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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“I will communicate the issue the Deputy has articulated to the Minister for Transport. In general, road funding is increasing across the board. There are significant increases this year. I do not have the specific county allocations, but I will raise the issue that the Deputy has raised with the Minister. In the context of the flooding and so forth, estimates are coming back in from local authorities in respect of that. I have told the Department of Transport to tell the local authorities to fix those roads that have been damaged by the floods.”
“I cannot get into individual allocations in specific schools without being aware of the details. That is a matter for the National Council for Special Education in the first instance. Yes, the school should appeal. The review has been paused. It was to continue until March. The Minister is going to engage with the NCSE. For those schools where decisions have been taken, there will be engagement between the NCSE and those schools, but I always recommend that schools should appeal any given decision. It strengthens its position overall.”
“There was a court injunction. The Deputy must be aware of that. My understanding is that there was a commitment given to the High Court that until phase 2 was completed, phase 1 would not be published. There is a lot of litigation around this and that is the main reason stuff is not being published. The inquiry will be focused on that.”
“Of those, 115 cases were replaced with another spinal patient. I would like to see more follow-through on the number of patients who were cancelled. Timely information should be given to parents of children in situations like that. The Deputy must be aware why phase 1 of the Nayagam report has not been published.”
“In terms of cancellations, the latest information I have from CHI and the Department of Health for last year states that about 164 surgeries were cancelled, some due to clinical decisions. Some 48% were cancelled due to clinical decisions. Some 19% were due to personal or family reasons and some were due to a patient's ill-health, about 11%.”
“I do understand, Deputy, that there are those, like your good self, among us who have plenty of energy and so on. The Deputy will recall that was discussed by a previous Government and Cabinet. I will engage with the Minister for justice and ask him where that legislation lies. As the Deputy knows, there have been different views across the House on how far the legislation is going. Some wanted the opening hours to go until 6 a.m., and the Deputy is nodding approvingly. There is an issue around the night-time economy. There have been different dimensions to that debate. I will speak to the Minister of justice to see where we are on that and to bring clarification to the House.”
“There should be regular reviews of SNAs to make sure the resource is targeted properly. I am sure nobody could object to that. The difficulty here as a result of the review the NCSE initiated last October - approximately 500 have been completed - is that the impact on some schools is too severe. This is in terms of the new school year, from September of this year.”
“I have dealt with this extensively in the House. There are 4,000 schools in our system. By the start of the next school year, there will be up to 25,000 SNAs. As I said earlier, there has been a 45% increase in the number of SNAs over five years. I would caution against the breadth and the range of services the Deputy says SNAs should be obliged to provide. We need to be very targeted in our approach. The children who need SNAs the most should have them allocated to them. The danger with mission creep is that sometimes the child most in need does not get the attention that he or she requires and deserves. We are bringing in other therapies, initially into special schools. We then want to spread that into mainstream schools. That is nothing to do with the SNA situation.”
“-----to exercise and hydrotherapy facilities, and personal living supports. All that is in place but there are outstanding issues we want to resolve as quickly as we possibly can. We believe the Mr. Justice Gilligan process is a good process and one that should be availed of.”
“A wide range of health and social care supports are being provided, have been provided and will continue to be provided in terms of medical cards, annual assessments, access to allied health professionals, access to international centres of excellence when expertise is not available nationally, prophylactic MRI, unlimited access-----”
“Obviously the thalidomide facilitation process is under way under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Paul Gilligan. There has been good engagement with the Irish Thalidomide Association, ITA, and the Irish Thalidomide Survivors Society. The Tánaiste and I met the ITA twice in the last quarter of 2025, in October and then before Christmas. These were constructive meetings. Several complex issues were raised. Officials are following up on these matters. I am as frustrated as anybody by the length of time this has taken. I do not think there is a need for that. I think these issues can be resolved. There is ongoing correspondence. We will meet, certainly, our objectives by the end of February. We have established, as the Deputy knows, a national thalidomide advocacy office.”
