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 question relates to my attendance at the meeting of the coalition of the willing. It is striking that quite a number of Members just avoided any reference to my attendance at that meeting, which is illustrative, and not really good enough. If specific questions are tabled, we should concentrate on those during Taoiseach's Questions because we have the Order of Business for half an hour or 40 minutes on general issues like ETBs, education, health or whatever. We also have the Leaders' Questions for a range of other issues. Deputy Ó Murchú referred to the restrictions on the sale of Russian oil. We were seeking to impose a further round of sanctions last week. Hungary is objecting. The Hungarian position is outrageous in terms of both stopping any new round of sanctions and the €90 billion package for Ukraine.”
“That means strong, credible guarantees that ensure Ukraine can defend itself going forward to avoid a repetition of the past. Ireland will continue to support these efforts as part of the European Union and through participation in the coalition of the willing.”
“Ireland continues to consider opportunities to bolster Ukraine’s energy security. Work will continue within the coalition to ensure that, in the event of a peace agreement, Ukraine has the security guarantees it needs. Such measures would be in accordance with respective legal and constitutional arrangements of participating countries. Ireland' s consistent position has been that it is for the Government and people of Ukraine to determine their future and to agree to the terms of any peace agreement. It is crucial that it is a just and lasting peace, respecting the principles of the UN Charter. The fundamental principle that borders cannot be changed by force must be upheld. Any agreement must also protect Ukraine and Europe’s security.”
“I reiterated Ireland’s strong support for Ukraine’s path towards EU membership and said that the accession negotiations should be accelerated, emphasising that EU membership is an important security guarantee for Ukraine and fulfils the objectives of the vast majority of the Ukrainian people. I joined other leaders in strongly condemning the continued attacks on civilians and critical energy infrastructure. These attacks have left millions without electricity during the harsh winter months and have forced Ukraine to declare a state of emergency in the energy sector. Over the past six months, Ireland has contributed €27 million to provide support for Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure and to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis inflicted by Russia’s aggression.”
“The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of negotiations involving the US, Russia and Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy offered us Ukraine’s perspective on progress. During the meeting, we discussed how the coalition of the willing can support these efforts to secure peace, and how the coalition can ensure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position in those talks. I conveyed Ireland’s strong commitment to supporting efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine, as I did directly to President Zelenskyy during his visit to Ireland last December. I also underlined Ireland’s consistent position that it is for the people and Government of Ukraine to determine their future and to agree to the terms of any peace agreement.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together. On 24 February, I attended an online meeting of the coalition of the willing to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The meeting was co-chaired by British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and was joined also by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, as well as other leaders, some of whom were attending commemoration events in Kyiv. The meeting reaffirmed the coalition’s resolve to continue to support Ukraine until a peace agreement is achieved, including protecting and repairing its energy infrastructure, and through increasing pressure on Russia to encourage it to engage in meaningful negotiation through imposing further sanctions and disrupting its shadow fleet.”
“I will talk to the Minister about it. What the Deputy has said sometimes illustrates - I will not say the futility of asking parliamentary questions, but you do tend to get standard replies from time to time. That was last February. The Minister has a huge capital budget. I am not saying capital is required here. I will talk to the Minister about this. I would be favourably disposed to it. Anything that can accelerate people getting familiar with the utilisation of renewables and solar is good. One of the complaints about the existing grant schemes we have is their inaccessibility to people on low incomes, for example. I will talk to the Minister about this.”
“There has been a HSE review of the insourcing programme and practice. There has been huge investment since 2025. The Minister undertook a detailed survey of all insourcing activities within the HSE in light of concerns about an over-reliance in the system on supplementary capacity. That report was submitted and published by the Minister in July of last year. That led to a number of measures being taken, stricter control measures, to reduce reliance on inappropriate third-party insourcing while maintaining all options for the provision of care to patients. Those controls are now in place to restrict the use of third-party insourcing. We are moving away from our dependence on the model to fully use the internal under-utilised capacity we have within our core health service.”
“I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. He is fairly innovative when it comes to projects in Fingal. I will see what can be done. I take the Deputy's point. The Minister of State with responsibility for sport is here. We will see what can be done in respect of the roof on the swimming pool in Portmarnock.”
