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 am not finished yet. No member state yet, bar France in the past 48 hours or so, has attempted to disabled drones or bring them down, for different reasons. That is a matter we have to leave to the operational people in charge. We cannot dictate that sort of a response here.”
“It is symptomatic of where we are in terms of the threats to European security and so forth. I think I have dealt with most of the issues Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh raised and I was responding to her in respect of that.”
“That is absolutely key. Otherwise, you are at nothing in terms of protecting the State or protecting our people. I do not want to go into all of the details here. Some of this is security sensitive. I have a report about the drone situation. When we are discussing security, there has to be an understanding there are limits to what can be put into the public domain. That impacts further gathering and garnering of intelligence. It also impacts on our capacity to withstand further threats and so on like that. There will be a lot of planning for VIP protection, venue security, transport management, cyber resilience and public order contingencies. All of that is being worked on. It is a mammoth task. It is a huge operation. Other member states have had to do something similar.”
“In terms of the other issue Deputy O'Meara raised, I have dealt with some of the aspects of what happened on the night and so forth. In terms of the EU Presidency, which people have raised, there is a lot of work under way to prepare for that. An Garda Síochána is central to the security planning and preparation. It has established a dedicated European Union Presidency co-ordination office, led by the deputy commissioner of policing operations to oversee all aspects of operational planning, logistics and inter-agency engagement. There is ongoing interdepartmental engagement through a whole range of forums. Close co-operation with European policing and security partners concerning the Presidency is ongoing, as per the norm. In the modern security arena, you have to co-ordinate, co-operate and share intelligence with other agencies.”
“Let us be very clear. In dealing with protest, there are different levels of protest. The right to protest and to free speech is absolutely inviolable. It has to be allowed and facilitated in any true democracy. When protests get too extreme, you then impact on other people's rights to personal safety, life and property. I respectfully suggest that is something the Deputy does not pay much attention to.”
“On the issue he raised in terms of the civil liberties issue within the UK, it is an issue the UK has to challenge and deal with. I noted his comment, "nothing more than property damage". That was interesting. I do not believe people should be-----”
“The idea is to get around to the rest of the country but to do it in significant numbers so it really has impact. I understand we are pleading for patience on the Deputy's behalf and others but we are making progress. Funding is there to keep the throughput at the level it currently is in Templemore. On the remarks made by Deputy Murphy, the United Kingdom does not present a national security threat to Ireland.”
“An Garda Síochána is substantively enhancing and has enhanced its anti-drone capabilities. It has significant capabilities on land, and the navy likewise. The military generally has the capabilities throughout all three strands: air, sea and land. We will continue to enhance that and harness all technology available in the country, both private sector but also on our university campuses that can assist in that regard. All politics is local and Deputy Dolan asked about gardaí in east Galway and the expanding towns. We have seen good progress in the recruitment of gardaí through Templemore. It has seen its highest intake this year. The Commissioner has been allocating significant numbers to given areas. Dublin benefited initially. Cork is benefiting now, to be quite frank, in terms of the city centre.”
“An operational response was put in place that was appropriate to the circumstances by the commander of the naval vessel at the time and, subsequently, by the police and military authorities working in close co-operation. They worked closely together in advance of the visit and so on. The Garda liaised with its Ukrainian partners throughout the visit of the President on the security arrangements, including with regard to this incident. The Garda special detective unit is carrying out an investigation of the circumstances of the incident with input from the Defence Forces. It is a very concerning incident, as I said, like other similar incidents in other European states. The circumstances are suggestive of this being part of an ongoing Russian-inspired hybrid campaign against European Union and Ukrainian interests.”
“There were incidents in Belgium, France, Poland, in terms of train tracks and so on, and in the Baltic Sea. We are agreed that, on the drone issue, disabling technology is important. The visit of President Zelenskyy was very effective from a security perspective. I want to make it clear to everybody that an incident did occur on that night. A small number of unidentified drones were observed in the vicinity of a Naval Service vessel on patrol off the coast of Dublin. The drones were not a threat to President Zelenskyy's aircraft - that needs to be clear - because it had safely landed quite some time prior to the incident, nor were they a threat to his departure.”