“Is she not conscious of the Hampson House project? Some €16 million was allocated to the Rotunda. It has been a great success. The works are completed and so forth. The budget increased by 47% or €35 million since 2020. That is not putting anybody "through the wringer". The Deputy casually gets up and says stuff that is completely untrue.”
“First of all, some of the Deputy's language and the untruths she says are difficult to comprehend in respect of the Government's position in respect of the Rotunda. She said we put the hospital "through the wringer" and we denied it investment.”
“If an assessment is made by the NCSE that a certain school does not require the number of SNAs it had two or three years ago, it should not hit the school with a shock decision and that it is making the call to take out three or four. It should be done much more gradually. That would be our approach, and I have communicated that to the Ministers and they agree with me on that and the NCSE. That is the way to proceed here. The Minister for Education and Youth is going to sit down with the NCSE to work this out. The NCSE and SENOs will then engage with the schools concerned to see what we can do.”
“I said earlier the reviews should be regular to match resources to the needs of children, and new children will come into schools. We have about 4,000 schools with children who leave primary and go into second level, and children develop differently and so on. As the Deputy knows, the SNAs are allocated to the school, so the general number is allocated to the school. Obviously, within the context of the children in the school, additional needs assessments are made. Part of the problem here is there probably has not been a review for several years and the result has been too severe in respect of some schools. As I said earlier, no school should lose six or four in any one year. Again, depending on the size of the school, and with Scoil Aodh Rua, 2.5 could be a significant hit to that school. I do not have the background and specifics.”
“That is the objective. Is é sin atá i gceist againn. Tá an méid SNAs ag méadú bliain i ndiaidh bliana, agus is maith an rud é sin. Tá an infheistíocht ag méadú chomh maith. Dar ndóigh, bíonn athruithe ann go rialta, mar a dúirt an Teachta. Tagann athruithe ar an scéal i scoileanna éasgúla agus is é sin an fáth a mbíonn athruithe maidir leis na SNAs agus na scoileanna ina mbeidh siad.”
“Approximately 190 have received letters indicating reductions. Approximately two thirds, or 68%, have either no change or an increase in their SNA allocation. In the context of the school the Deputy referenced, the NCSE will engage with the school. The school should appeal because that is the process. If you feel you have been wronged or whatever, you appeal it. That allows a mechanism to revisit the decision of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to reduce the numbers in a given school. It is important that be done. The Minister has paused the review. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, will engage intensively now to ensure that all the concerns raised - the Deputy has raised some - are fully understood and that we fully support children with additional needs in our schools.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he will be aware, I dealt with it earlier on a previous Leaders' question. It is important to make the point that no SNA is being removed from any school during this school year. Second, no SNA will lose their job. Those are two very important points. There are no cuts to overall special needs assistants' numbers. By September next year, we will have approximately 24,900. That is close to 25,000. We had more than 23,000 coming into this year. The numbers grew by 45% over five years, so it has been expansion. The needs have grown. Demand has grown as well, and it is important to meet that. So far, of the 580 reviews that took place, approximately 1%, it seems to me, of SNA posts nationally have been affected. We have 4,000 schools in our system.”
“Do not be interfering with the Social Democrats' time, please. You tend to want to monopolise the Opposition a lot. I know that but you should not be trying to do it on Leaders' Questions. Anyway, that is-----”
“Anyone who knows anything about this and sought to know anything about it would know that this critical care wing is needed now. It is not needed in five, ten, 15 or 20 years' time. It is needed now, as Deputy Cairns has articulated, because we are all aware of-----”
“There was a split decision as well but that can happen. In fairness, I do not believe in microscopic examination. People make decisions in their own right as officers of An Coimisiún Pleanála. In my view, it is the wrong decision. In my view-----”
“Sorry, now. I know it is the job of the Opposition to blame the Government all of the time. An Coimisiún Pleanála took a decision which obviously went against the Dublin City Council decision and the recommendation of the board's own inspector, I am informed.”
