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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“About 25% of children in the national childcare scheme are now already paying under €200 per month. We will make continued progress on increasing the number who will be paying €200 or less and we will make a significant move on that in the forthcoming budget.”
“This demonstrates the scheme's underlying strength and stability. More than 92% of eligible providers remained engaged across the first three years of core funding, showing sustained sector-wide participation. We increased core funding again this year to about €480 million. That is an increase of €90 million on the current year. We are just 16 months into a five-year term for this Government. We are focusing on reducing the fees and core funding is a mechanism for doing that. We have made significant progress in relation to that. For a typical full-day place, the maximum fee drops from approximately €280 to €183 per week, after the universal national childcare subsidy scheme. This is a saving of over €600 per family since we froze price levels in 2022. We are also increasing income thresholds from September.”
“We are very conscious of the essential role that childcare plays, first of all, in the development of the child. We always have to keep the child centre stage in respect of childcare provision and child development, and then in terms of parents and to facilitate people to access the workplace. Core funding participation is at its highest level since the scheme began, despite what the Deputy has said. As of today, over 4,590 services have signed up for the 2025-26 programme, making this the largest number of partner services in core funding since the launch. Some 177 services left core funding at some point over the lifetime of the scheme and currently operate outside of it. A total of 415 services left at some point but later rejoined and are now participating in year 4. Over 70% of services that had exited have returned.”
“We need a sense of balance and perspective here. The Deputy's assessment is way off the mark, in terms of painting a picture of where childcare is today compared with where it was even five years ago. We have delivered more progress on childcare in five years than in the previous 30 years. Costs are down by 36%, investment is at a record high and now, for the first time in the State's history, we are beginning to directly build childcare facilities. New measures announced this month will reduce fees further from September 2026. Childcare will be a central priority in budget 2027. We will really focus on it. I know that the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, has significant proposals which will be part of the budget preparations and negotiations.”
“The revision to IS 465 was made on 2 June. Under section 51 of the Act, the Minister must review the scheme following that revision. The review will examine several aspects of the scheme, including treatment of foundations. Findings must be reported to the Oireachtas within three months of completion. That is the timeline.”
“The changes have to be assessed and a review process is required under the legislation. IS 465 is the national standard currently used to assess damage caused by mica or pyrite in affected homes.”
“Since the Government commitment of 2020, more than 3,500 homeowners have been progressing through the defective concrete blocks grant scheme, with grants covering 100% of eligible costs up to €462,000 per household. That is a 10% increase since 2023. Over €336 million has been spent to date, which shows the scheme is really ramping up, with a record €175 million allocated this year. More than 500 homes have been completed, with 750 currently undergoing remediation. Approximately 80% of the affected homes are in Donegal. This is a significant scheme by any yardstick. I do not think it has any precedent in terms of its scale. The issue the Deputy raised is a technical issue, albeit a significant one, arising from recent changes to the national standard governing the scheme.”
“IS 465 was revised on 2 June and that revision now needs to be examined in more detail. The Government remains committed to following the science when it comes to homes affected by defective concrete blocks, as per the provisions of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022. The Minister for housing intends to carry out a review of the operation of the Act as quickly as possible. That is provided for under the legislation. The issue of how damage interpretation is dealt with under the revised national standard will be addressed as part of that review. In the meantime, the scheme can continue to operate to fix homes for the many homeowners who have already received a determination and a grant amount under the former standard.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Clearly, the defective concrete blocks issue has evolved. It is a very complex issue, which the Government is addressing in the first instance by agreeing and allocating very significant amounts of funds to the affected homeowners to enable families to rebuild their homes and get on with their lives. I believe in a multidisciplinary approach to issues. The Deputy's basic query is whether IS 465 should be led by independent materials science expertise or by engineering. I think perhaps it should be both. There always have to be inputs. The grant scheme is underpinned by the national testing standard. We have agencies, including the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, and so on to determine the standards.”
“However, having been a Minister in the Department of Health and having experience of dealing with this issue, I can say the approach has been predominantly health-led but that does not guarantee that consumption goes down. It does not actually quite guarantee it. There are different experiences in different jurisdictions. We need to examine the report and keep working on this. There is more than just one recommendation; there are 160 recommendations and we have to implement them all.”
“The Government accepts and has accepted that possession of illicit drugs for personal use is fundamentally a public health issue and not just a matter for the criminal justice system. That has been the position for quite some time. The Government will shortly introduce a health referral scheme for those found to be in possession of illicit drugs for personal use. The report has just been published. As is necessary, both the Department of Health and the Department of justice will examine it. There are some 160 recommendations in it. The mental health dimension will be examined as well. We are going to give it very serious consideration.”
“In terms of diversion, the Government had agreed to divert those found in possession of drugs for personal use to the health services, in line with the health-led approach. The Minister responsible for that has agreed that will commence on an administrative basis for the time being. Obviously, the Government will assess the Oireachtas report in terms of the broader issues, including the decriminalisation proposal. About €170 million was provided last year to the Department of Health and HSE for drugs services, an increase of about €54 million over the past seven or eight years. It is all about treating addiction and having more drug treatment services. We will continue to expand that side of the equation. There has been an increase in recurring funding and so on.”