“We wish we were not facing these realities and we would prefer a Continent at peace and so on. The strategy will be completed. Deputy Brabazon was the first to speak and referred to self-reliance. We will develop radar capacity, and that is very close to action in terms of procurement – a lot of work has gone into that. We need to co-operate and co-ordinate with other member states in the European Union and the United Kingdom in respect of all of these issues because a pattern has developed in terms of the emergence of these drones and the violation of the airspace of EU member states. The most notable incident occurred in Copenhagen at the time of the European Political Community meeting. Denmark sought help and advice from other EU member states at that time.”
“I thank all Deputies who raised issues in terms of national security and the national security strategy. It reflects a growing awareness and engagement with this House, not before time, in respect of security and defence issues. There has been a wilful ignoring of these issues for far too long in the House. Particular perspectives have been taken on this. Even this morning, there were references to the United Kingdom, Europe or America as being threats. The clear threats right now in this era include a Russian threat to our security and security infrastructure. We have had engagement between Iran and Russia and North Korea and Russia. North Korean soldiers have been on European soil during a period of war, seeking to violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty. These are the realities we face.”
“Earlier this year, I established the Ministerial Council on National Security, which comprises me as chair, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and for Defence, and the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. The council will ensure that at the highest level there is a structured, ongoing review of our strategic national security interests and systematised monitoring of progress on delivering the Government’s commitments over the coming months, including the finalisation of the draft national security strategy.”
“It will combine an enhanced maritime domain awareness with a prioritised focus on ensuring protection of critical maritime infrastructure, especially critical undersea infrastructure. The ongoing implementation of the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces and the modernisation of aspects of our defence legislation is also included in the preparations. The National Cyber Security Centre has been placed under the remit of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. This is an important element of the realignment of our national security infrastructure, and a project has been initiated to establish this new statutory national security authority, led by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.”
“The preparation of a draft strategy covers a broad range of national security issues. There is necessarily a focus on the State’s internal security, including the evolving challenges we face from terrorism and extremism and from cyber threats, and a focus on the need to increase our investment in security and to modernise our legislation in the security field, notably in the investigatory powers available to our services. It will include also the implications of recent security, defence and international developments and their related impacts, notably the deteriorating security situation in Europe given Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the growth in cyber and hybrid threats in Europe.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together. The Government is committed to the delivery of a national security strategy and work is ongoing in finalising the strategy, co-ordinated by the national security secretariat in my Department and integrating inputs from a range of relevant stakeholders, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Defence, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the National Cybersecurity Centre. The programme for Government, securing Ireland's future sets out a number of national security commitments, acknowledging that this is a time of upheaval, in particular geopolitical upheaval, with threats and challenges arising from a rapidly changing global geopolitical landscape.”
“It is an important point to acknowledge. Nearly 14,000 homes were brought back into use under the voids programme. We are reaching levels of social housing building and provision now that we had not seen since the 1970s, which is good. We need to continue to do that and we will continue to do it. More than 26,000 social homes are at all stages of design and build in Ireland. That is dealing with those on the list already but we will look at that category the Deputy mentioned, in terms of those on the working family payment or those who may not be able to avail of cost rental. I accept that there is a category there. When we started in 2020, we had to substantially ramp up construction and supply of social housing, which we have done, and we now have a consistent level. We will also increase that over the next number of years.”
“I will talk to the Minister in respect of that. The previous Government increased it. I make the point that between July 2020 and the end of quarter 2 of this year, 50,684 social houses were added to the social housing stock. That is way ahead of anything that was ever done in the previous 20 years.”
“That is a key commitment under the strategy that I referenced earlier. That will shape our approach to delivering that payment and several meetings have already taken place. We want to put permanent supports in place. It is not financially sustainable to keep doing one-off payments.”