“The Deputy has omitted the fact that Dublin City Council approved this planning and the inspector at An Coimisiún Pleanála recommended and approved the decision of Dublin City Council. There was no expectation-----”
“I am working with the Minister and Government. The Minister will come back to Government with proposals in this regard. In my view, we will have to look at all options here to get this critical care wing built at the Rotunda because there is no other immediate prospect or any short- to medium-term prospect of anything else happening, other than the critical wing being established on this site.”
“The Minister will come back to Government fairly quickly in terms of a statement in respect of how we see this now proceeding. The colocation is there in essence between the Rotunda and the Mater level 4 hospital. There is a blue light corridor there that facilitates urgent transfers and so on. In essence, it is very important we have colocation for women's health. It is absolutely an imperative. There has been a very significant and impressive development of a strong relationship between the Rotunda and the Mater. They work very closely together. As I said, there is a protective blue light corridor to provide adults with acute services when needed. The Minister has already had meetings today on the range of issues involved and how we move this forward. The Minister will be meeting with the master, Professor Sean Daly, shortly.”
“----- in the interest of public health. Deputy Cairns has summed up the neonatal intensive care unit correctly. I do not argue with her summation of the conditions there. Those who objected to this vital project should have taken up the invitation of the master of the Rotunda. They should have visited the neonatal intensive care unit and they should have then weighed up what they are objecting to. They have their commitments - the civic trust and others - but everybody has to weigh up the pros and cons of any given decision. In my view, in objecting to this facility, they very significantly got it wrong. In terms of previous strategies and recommendations that were made, I do not want to invent new national maternity strategies on a whim. There is a successor to the current one. However, I know the Minister is meeting with the master.”
“I believe this project is in the overwhelming public interest and that there is an overwhelming public benefit. That is why we funded about €16 million into Hampson House to facilitate decanting but also provision of a first-class service now in terms of outpatient facilities, antenatal clinics and all of that. The Government is 100% behind this project but An Coimisiún Pleanála is independent, as all TDs would want. In this House no one has ever suggested it should not be. However, I hope the Deputy will back us now when we bring forward a critical infrastructure Bill. I hope we get the House's agreement that, certainly in health, there are exceptional projects that need to bypass the planning process altogether and just get it done-----”
“It is utter hypocrisy of Deputy Bacik to call us bystanders because we did not interfere and tell An Comisiún Pleanála that, no matter what its views are, it is to pass that along and rubberstamp it because that is what the Government wants. That is what Deputy Bacik is saying.”
“Deputy Bacik knows that as a legislator and as a person with legal background. It is a creature of the Oireachtas. Yes, the Government proposed reforms but it is a creature of the Oireachtas and Deputy Bacik knows that.”
“-----I interrupted Deputy Bacik to get clarity from her because of the outrageous, disingenuous suggestion that the Government established An Coimisiún Pleanála when the Oireachtas, through legislation, voted for its establishment.”
“That was not, to my understanding, taken up at that particular time. In terms of maternity development more generally, there are a number of maternity hospitals in Dublin and it is a fact that over the past 30 years or longer, we have not managed, through institutional and other issues, to get maternity hospitals located in one given site. Holles Street hospital is now moving to St. Vincent's hospital after a long row in here and argy-bargy about this, that and the other, a lot of it in my view not of substance and, quite frankly, it did not put women first. People were more worried about conspiracies in the Vatican, in my view, than women's health but there we are. Cork managed to do it. We should review the Rotunda in terms of what should happen there in the long term as well.”
“Invariably what tends to happen is that people try to marry, and do the very best they can to harmonise, developments like this. Let us not forget the Rotunda is part of the heritage as well. Are we suggesting it stands still as a building or never moves in any direction or never gets expanded? We recently opened Hampson House. I presume Deputy Bacik is familiar with that outpatient facility near O'Connell Street. It is a fantastic facility. This facilitated and opened up the opportunity to do this development. There were people working where space has now been created for the critical care wing, or part of it anyway. From our perspective, the Minister will work with all involved. The master did seek to engage with people on the ground and with Dublin Civic Trust and others.”