“-----next to City Hall, and the craic was good. I passionately believe in swimming opportunities for young people and children in particular to learn how to swim, as Deputy Smith says, because water safety is essential and it can be a very joyous and healthy discipline for the rest of your life.”
“I do not have the background to this. I learned to swim in the sea, actually, down in west Cork, or maybe Robert's Cove or somewhere like that, but we had a baths long ago. We used to call it the baths, the swimming pool-----”
“There is a varying continuum of need, so some will need less support, some will need substantive supports and so forth. This is an issue I am seized of. It is a very serious issue for the families concerned and society more generally.”
“I am responding to the issue. I met with the Before We Die group some weeks ago. This is on the agenda of the next Cabinet subcommittee on disability. I have spoken to the Minister for housing, the Minister for disability and the Minister for Health. What is needed here is a concerted, collective approach. I acknowledge that the current situation is not sustainable or satisfactory and creates undue pressure on parents, particularly parents of citizens and people who are of senior age and who need independence. The idea that some of the section 39 organisations would just say, "Go and apply to the local authority, and it's up to yourself", is not on, and I have made that very clear to the system. The bottom line is that we need people joined up together and we need to have supports if someone gets housing.”
“I am sorry, no, I am not responsible for every individual Minister's decision-making. It is a well-known practice in the Dáil and the Oireachtas that questions go to the Minister who is accountable to the House in respect of the matter. Of course, I was aware of the decision, and the Minister would have informed me very early on, along with the Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Seán Canney, and other Ministers as to what, overall, is a positive decision, given the congestion in UHL. Now there is a pathway forward in terms of health facilities in Limerick and in the mid-west, to be complemented by further services for Ennis and Nenagh. It is a positive development overall. The Deputy is obviously against it but-----”
“The Minister has sought submissions from local authorities across the length and breadth of the country in respect of damage done in recent storms and flooding that occurred. The Minister is assessing those submissions now with a view to allocations to try to help the county councils concerned.”
“Through front-loading solar energy and insulation, we will continue to do everything we can to support businesses and households in terms of any energy efficiency measures they can take to help in the short term.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The haulage industry is a key industry whose role in our modern economy has been underestimated in terms of getting goods from ports to shelves and from manufacturing facilities to the ships for our export markets. I am very interested in making sure that we have a sustainable haulage industry into the future. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has engaged with the industry over the last number of weeks and today's measures reflect part of that engagement and will provide some ease of the pressure. I acknowledge the pressures on the industry are still very significant. More generally, the Deputy is correct about the need to drive forward with the retrofitting programme and energy efficiency programmes.”
“Again, I do not have the full background to the case here. Obviously, the Government has funded the building very well. The hot school meals programme has been rolled out very quickly and effectively on many fronts. There is a lot of debate around improving nutrition. However, fundamentally over the last three years, it has been rolled out at considerable pace across the length and breadth of the country. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, in respect of the issue the Deputy has raised. The Departments of education and Social Protection can reflect on whether there is flexibility in how the allocation, which every school gets, is spent and I will come back to the Deputy.”
“I do not have the background to the specific case. Core funding now exceeds €436 million, up 62% since 2022, with 93%, or 4,590, of providers signed up, which keeps fees at 2021 levels. I will speak to the Minister on this. It is a matter that is kept under constant review. As the Deputy said, we do not want to lose anybody from the core funding framework. People may feel they can do better outside it, but it is not great for parents in terms of costs when that happens. I will let the Minister know that the Deputy raised this. We keep it under constant review to make sure it is accessible and that it makes sense for people to be participants in the core funding programme. The increase in numbers in the system over the past four years has been pretty impressive.”
“There are issues with the importation of beef; that will be over a ten-year period. However, mechanisms have been put in place to deal with an unacceptable impact on markets where the EU can intervene. The figure is much less than what the Australian side was seeking. It will be phased in over a ten-year period. It represents about 0.5% of European Union domestic consumption of beef.”