“On Monday, I chaired the first meeting of the delivery and monitoring committee for the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 when we considered the programme plan of action for 2025 and 2026. In the budget that we just had, we recorded a 20% increase in disability funding, strengthening mainstream services and introducing targeted social protection supports for households with disabilities. We enhanced the domiciliary care allowance by €20 a week. We broadened the thresholds for carer's allowance and other payments were also increased. There were related investments in health and education. We are committed to introducing a permanent annual cost-of-disability support payment. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, is leading the strategic focus network on the cost of disability.”
“I know that discussions and negotiations are ongoing between the Minister for Health and the pharmaceutical industry in respect of approval of new medicines, in particular new medical technologies. The pharmacovigilance unit in St. James's Hospital does a cost-benefit analysis using various equations and formulas to determine whether a drug should be approved or not. There has to be some framework governing that. On the other hand, if it is available in the private market, it means that process has agreed it. That is not optimal at all, but I will re-engage with Minister in respect of this specific drug.”
“We also had the multi-annual financial framework to negotiate with the Commission, which will be quite serious if we do not get improvements for farming.”
“As I said earlier in response to Deputy Lowry, the Government has been working with the Commission on the nitrates derogation. The Commission, including the President of the Commission, has been extremely constructive on that. We have also been working with like-minded countries in terms of Mercosur. About 200,000 tonnes from Mercosur countries already comes into the European Union. There is no question that the original deal has been changed in some respects in terms of the legal instruments that the Commission has now introduced in respect of safeguards, including stronger sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, checks. It was SPS checks that revealed the unacceptable discoveries in terms of hormone-infected beef across Europe. It is a significant issue in terms of the different standards, approaches and so forth.”
“I will refer the question to the Minister. I know Deputy Shane Moynihan and others have been in touch with him in respect of this issue. We will try to accelerate projects as quickly as possible. There should not be any delay on that. I will get clarity from the Minister about that and ask him to discuss it with the Deputy.”
“I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of that. We have brought down other charges a lot at acute hospitals but I take the point. We have allocated significant additional resources to the Health Service Executive in respect of a variety of services, including cancer services. It is always about balance and making sure we prioritise the allocation of resources to services, but we also want to try to reduce the pressure on patients and those who have to access hospitals for treatment. I will come back to the Deputy on it.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is an important issue for rural people in general who want to build one-off housing. The Minister is revising the guidelines in respect of this issue. On the development levies, we got 60,000 commencements. We now need to see them concluded. The Deputy has asked that we explore demarcation between one-off and general schemes, because we brought the VAT rate down to facilitate apartment-building and get critical mass back into that. I will talk to the Ministers with a view to looking at that or a specific ring-fenced initiative.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue. The Minister, Deputy Jack Chambers, said yesterday that he would engage with the Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, about the issue. I think he has met the owners or those who are running the centre and understands the wide usage, enjoyment and creativity that has taken place there. I will engage again with both Ministers in respect of it.”
“I take the Deputy's point about Down's syndrome. Some areas of special needs feel neglected with how things have evolved, so I understand the point.”
“I would commit to meeting the group, subject to varying commitments. We fully accept the need to overhaul access to therapy services. I would say that we are rolling out for the first time the therapy and education service, beginning with 45 special schools, hopefully starting in this academic year, and then all 145 special schools for the 2026-27 school year. After that, we will expand it to the mainstream school system. Obviously, we have to progress it because of recruitment and so on and we are expanding the number of placements. On top of that, we are developing a different assessment of need process, which the legislation published yesterday was designed to streamline but also to free up therapists to provide services as opposed to being locked up in an assessment process. Then we are looking at specifics around autism and so on.”
“Our security threat is to our critical undersea infrastructure, our gas imports and to security of other areas. We are very much aware of it. The country at large needs to increase its awareness of it also.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I discussed it earlier during Leaders' Questions. European security and defence is a live issue in Europe. From the onset of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been an exponential growth in cyberattacks, both on private sector installations, companies and businesses and on public sector areas. There has also been clear evidence of hybrid warfare, essentially, and increased emergence of drones and violation of airspace in a number of EU member states, including Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and France. There was an attack on a railway track in Poland, which is clear as to the culprits. There have been increased arson attacks in eastern European states. It is very clear that there is a security threat to Ireland.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will certainly raise it with the Minister, James Browne. I will talk to the Ministers of State, Deputies O’Sullivan and Moran, in respect of Elm Park and, in particular, the residents, who need clarity.”