“When they were pressed on whether they would object again if that particular dimension - the 2016 strategy - was removed, there was no commitment not to object again. There are no guarantees either way because other factors were taken into account. The issue from a planning perspective is that irrespective of what happens in the long term, the critical care unit is needed now. It is an immediate need for babies who require intensive care of that kind. About 20% of specialised neonatal care is in the Rotunda, so it is a national facility. It is not just a regional facility from that perspective. Huge numbers of women go to the Rotunda, so it is a critical resource for us. There is an issue in terms of the prioritisation of the protection of human life over the heritage considerations.”
“-----at the decision of An Coimisiún Pleanála to overturn the position of Dublin City Council and, indeed, its own recommendation from its own planning inspector who recommended that the proposed critical care wing at the Rotunda should go ahead. I would add that it is deeply disappointing. The Minister this morning met with the regional clinical director and also the regional executive officer. The HSE will be meeting with the master of the Rotunda to review the next steps and all the plans pertaining to the Rotunda, the Mater and, of course, Connolly hospital. The Deputy is correct. The interview this morning with the person who objected on behalf of Dublin Civic Trust was interesting.”
“I spoke yesterday to the Minister, Deputy Foley. We were in County Kerry yesterday. I spoke about schools appealing. Schools are well used to appealing. I do not mean that in any cold way. That is important.”
“We are increasing the number of special needs assistants to 25,000 for the school year 2026-27 beginning in September. I will repeat for you that we are increasing, not cutting, the number of special needs assistants for the next school year.”
“In my view, any changes would have to be gradual and the impact on the individual schools would have to be factored in in terms of any reviews that would have taken place.”
“I do not believe that, and that is why more regular reviews would be better. They would be more attuned to the needs of the school year, rather than what may happen when capacity has built up and needs have changed. The needs do change. We are bringing a therapy service in schools, and into special schools in particular. We will have a multidisciplinary approach in special schools. We spread that out and mainstream it over time. That is important as well to bring additional disciplines to help children with special needs and additional needs in our schools. The Minister has paused this. We will engage with the NCSE and it will engage with the schools, particularly those schools that have already been subject to the review. The NCSE and its officials will now work with those schools to review the position for them.”
“I have spoken with the Minister, Deputy Naughton; the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan; and the NCSE. They will work through with the schools that have been impacted more severely than others. I do not believe any school should lose six SNAs. I think that was reported last evening.”
“Different needs will arise on an annual basis. New children will come into schools and some that did not have a need will develop a need because of the number of children coming into the school in a new year. Over two thirds - 68% - of those that were part of this review of 585 schools will either see no change or an increase in their SNA allocation. The Deputy is correct when she says that approximately 190 schools will see a reduction. The reason I told them to appeal is that there is an appeals mechanism there.”
“First, we need to say to all schools that no SNA will be removed from any school during the school year. I hope Deputy McDonald accepts that. No SNA will lose their job because there is a redeployment scheme, and a local panel is being created and so forth. That is a very important point to make as well. I understand fully the stress, difficulty and fear that can develop in terms of the potential of losing services in a given school but equally we have to acknowledge that school is progression. Children move on from one school to another, so it is not plausible that there would not be reviews. One criticism I have is that the reviews should be more regular to make sure that our resource goes to the children most in need. Most people would accept that as rational and the right course of action.”
“To give Deputies a bit background, I was the Minister for Education who introduced special needs assistants to mainstream schools for children with special needs. I do not need lectures from Deputy McDonald in terms of the value, importance and centrality of special needs assistants to children in our schools and the support that they have given. I have watched it grow from almost nothing to close to 25,000 SNAs in our school system by September next. In the past five years alone, the number of special needs assistants has grown by 45%. That is evidence of a continued increase, expansion and investment in the service. I just want to make that point. I accept that the manner in which letters went out and so forth did cause concerns but let us avoid the language of "pulling the rug" and "ripping apart". That is not accurate at all.”
