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 Deputy cannot have it both ways. We did establish the tribunal. That was a commitment a previous Government and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave. The tribunal was established in good faith. People always have the entitlement to take their case through the courts if they so wish, but that tribunal, introduced by the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, at the time, had a very broad framework in how it was established and the jurisdiction it had and so forth. In our view, it would potentially have been an easier route to go through but people are entitled to take decisions in respect of how they pursue this.”
“I have been very clear that the action taken is not in accordance with a UN mandate. I have been equally clear about the powerlessness and paralysis of the international rules-based order as it is via the UN Security Council. I am also very conscious that for years the Deputy has been very silent in terms of Iranian atrocities.”
“I did not interrupt the Deputy. Do not be so morally condescending, which is her wont. I have as much concern for people as she has but her tone is always one of condescension on these matters. I have spoken to survivors. I was about to say that I would have preferred if the city council had acquired Bessborough, which should have happened many years ago, for amenity purposes, and recreation-----”
“The Deputy makes all sorts of accusations against the Government, which are unfounded. She claims the moral high ground on everything. I have met with survivors from Bessborough and many did not want the forensic exhumation or examination of the site. They want a memorial and they want it to be respected. My own view is that it would have been far more preferable if-----”
“-----could not stay as they were and that we needed to reform them. We bought in the Housing Agency to come up with proposals. It did so and we have taken the decisions to reform. The Deputy will always sit on the fence on this one because electorally nothing else will suit her or suffice. That is the truth.”
“The new laws provide far greater and stronger protection to tenants than the old system did and Deputy Bacik was the very person who alleged that we ignored the Housing Commission. The Housing Commission said that the rent protection zones, RPZs-----”
“It is a matter of very serious concern that a landlord would behave in this manner. The reports were raised over the weekend with regard to the serving of 36 notices of termination by that landlord. The Minister, Deputy Browne, asked the Residential Tenancies Board to engage with the affected tenants and with Wexford County Council to ensure the impacted tenants' rights are protected. He has also been in touch with Wexford County Council to be supportive of those tenants. I have not seen the report back from the RTB yet. I will work with the Minister for housing to get access to that report to see where the situation now lies.”
“-----and we have extended that out to 2030. As I said, we have extended fuel allowance to 26% of the population. As I said, as this situation unfolds, we will keep this under review. We have always responded to people’s needs, as we did during the Ukrainian war crisis. We have to do so in a sustainable basis. That is our commitment - we will do it on a sustainable basis.”
“We do accept, without question, there is pressure on people and there potentially might be even greater pressure as a result of this crisis but we will look at that in the round in terms of how we can support people more generally regarding supports. We will keep that under review as it unfolds. That is a more effective way of dealing with this and helping to support people. In the budget, prior to the outbreak of war, we supported those most in need and we targeted the resources to working families on low incomes and those on social protection as opposed to a universal approach.”
“Retrofitting helps people to reduce their bills on a sustainable basis into the future. Third, that would be pulling the rug from under farmers who will benefit this year to the tune of €173 million from the carbon tax revenue in the form of agri-environmental schemes in terms of the ACRES programme. I argued for a carbon tax at the beginning of the 2020 Government on the basis that it would provide us with funding to enable change to happen. There is no way you could fund the retrofit programme without a dedicated ring-fenced budget. There is no way you could do that on a sustainable basis. We have created an industry and a lot of opportunities for workers and new companies in retrofitting. Does the Deputy want to take all that away over night and take away that clarity and certainty of landscape that is out there until 2030 and beyond?”
“On the carbon tax, the bottom line is that every cent of that carbon tax is given back to people in terms of the fuel allowance and, in particular, the expansion of the fuel allowance to cover more people, including the working family payment cohort, with 50,000 people on top of all those on social protection. The Deputy is now saying let us pull the rug from under the fuel poverty initiatives we have created and from under the retrofit industry-----”
“In terms of the overall energy situation, the Deputy is correct in saying that there is no necessity for home heating oil to increase, given that many people will have had that oil in stock and, indeed, much of that oil comes via Britain and Norway, not from the Middle East. That has been the source for quite a long time. The Deputy has conflated a lot of issues. General revenue - all revenues, for example from energy or income tax - goes to fund social services in the State. If we were to eliminate all revenue on fuel, we would have a very significant hole in the sustainable budget, which would take services away from education, health and social protection. We are already being criticised for having too narrow a tax base in terms of fiscal sustainability over the next 20 to 30 years. The Deputy wants to narrow that tax base even more.”