“We will talk to the Minister. Over the last five years, there has been exponential growth in capital expenditure for school projects, with many in the special education arena, which is very important. The Department of education had agreed with the Department of public expenditure a very substantial national development framework for further extensions. I will refer the cases in question to the Minister for education and we will try to get to the bottom of the matter. Many schools across the country are progressing and there is a lot of work under way. I am aware that all the Deputies in Galway East and elsewhere are very anxious to have things progress quickly.”
“This is a very important issue and is perhaps one that the State or local authorities have not responded to in a comprehensive and effective over the years. That has been my own personal experience, like the one the Deputy has articulated. Criminal activity will have to be dealt with. Maybe resources are required or a greater security dimension is needed to support public servants locally in addressing issues of this kind. Very often, it can be quite intimidating for all concerned in certain situations, but I will talk to the relevant Minister and maybe we can work with the Deputy on how we might progress a fresh initiative in this area.”
“I thank the Deputy. He has a point but the legislation is not in the current legislative programme. We will have a meeting in early January on the new legislative programme for the next session. We will talk to the relevant Minister as well and hopefully we can provide some clarity on the matter of the reintroduction.”
“It is at a very high level now, with close to 25,000 special needs assistants in the county, so surely some should be facilitated.”
“There have been consistent increases in the number of SNAs in our schools on an ongoing basis. The largest increase in a long time is happening this year. About 860 additional special education teachers and 1,717 new SNAs will be recruited as a result of budget 2026. That will bring the total number of SNAs in the State to 24,900. Therefore, it should be within the capacity of the Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to work with individual schools. I do not have the specifics on each school - there are over 3,000 primary schools, and I appreciate the Deputy raising the case of one in his own locality - but I will refer the matter to the NCSE. However, there is no shortage in the increased allocation.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue to the workers concerned. I did meet them. We had a further extension following that meeting and a consultation with Ministers, particularly the Minister for Health. I will talk to the Ministers involved again. I do not want to raise any hopes or anything like that because, as the Deputy knows, this went to the Labour Court, which made a recommendation of a further extension at the time. That said, I will talk to other Ministers in respect of this.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue that is of significant concern to workers in CIÉ umbrella companies. I have been monitoring this for quite some time. I was delighted to see agreement reached. I certainly will pursue the matter with the respective Ministers to get this brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible.”
“People want a substantive, policy-driven and evidence-informed approach to dealing with the energy price issue. It is a huge issue in terms of Ireland's competitiveness and its impact on consumers and households. We have done a lot over the last number of years to best cushion households. We accept the pressure on them. The linkage at European level between gas and broader energy prices is an issue. We have already established a group to review this. We will pursue this with the companies and the CRU.”
“The Minister, Deputy Heydon, did very significant work with his counterpart and with the environment Commissioner, as did the Minister for housing, James Browne, in the context of the habitats directive and having the various plans ready for the extension of the derogation. We have engaged with the Commission on the Mercosur deal. The Commission has responded to the like-minded countries - France, Italy, Ireland and others - in respect of safeguards and stronger sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, standards. It has now issued a legal instrument to try to copper-fasten that. It is not the same deal as the previous one but we are still examining that with other like-minded countries.”
“When we came into government, there were three big issues in agriculture that the Government identified. The first was the extension of the nitrates derogation, the second was Mercosur and, third, albeit not in any order of priority, was the multi-annual financial framework, which as currently drafted is not sufficient. I think it is about 80% of the last CAP. There is a lot of negotiation on that. It looks like the multi-annual financial framework will fall to our Presidency for resolution and conclusion. The Commission has been extremely constructive with us. I had number of engagements with the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. I have to record that she was particularly constructive on the nitrates derogation.”
