because it leads to a scarcity of fuel and to more prices going up. Surely we can all agree that this is not the correct way to protest because you damage jobs and the economy.”
“The Government, before any blockade, was in discussions with the Irish Road Haulage Association, the IFA and farm contractors. In fact, we had introduced a €250 million package three or four weeks ago in the House. As I said earlier, we have been introducing cost-of-living packages on an ongoing basis. The budget had some significant measures, including the DEIS plus scheme, for example, to help low-income families in particular, the fuel allowance and so on. Everybody accepts that people are under enormous pressure - everybody in the House does - because of global crises. The war in particular has exacerbated matters and prices have shot up. That has really caused concern. I do not think the Social Democrats predicted what happened last week. They said very little last week at all, which is fair enough. They said nothing.”
“I set up a clearing house from my Department to try to remove barriers and obstacles to the development of offshore wind because-----”