“We will keep an urgent review of the situation as it unfolds because there is the potential of a crisis here, clearly, similar to what happened in terms of the invasion of Ukraine and the consequential energy crisis that occurred there. We will keep this under continual review in terms of how it develops over the next number of days and weeks.”
“In terms of the energy situation, from anecdotal accounts, it would appear there is a degree of price-gouging is going on. In our view, both the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and Competition and Consumer Protection Commission should closely monitor what is happening and people who have complaints should immediately complain to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the CRU. The working family payment will start on Thursday and an extra 50,000 families will benefit from the fuel allowance. Those on the working family payment will benefit from the fuel allowance and will receive back pay to January. That will be a help to that cohort.”
“We are clear that the only sustainable way forward, which will require the world to engage collectively, is a proper international rules-based order that can also deal effectively with rogue and oppressive regimes, which it has failed to deal with for three or four decades.”
“There is an absence of an international rules-based order right now. Of that, there is no question. It is dangerous for small nations like Ireland which depend on an international rules-based order for our security because we are not a military nation. We do not have military power. We are fundamentally a peacekeeping nation. That is our orientation and that has been our contribution, as well as humanitarian aid to many troubled spots in the world. We have contributed Irish personnel to conflict resolution all over the world. We have done it in Mozambique, Colombia and elsewhere. That is our contribution and to try to characterise the Irish position as anything else is disingenuous. That is how we perform on an international level. We also realise the limits of what we can do globally and internationally.”
“I think someone on the backbenches here raised it. It might have been the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, some years ago, who put a formal position here on the Iranian regime. There was a studied silence here. The Deputy can accuse me of this, that and the other but on the Opposition side, there was a one-directional approach to the international order. At times, even the Russian aggression is condemned and put aside in a formulaic way. We are very clear. First, I condemn the killing of children anywhere in any situation. Children and innocent civilians must always be prioritised, without question. One of the big challenges for the UN is that we are similar to where we were prior to the demise of the League of Nations. There is a serious issue in the world. It is dangerous, without question.”
“Ireland believes fundamentally in international rule of law. We are a multilateral nation and all our work over the past number of years has been dedicated to those principles in every single form that we attend under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union or, indeed, other international organisations. International law is not being adhered to and has not been for quite some time by many actors. That is the reality. Prime Minister Carney called that out in Davos and described the reality of the international world order as we see it today. The House is agreed on the brutality of the Iranian regime but if we are all honest, one would not have thought that for the past three years because there was rarely a debate in here about Iran. There was barely a motion here about the malign views of Iran.”
“Vast populations of the world are not represented on the Security Council and all we are getting is veto after veto after veto. We cannot get peacekeeping missions approved by the UN Security Council. One of the most sustainable peacekeeping missions that we have been involved in is Lebanon and, at the behest of the US, the Security Council has put a deadline on that for next year. Those are the realities of a UN Security Council that has not been fit for purpose for a long time.”
“St. Patrick's Day will come and go. It is the more enduring sustainable relationship between the US and Ireland that is important, but park that for a moment. St. Patrick's Day will come and go. There will be many of those, but the relationship is much deeper and much more substantial than that. Let us be honest about that too. The Deputy referenced the UN Security Council. By virtue of the composition post Second World War, it is no longer fit for purpose. I am not criticising every member of the UN, but the reality is with Russia, China, the US-----”
“No one is even disputing that but, equally, there is a huge issue with this regime. The challenges, as the Deputy said, relate to instability across the region. That is why we are calling for a de-escalation and getting back around the negotiating table. These negotiations on the nuclear file have been going on since 2005 or 2007. That is how long they have been going on. They have been dragged out, as has the ballistics programme. I met Bernard Phelan as well. At will the Iranian regime just kidnapped European citizens, put them in prison and then ransomed or blackmailed western governments to try to get them released. That was the modus operandi . Bernard Phelan and people he met in prison had a fairly brutal imprisonment. Some of them have yet to get out of those prisons in Iran.”