“The Government has welcomed the agreement and will be supporting it at EU level. Ireland's agrifood exports will benefit under the deal through easier access to the large Australian market. We believe this will give us more opportunities to sell our products due to tariff elimination. Tariffs will go down to zero on key EU export products such as cheese over three years. There will be recognition for iconic Irish geographical indications, such as Irish whiskey, Irish cream and poitín. There will be preferential rules of origin for Irish whiskey. Exports of prepared foodstuffs and Irish dairy products, including cheese, will also see tariff reductions. European Union dairy exports to Australia are estimated to have the potential to grow by 48% under the deal.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. I will talk to the Ministers for health and enterprise and others who can have an impact. It is a very serious issue because fake drugs can do real harm to people and damage their health. It is an area that perhaps needs a higher profile focus. I will certainly take away the fact the Deputy has highlighted the issue. I will come back to him with the views of the authority and others.”
“I will check with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education in respect of that report and timelines for its publication. There is forward planning now. We brought forward the date by which parents and students apply for places in our schools. That has happened this year, as the Deputy must be aware. The establishment of a central database has to happen but I acknowledge it is not there yet. There have been substantial capital funding increases for education, particularly special education, which takes up a huge portion of the education capital budget. That provision for special education will continue this year. Special education is growing exponentially in terms of resources, whether they be special needs assistants, teachers or buildings.”
“The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is there to ensure fair play in the marketplace. The Government certainly will be keeping a very watchful eye on this issue. If there is not pass-through, that will have implications for any potential future measures we might take in the energy market itself. We will be keeping a weathervane eye on this in the coming days. I take the Deputy's point that prices went up very quickly and they need to come down once the excise duty change works its way through.”
“If the Deputy banned evictions, she would cause greater churn and a greater loss of landlords. The facts do not bear out what she said. The latest RTB data shows continued growth in quarter 4 of last year with 243,598 tenancies, the highest on record. There were 104,687 private landlords, broadly unchanged year on year. Churn is normal but overall numbers are stable and, actually, rising. A total of 17,342 new tenancies were registered in quarter 4 of 2025. The residential tenancies Act of 2006 ends no-fault evictions, essentially-----”
“The Deputy seems very confused in her presentations on the rental market. On one level, she is complaining about evictions she suggests are caused by recent reforms of the rental market, which were all about protecting tenants and the six-year term. Which is it?”
“The level of domestic and gender-based violence is a tremendous stain on our society. There has been a step change in Government responses in the past number of years. Funding is now at about €80 million under the last budget. The establishment of Cuan has been an important step change in terms of dedicated, focused provision of services and the representation of the zero-tolerance strategy. There has been a €12 million increase year on year so the financial resources have been significantly step-changed in respect of this issue. The acceleration of additional refuge spaces and safe accommodation is an important aspect of that. The target is to provide about 282 safe spaces by the end of 2026.”
“By the way, I never laugh at anything the Deputy proposes or suggests. He has a good old turn of phrase where he says he was laughed out the window, or he was laughed out of something three or four years ago. The point is that we have had a very poor record historically on fossil fuel discovery in this country. We have Kinsale and Corrib. That is about it. Independence in terms of energy in-----”
“On the offshore wind, we held the onshore RESS 5 and the offshore Tonn Nua auctions, which have delivered wind energy projects at competitive prices for consumers. The Department expects the five projects that bid into the offshore one auction to be in construction by 2030, marking a new phase in electricity generation in Ireland. The second offshore auction was the first to be held under the new spatial plan for offshore renewable energy development in the south coast designated maritime area plan and so forth. We are making progress. It is challenging. I have established a clearing house within my Department involving industry, regulators and Departments to drive this forward and accelerate it as quickly as we can. I think it is vital for the future of country's economy in terms of that particular agenda.”
“That improves best outcomes on climate, air and water quality, biodiversity, green agricultural pilots and so on. Deputy Collins would be the very first Deputy coming in if any farmer in west Cork had reduced funding as a result of the carbon tax being removed and he would be singing a different tune if that turned out to be the case.”
“That is very good progress. We have made a lot of progress in the past decade or so and beyond. We have a target of 80% of electricity demand to be made by renewables in the near term and to go to net zero out to 2050. We are a renewable success story. That is the trajectory of travel. We receive more of electricity from onshore wind farms than anyone else in Europe. We are among one of the global leaders in integrating variable renewables onto the electricity grid. That is something that runs contrary to the narrative that the Deputy was representing. Regarding the carbon tax, €175 million of that went to farmers through ACRES. In 2026, €173 million is going to the Department of agriculture for farmers. We have 55,000 farmers in ACRES.”