“If you are sincere in wanting to build a real peace, reconciliation and shared future for all who share this island, then you cannot with any honesty deny so many people truth and accountability for the terrible crimes committed against their communities and their loved ones. Though difficult, truth and transparency will remain pivotal to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation across this island. The Kenova Report demands a frank and robust debate.”
“We should have an apology from Sinn Féin in respect of the activities of the Provisional IRA as documented in this report. It is long past time for that apology and renunciation of what happened to occur. It also shows the complicity of British state forces in allowing this to happen. The material contained in this report has provoked very strong emotions, and rightly so. One of the great tragedies of Irish history and of the most recent conflict is how little concern people have had for the victims of their own side. For too long, different interests have demanded accountability from others but done nothing for the victims of their own side’s violence.”
“This includes the establishment of a dedicated unit within An Garda Síochána as a central point of contact for victims and families for Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána and for cross-Border co-operation on Troubles-related cases. An Garda Síochána has further committed, where possible, to answer questions that a family may have in relation to the investigation of a Troubles-related incident and to provide a report to the family. The Kenova report makes for difficult reading. It is a catalogue of horrific crimes, failure and hurt that affected all communities. In setting out the activities of Stakeknife, it sheds essential light on the harrowing pain and loss caused to individuals, to their families, and through the systematic exercise of terror to communities at large by the Provisional IRA.”
“At every stage the position of my Government and every Government I have served in is that we must have absolute openness and accountability. We must demonstrate the standards which we are calling on others to meet. The investigators also underline the essential role played by An Garda Síochána which “assisted with access to records and forensic exhibits and gave considerable help in making contact with witnesses and persons of interest”. Guided by the principles of the Stormont House Agreement, the framework agreed by the Governments aims to promote reconciliation and provide mechanisms for truth, accountability and justice for victims and survivors of the Troubles, and their families. Reciprocal co-operation is at the heart of the joint framework.”
“In both cases this led to extensive loss of lives and enabled intimidation across communities and across this island. We want to see the publication of the full report of Operation Denton in the near future and will continue to report regularly on efforts to make this happen. As I have said, the Kenova report confirms that legacy investigations can yield new and important information. This was achieved through a combination of the dedication of the investigators, the positive relations and trust established with families and victims, and productive North-South co-operation. The report emphasises the positive role played by the Government, including giving access to material held in this jurisdiction and close co-operation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.”
“While we await the full publication of the Denton report, the summary remains important and offers official recognition that a network of loyalist paramilitaries and “corrupt members of the security forces”, primarily members of the UVF, working with members of both the RUC and UDR, murdered up to 120 people, among them those killed in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974. It is also the case that suspected and known collusion by individuals, which is now confirmed in this report, had a corrosive effect on confidence in wider state forces, to the detriment of all. What we see in Kenova is British state forces' collusion with the Provisional IRA and, in the Denton summary, British state forces' collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.”
“The full report also includes a summary of Operation Denton, a review into a series of sectarian attacks committed by a network of loyalists between 1972 and 1978, known as the Glenanne Gang cases. Operation Denton examined 98 incidents on both sides of the Border, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Dundalk bombing, the killing of Seamus Ludlow and the Silverbridge attack. It also examined a range of official and non-official inquiries including the McEntee and Barron inquiries and the work of the Oireachtas joint committee. It is deeply regrettable that the full publication of the Denton report is not available and has been delayed. In particular, I want to acknowledge the continuing frustration felt by the survivors and families affected by these shocking and tragic events.”
“Operation Turma is an investigation into the murders of three RUC officers, Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Paul Hamilton and Allan McCloy, in an explosion at Kinnego embankment near Lurgan on 27 October 1982. Operation Turma commenced in 2019. Alongside a detailed review of all the relevant information, the investigators adopted modern-era forensic examination, including the recovery of DNA material from the original crime scene. It stands as testament to the rigour of the Kenova team that after more than 40 years, an individual has now been extradited from this jurisdiction to Northern Ireland and is currently awaiting trial. The skilled work of the investigators shows that prosecution for historical crimes is possible.”