“We know all of that but, equally, regimes have been allowed and sanctions have not been enough to shift those regimes into facilitating democracy within their jurisdictions or at least allowing their civilians freedom of movement and speech and the opportunities to change by democratic channels. The Deputy described the brutal crackdown of the Mahsa Amini protest, which was about the liberation of women within in Iran. It was brutal and the world was powerless and did nothing. We do not have full estimates relating to what happened only six weeks ago but some say it could be as high as 10,000 or 15,000 ordinary Iranians executed for just protesting. There are moral dilemmas everywhere. I take the Deputy's basic point that we do not believe in intervention without a UN mandate.”
“We are very clear on upholding the international rule of law. This bombing campaign is not in accordance with a UN mandate. I totally accept the Deputy's bona fides. She has been consistent on Iran, but the international rules-based order has been powerless to do anything about Iran, if we are honest, over a long period. That does raise questions. It is not a new question; it is a decades-old question in terms of intervention. There have been interventions by previous American presidents with consequences that were long-lasting in a negative sense.”
“The Deputy is accusing me of a lack of clarity. Her organisation has supported the Republican party in the United States for decades in terms of financial contributions to Republican and MAGA candidates across the United States.”
“First of all, I am very clear. I am a multilateralist. I believe in peace and the pacific resolution of all conflict. I believe this conflict should be de-escalated as quickly as possible and those involved should get back to the negotiating table and resolve this through diplomacy. As I said, that is the only sustainable way forward. The Deputy can put whatever spin she likes on my contribution but I am very clear in respect of those basic principles in terms of the conduct of international affairs. However, what I have said cannot be contested in terms of how the Iranian regime not only suppresses its own people-----”
“We have had this in other parts of the world, including Africa and so on, where democratic governments have been overthrown and people have been powerless. That has happened in the Sahel and so on. There are issues, no question, about where we are. There was no UN mandate for this action. No one is saying there was, and there was not. However, it is impossible to get a UN mandate even for peacekeeping now so paralysed and dysfunctional is the Security Council.”
“There is no way on earth that Ukraine could sustain itself in a budgetary sense or in defending itself if it did not get that €90 billion from the European Union. Putin was delighted. If everybody else took the Sinn Féin view, the happiest man globally would be Putin. That was Sinn Féin's contribution to trying to resolve injustice and conflict in the world.”
“Deputy McDonald referenced Ukraine. It is the truth. Sinn Féin opposed the €90 billion loan from Europe to Ukraine. If we were to follow Sinn Féin's advice, it would have been tantamount to asking Ukraine to surrender now to the Russians.”
“It supported Assad and was key to keeping him and his brutal regime in power for a long time. It sent drones to the Russian military to kill innocent Ukrainians. These are realities that the Deputy has glossed over. I know Sinn Féin does not support Ukraine.”
“For a long time now, Iran has been a very malign influence in the world and in the Middle East, and, as the Deputy has acknowledged, in its repression of women and the LGBT community. The regime has executed thousands of Iranians for advocating for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and for seeking change through democratic channels. The international rules-based order, if we are honest about it, was absolutely powerless and paralysed to intervene there to prevent the execution of thousands of people. We believe in a multilateral-based order, but we have to see reality too in terms of the full picture in this regard. Let us remember that for decades, Iran has sponsored Hamas. It has sponsored terror all over the Middle East. It sponsored and armed Hezbollah.”
“Ireland is in favour of a multilateral, rules-based international order and has consistently advocated for same. We believe in immediate de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and particularly in Iran. We believe these issues ultimately, in terms of a sustainable resolution, has to be via diplomatic channels. Diplomacy, ultimately, is the only route that can sustainably bring about a lasting peace. It has to be also said that the multilateral order has been dysfunctional for quite some time. The Deputy referenced the UN Security Council. It has been paralysed and powerless for quite some time in the prevention of war and conflict and in holding repressive regimes to account or in any way intervening in terms of those regimes.”
“Your commitment, resilience and struggle and the challenges that presented for you personally, as you again articulated to me today, is testament to your tireless commitment to shining a light into the dark corners of both our past and present. I unequivocally apologise to you and reiterate on behalf of the Government, the State, and all the citizens of the State, the profound sorrow for the terrible pain and abuse suffered by you. What you endured on a daily basis as innocent children was harrowing, heart-breaking and wrong.”