“I was in the Dáil recently when a Deputy, in one contribution, complained about a gas generation station, a wind farm and a solar farm in one location. I asked the question: “How are we going to turn on the lights?” We do need a societal discussion about this because the bottom line is we are importing a lot of fossil fuel, which is subject to volatility in the markets and to various crises that can occur. The Barryroe oil field has been a long time - long before 2022 - handled by, or dealt with, within the private sector. It never really bore fruit, even prior to any decisions that we took both as a Government or as an Oireachtas in terms of any new fossil fuel developments. The recent 2025 energy in Ireland report showed that about 41.3% of our electricity demand in 2024 was being generated by renewable sources.”
“We do have an energy plan. At the European Council meeting last week, there was a very interesting presentation by President von der Leyen, which went back from the late 1970s through every decade to the present day. The one constant was that every energy crisis was a fossil fuel crisis generated through war and conflict with the most recent being the Russian invasion of Ukraine before this war. The Deputy attacked the wind and solar energy agenda and so on. He is actually creating a scenario where there would be more energy dependence into the future and an energy dependence on fossil fuels, which would be a disaster for the country. If this teaches us anything, it is the necessity to double down on our focus and investment in renewables. There are hard choices to make on this.”
“It is now only March. We need to be cautious, notwithstanding the pressures that are on people and will manifest themselves in other parts of the economy as well if this continues.”
“The working family payment was generally designed with low-income workers in mind. They are now included in the fuel allowance, which I think is a significant targeted measure by the Government, and the correct one. It is a framework that exists already. This package is about €250 million. I am not sure what the Deputy is saying he would take out. I am not clear on his costings, and I would need to get it costed properly by the Department of Social Protection and others in respect of that but we have an alternative suite of measures that cost about €250 million. In the United Kingdom it is £53 million. If the Deputy goes around the European capitals, he will not see a packet as big as this one. As I said earlier, we have to think ahead in terms of other potential challenges that may come our way in respect of this crisis.”
“The extension will be welcomed by all of those families as a targeted measure. It is an instrument or mechanism we have within the Department of Social Protection to enable us to pay people and to give them additional allowances to help them to try to cope with the very large increases that have occurred over the last number of weeks. That will take it out to the end of April, in addition to the reduction in excise on diesel and petrol.”
“What we did for child support payments was the most significant - record increases of €8 per week for children under 12, and €16 per week for children over 12. As part of the child poverty unit in my own Department, with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, we have focused on that child poverty package, which is permanent. Today, DEIS plus was approved by Cabinet. We have taken a series of measures that have worked on the child poverty issue and that will bear dividend in the coming years. Of that I have no doubt, because of our focus on those key areas. The working family payment cohort of people who, up to the last budget were excluded from the fuel allowance, have now been included. That is an extra 50,000 working families. That means about 470,000 families or people overall are now benefiting from the fuel allowance.”
“There are increasing costs in education, in health and in other services, and I am very anxious that we have enough in reserve to protect those also. The easiest thing for us to do would be to announce a €2 billion package today, and people would say that is great, but this is only March. We have to be relatively cautious and responsible, acknowledging that people out there are under a lot of pressure. There is no question about that because of the impact of the war on energy markets and because of the unprecedented nature of the supply shock. That has not yet filtered through, by the way. It has not filtered through globally or to our economy. I would disagree with the Deputy's assessment on the budget.”
“I appreciate the Deputy raising these issues in a constructive light. It is not just the Deputy that has made the comment that the Government has waited for weeks and weeks. We are in a war for three weeks. We need some perspective here. The Government does not have billions and billions to allocate on a monthly basis, which is the implication one could draw from all of the protestations from the Opposition today. We need a bit of reality and flexibility in terms of the fiscal situation and in terms of thinking out to the end of the year and making sure we have enough in reserve to cushion and to make sure we can support people if things get worse. That is a consideration. We also have to protect services.”