“People have criticised it in the context of climate and other issues. The Irish economy needs backup in energy resilience. This is a crucial project. It is an ongoing issue.”
“We witnessed that with the emergence of drones off our coast last week, but that is part of a pattern. As the President said himself at the press conference yesterday, it is the new norm. In Copenhagen, there was the emergence of drones during the European political council, and in France and Belgium. There has been a pattern of behaviour in the Baltic Sea, which is quite worrying, and also in Poland in terms of the train track there. There are serious issues facing security. Our vulnerabilities are without question in subsea cables, critical undersea infrastructure and gas connectors. We need to be very clear. I see that as an emergency from a security perspective. That is why we are developing the State-backed strategic gas emergency reserve. This is a security imperative.”
“In any event, they are most welcome and we will meet them later. The Deputy raised housing. It was interesting, yesterday, when the President of the European Council was here. Uninvited, he raised the issue of housing as a Europe-wide issue. It is growing in importance in terms of the European Union. It can be quite helpful to look at directives again and areas that impede the building of houses and infrastructure. The Deputy is very prescient in identifying housing as a Europe-wide issue. We can get added value from how Europe approaches new directives or, indeed, existing directives that inadvertently impede the acceleration of housing development. Last week, I met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There is no question that security and defence issues are very serious issues for Europe now.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue that is central to Ireland's economic progress and development and related issues in energy resilience, security and defence, and agriculture. The Presidency is important and it will commence on 1 July next year. It is an important opportunity for Ireland to shape the agenda, particularly at a time of change and increasing global challenges. The Deputy is right to reference Brexit. The most recent report from the central bank in the UK illustrates the very damaging impact Brexit has had on the British economy and GDP growth, or the absence of growth - it was -6% - and in respect of investment. I welcome those from the Charleville school. It is disconcerting when a Limerick TD is introducing a Cork school, but we will get over that.”
“Then there is an important service level agreement between the HSE and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland to provide radiotherapy on a cross-Border basis at the North West Cancer Centre, which I visited in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. That initiative offers cancer patients within a 90 minutes road journey of the city of Derry access to radiotherapy in Altnagelvin and this provides important access in the north west to patients who would otherwise face long travel distances. We are utilising private capacity and Northern capacity, which we have invested in as part of the North-South co-operation. We are trying to build up the capacity on all fronts.”
“I will inquire of the HSE in respect of that, although I would make the point that we have an alternative. The HSE outsources selected patients to private radiotherapy providers to ensure timely access to treatment when clinically appropriate. There is room for improvement and we will continue to work towards meeting the targets. In St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, 65% of patients are within the target while all other centres are meeting the 90% KPI. Approximately €10 million is spent on outsourcing radiotherapy appointments every year and that is in addition to the privately provided services in Limerick and Waterford, which are contracted to deliver services on behalf of the HSE.”
“Step 1 of the procurement process for the works and equipment will commence in Q1 of next year, with a contractor in place later in the year. If we can accelerate that, we will. The replacement programme has come under the national development plan. It is being progressed under its aegis. It is included in the capital plan for 2025 and the health sectoral capital plan from 2026-2030. The facilities in Cork and Galway are newly-built facilities, opened in 2019 and 2023, respectively, involving capital investment of €120 million. Advanced radiotherapy technology in Ireland has also been implemented, including the stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy and the stereotactic radiosurgery, SRS, which aims to reduce the number of treatment sessions. However, we are coming from a low base historically in this sector.”
“On the replacement programme, the demand is increasing in line with expectations identified by the National Cancer Registry and the National Cancer Control Programme. We have five public radiotherapy treatment departments in Ireland, with a total of 22 linear accelerators in operation across these services. Galway has four machines. Cork has five machines. St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network has 14 machines operating across three sites in Dublin: St. James's, Beaumont and St. Luke's. The HSE has a planned radiotherapy equipment replacement programme in place and has advised that all linear accelerator, Linac, machines in the St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network will be replaced over a five-year period out to 2030 with an additional two machines to be located at the Beaumont site. The design process is currently under way.”