“No person and, in particular, no agency of the State should in any way regard these individuals as having committed a criminal offence or having a criminal record. A formal statement to this effect will also be issued today by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. Certificates confirming this for individual survivors will be provided on a case-by-case basis following receipt of records, including posthumously. The process for this will be put in place by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration as soon as possible. Survivors have felt stigmatised - you made this very clear to me in our meetings - throughout their lives, and we must be clear and categoric in removing any taint of stigmatisation from public discourse and the public record. I once again thank the survivors for being here today.”
“With regard to children who were detained in industrial schools and who were subsequently transferred to a reformatory school, solely by virtue of their detention in the industrial school, they are likewise not considered to have had any criminal record.”
“All of these measures are part of the agreement that I, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Government arrived at with the group that is here today, by letter and mediation. I hope that these additional measures will help the ongoing process of healing for these survivors of institutional abuse. Another matter which I wish to address relates to criminal records. Today I wish to categorically confirm for the record that the State did not, and does not regard individuals, by virtue of their detention in any industrial school as having committed a criminal offence, and that no criminal record is recorded against them.”
“We agreed to explore ways to address this issue that would be more flexible and easier to access. On foot of this, the Government has approved the expansion of the education support payments scheme under the Act to include the provision of support for informal learning, self-development and well-being activities. These payments will be easy to access and will be introduced as soon as possible. We have also progressed measures to ensure that survivors are prioritised for social housing needs and to ensure that community welfare services give them specific consideration and recognition for funeral costs and provide accordingly. The potential for local memorialisation proposals is also being explored.”
“Following the conclusion of a mediation process to address the concerns raised, the Government has agreed to provide further improvements to these services. These include strengthened access to health services for survivors of industrial and reformatory schools through the appointment of dedicated health liaison officers and better access to counselling and physiotherapy services. Work is already under way to put these services in place. The Government has also agreed to provide additional funding for education grants under the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025. I recognise that there have been calls for a contributory State pension for this group of survivors. I discussed this with survivors, and we recognised the complexity of the issue.”
“Survivors will continue to be at the heart of decisions in relation to the development of the national centre. In 2023 the Government approved a new phase of ongoing supports to survivors of abuse in industrial schools, reformatories and related institutions, in areas including health, advocacy and education. This included an enhanced package of health services and supports for those who wish to engage in education and training and access to advocacy supports through a new independent advocacy service. Work is well under way on putting these services and supports in place. I appreciate that there were concerns among certain survivors about the adequacy of these new supports and this has been the subject of the recent campaign by the group present here today.”
“Access to records is also a very important issue for many of those who were boarded out and have questions about their origins and early life experiences. The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 provides a clear legal basis for access to birth and early life information and records. This allows those who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration or resident in a mother and baby or county home institution as a child, to seek information on their own situation. The national centre for research and remembrance will stand as a national site of conscience to honour equally all those who were resident in institutions and all those who have lived experience of Ireland's historical adoption and boarded-out systems.”
“To support people who experienced abuse while boarded out, the Government established a boarded out practical support service for adults. It is a free and confidential service offering a wide range of practical supports to survivors. Provided by Barnardos and funded by the State, it delivers practical and therapeutic supports to adults who were boarded out as children in Ireland. Support is also available through the special advocate for survivors, who amplifies the voice of survivors, including those who were boarded out as children. The advisory council currently being established by the special advocate has a number of pillars to reflect the diverse experiences of survivors. One of these pillars is dedicated to, and comprises, those who were boarded out.”
“As I said at that time, and wish to reiterate today, regardless of the pathway from which individuals were boarded out, this was unforgivable. The Government recognised that there were many situations where children in boarded-out arrangements were wrongly and harshly treated. They were not raised as part of a family or given the opportunities they should have been in relation to their care and education. We know that some were physically, emotionally and sexually abused. I am very sorry for what was done to you. I apologise on behalf of the State for the abuse and neglect that you suffered. What happened to you was wrong, shocking and should never have happened. The Government recognises the suffering and damage that this abuse has caused, and we will continue to support you as much as possible.”
“The issue of how you and other children were treated when boarded out was examined in the Ryan report and is further detailed in chapter 11 of the report of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes. Testimony detailed elsewhere in that report conveyed the harrowing experiences of many of those who were boarded out and the palpable sense of abandonment they felt. In January 2021, on behalf of the Government, the State and its citizens, I apologised for the profound generational wrong visited upon Irish mothers and their children who ended up in a mother and baby or county home institution. I also acknowledged then that many children who were subsequently boarded out experienced heartbreaking exploitation, neglect and abuse within the families and communities in which they were placed.”