“I am sorry; if anything happened the gas connectors linking this country to the United Kingdom, this economy would not survive beyond ten days. That is the reality. That is the advice we received from an energy security perspective. The Opposition has to twist it - not the Deputy personally - but it gets twisted, it gets spun as an anti-climate measure. It is anything but that. It is an energy security and economic security matter.”
“Not everybody in the hospitality sector is on the minimum wage but, nonetheless, it was about protecting jobs in an important sector of our economy. With changing job profiles with AI and everything else, it is particularly important that tourism and hospitality are protected and looked after, and that is what we did in the budget. In terms of LNG, Deputy Bacik referred to energy security, the LNG facility is required from an energy security perspective.”
“-----particularly in the public service, the degree of remote working in quite significant and prevalent now. The Deputy again attacked the reduction of VAT for hospitality. That supports a lot of minimum wage workers in our economy, people the Labour Party should be supporting and defending.”
“They warned that we do not know what is around the corner and therefore have to keep something in reserve in case things deteriorate even further over the next couple of months.”
“Spain and Portugal have a higher level of renewables. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they managed to get a separate agreement from the EU in respect of the structures governing energy prices on the Iberian Peninsula. There was a lot of discussion about that at the EU Council meeting last week. The Commission's assessment is that gas's connection to the defining of pricing levels is not easily broken. That is a challenge for Europe more generally because it is a key determinant of the overall price of energy. The Deputy will know the four component parts. We have acted on one of those four component parts, namely, taxes and levies. The ECB spoke to the EU Council meeting, as did the chair of the Euro Summit, and they recommended, as per IMF advice, targeted, temporary and affordable measures.”
“The focus on the fuel allowance does help with home heating oil, as does the reduction in the NORA levy. It should be remembered that there is a substantial household benefits package of €420 a year for electricity and gas. The supplementary welfare allowance is available for people in real need. The Minister for Social Protection has spoken to community welfare officers and to his Department to make sure they are responsive to anybody in need. We are looking towards the autumn budget and the development of mechanisms to connect what we do on fuel poverty allowances with arrears. We have to focus and work on developing a direct connection so that we can get those arrears down for people. In terms of the renewable story, Ireland has been very fast in recent years. We are probably the fastest growing in terms of renewable energy.”
“I acknowledge that people are under a lot of pressure in terms of the impact of this crisis and the cost of energy as a result of this war. There is no question about that. The Government is limited in how comprehensively it can respond. Governments cannot compensate every single person in society. I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge that. We need a realistic assessment of this and a realistic discussion about it. However, we can try to protect those on the lowest incomes and to protect people in general by providing some supports to reduce the impact of this crisis. The reduction in excise duty does that. It does not address the issue totally, but at least it helps and takes a bit of pressure off people. We fully acknowledge that it does not deal with the scale of the increases in the cost of home heating oil or petrol.”
“You are not leader yet, Deputy. I keep on saying you are not leader of the party; do not be interrupting. The bottom line is that the evidence is there that we looked after the lowest income groups and through the household benefit scheme as well, which was successfully improved as a result of the budget.”
“Deputy McDonald speaks out of both sides of her mouth when it comes to all of that playbook that she just regurgitates every time there is an event or a crisis in the world. We do not take Sinn Féin's approach. Exactly what we are doing here is targeting our measures on the fuel allowance, which would help poorer families and low-income working families withstand the impact of the increases in home heating oil and other energy products. That has been our focus and, indeed, in the budget it was our focus. The ESRI bears out that we had a very strong budget in terms of the low-income deciles.”
“With the greatest respect, the only party of late that has been courting bankers and developers and every sort of corporate financial operation is Sinn Féin, particularly in the United States, where the party has raised a hell of a lot of money from developers and builders. Spare lecturing everybody else about fundraising from developers and bankers and everybody because Sinn Féin has been doing it on a serial basis for many years in the United States, Northern Ireland, the UK and elsewhere.”
“Sinn Féin has two Ministers in charge of this brief in Northern Ireland, and I ask the Deputy to compare their performance with what we are doing here. There is no comparison. There has been poor enough leadership from those in Deputy McDonald's party who are in charge of that operation. From our point of view, these are temporary measures. We do need to retain some degree of flexibility in terms of how this situation unfolds in the coming weeks and months.”