“We are now moving to a new phase of supports which I will expand upon later in this statement. First, I want to say I fully recognise that for those who suffered institutional abuse the traumatic impact has been enduring. The deep personal toll that it has taken on the lives of survivors was brought home to me again in my recent engagements with the group that is here today. I was moved to hear each of your personal stories and I am deeply sorry for the harm that you suffered as a consequence of the abuse you experienced in State institutions. When we met, you made me aware of the abuse also suffered by you in particular, but also many others who were boarded out from industrial and reformatory schools.”
“Addressing the effects of past abuse has also been a central part of the State's response to historical abuse in residential institutions, with important measures put in place including the establishment and funding of the HSE's national counselling service providing counselling and support to adults who experienced childhood abuse. Over €1 billion in redress payments have been paid by the State to individual survivors of abuse in industrial schools, reformatories and related institutions through the residential institutions redress scheme and the Education Finance Board. As part of the State's response, contributions were sought from the relevant congregations. Through Caranua, this fund provided €98 million in funding supports to approximately 6,000 survivors.”
“Following the creation of the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2011, the Child and Family Agency, now known as Tusla, was established in January 2014. The Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Act 2012 was signed into law on 28 April 2015. It mandated the courts to consider the best interests of the child as paramount in proceedings regarding custody, guardianship, and care. The Children First Act came into effect in 2015. It too broke new ground in vigilance against child abuse and neglect, with mandatory reporting by key professionals and improved child safeguarding arrangements. In 2017 Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children was published.”
“The Child Care Act 1991 represented a fundamental change of approach to child protection in its comprehensiveness and scope. It prioritised child protection and modernised State services to protect vulnerable children. Irish child protection was significantly transformed and moved to a more proactive State-managed system focused on the rights and safety of the child. That Act remains the fundamental framework for protecting children. Since then and in response to the Ryan report and other reports, we have advanced further changes. We now have a comprehensive approach to deal with the traumatic impact of previous abuse, to protect children and to strengthen structures and accountability for child protection in this country.”
“Abuse ruined their childhoods and remains an ever-present part of their adult lives, reminding them of a time when they were without support or protection. We recognised the gravity of this wrong and undertook to do all we could to overcome the lasting effects of their ordeals. The first major step in a process of seeking full transparency and perspective involved the establishment of the commission of investigation into child abuse. Better known as the Ryan commission, its final report was published in May 2009. It detailed disturbing and significant levels of historic abuse of children who were placed by the Irish State in residential institutions, particularly industrial schools and reformatories, run by religious orders. Ongoing reforms of our childcare laws are essential.”
“On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the then Government made a sincere apology to the victims of childhood abuse: On behalf of the state and all of the citizens of the state, the government wishes to make a sincere and long overdue apology to the victims of childhood abuse for our collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain and to come to their rescue. I reiterate that apology today. It was acknowledged then that the process of opening up and acknowledging failures to protect the rights of children would be complex, would take new directions and demanded a commitment to responding comprehensively. As a country and as a Government, we recognised that too many of our children were denied the love, care and security that should have been theirs.”
“I too welcome to Dáil Éireann a group of survivors of industrial and reformatory schools who met with me and with the then Minister for education, Deputy McEntee, to discuss their concerns and to share their individual stories and experiences. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has said, they are Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O’Connell. I pay tribute to them and thank them for their advocacy. In May 1999, on the basis of a memo I brought to Cabinet, the then Government agreed to enact a series of steps to give victims of childhood abuse an opportunity to be heard.”
“I thank the Deputy. The projections are there. There has been comprehensive surveying of the coastal area of the island. Climate change will have fairly significant negative impacts, particularly rising sea levels, but also the frequency and velocity of the storms we are witnessing on our coastlines, all of which creates a very challenging situation for us. We have to respond with proper structures and systems, and be far more proactive. We need a ring-fenced approach to the adaptation issue because climate change is here and now, and its impacts will increase over time. It will impact on food production systems. The extended rain season we have had now is already impacting on farming practice and what would ordinarily be happening right now. We are now facing another two days of intense rainfall.”