“In 2025, the figure was about 15,422, a 16% increase and a 73% increase in the annual number of cases entering treatment since the commencement of the current national drug strategy in 2017. Communities continue to experience harm because of drug use. In some areas, the level of harm in communities is acute. The increase in treatment numbers reflects increased investment. There has been a lot of investment. We can continue to increase the level of investment, but we also have to be rigorous. That is why the Oireachtas report is important. It is also important that investment sees a return. Cocaine was the most commonly treated main problem drug in 2025, accounting for 42% of all cases. There has been an increase in investment in treatment services as a result of that.”
“I welcome the final report of the joint committee. I have not had an opportunity to read it in its entirety. Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, who is a member of the committee, made a presentation to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party last evening on the report's core recommendations. Fundamentally, over the past 20 years we have moved to a health-led approach in terms of drug addiction. It has not been a criminal response, in the main. Rather, it has been health-led, going back to the methadone clinics for heroin in an earlier era. The focus, generally speaking, has been a health-led one. A significant number of cases present for treatment for problem drug use.”
“-----the political agenda. I did not interrupt the Deputy. He has an awful habit of doing it. That is his political agenda. The Government has not made a decision in respect of the end of July. Is that clear?”
“The Deputy put the amendments down last week so he could then make the allegation that we are increasing prices and try to engineer protests. That is what is going on. I have seen the Facebook pages. I have seen it all. The Government makes a decision, there are going to be protests. That is the game.”
“Deputy Doherty just wants to look after the oil companies by giving them whatever. He does not even want to monitor what is going to happen over the next number of weeks. It makes sense that one watches the market - of course it does - otherwise one is just filling the pockets of the oil companies which will benefit from the decline. We are talking about taxpayers' money. As I said, we have some distance to go before the end of July.”
“In terms of the measures we took, we took 32 cent off diesel, 27 cent off petrol and 7.4% off MGO. We deferred the carbon tax increase to 14 October. Some €40 million per month was allocated to transport over three months and a €100 million fuel scheme for farmers, contractors and fishers was introduced. The diesel rebate increased to 12 cent per litre. We increased the fuel allowance to €38 per week and expanded eligibility, with about 470,000 households supported as a result of that. In the budget proper we did the core budgets. The Deputy seems to be making assumptions. The end of July is more than a month away. The Government will keep this under review. We have said this repeatedly. The Government will take a decision in respect of the diesel and petrol situation before the Dáil recess.”
“We are closely monitoring the international domestic fuel prices. This will inform our decision-making process. The latest Eurostat data shows that Ireland experienced one of the largest reductions in diesel prices across the European Union in May, reflecting easing international energy pressures and improved conditions in global markets. The recent increases as a result of the war are beginning to unwind. Irish diesel prices fell by 8.1% in May; I do not have June figures yet. That is the fourth-largest reduction in the European Union. Petrol prices in Ireland also declined by 2%, with Ireland among the countries seeing reductions when many others continue to experience increases. Wholesale energy prices fell significantly month on month following the sharp spike recorded in April.”
“The pressures on people have been very significant because of the increase in fuel prices arising out of the war in Iran between America and Iran. On the Hormuz strait, there has been a cessation of violence and war, but there has also been at least a resolution which has given some respite to the situation. We took significant measures to try to help people. I will come back to that in a moment. Brent crude, as a result of what has been happening in recent time, oil prices currently stand at around $75 per barrel. That is down from its peak closing price of $115 per barrel in early May, but still above prices of around $70 per barrel recorded before the war. We have seen stability domestically in recent weeks, with steady declines in the prices for kerosene, auto fuels and marked gas oil.”
“Is léir gur tharla ardú an-ard ar fad ar phraghsanna peitril agus díosail de dheasca an chogaidh san Iaráin. Bhí brú faoi leith ar mhuintir na tíre agus ar an ngeilleagar agus tá fós. Rinne an Rialtas cinneadh faoi leith suas le €750 milliún a chur ar fáil chun an brú seo a laghdú do dhaoine. D'éirigh linn. Mar aon leis sin, rinneamar i bhfad níos mó, go háirithe ó thaobh cúrsaí talmhaíochta, iascaireachta agus iompair de. The Government reduced petrol excise and diesel by 32 cent and 27 cent. We did not increase it. Clearly, the Deputy is all about politics and not about policy. He played politics last week with this and he is playing politics this week with it. Sinn Féin cleverly put in a few amendments last week. They get voted down, and then the Deputy turns it around and says the Government is voting for increases.”
“I am conscious of the fact that Laois needs investment in the industrial context. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, to engage with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to see what their views on this are. It may sell private sector to private sector and another enterprise could come in there. From what the Deputy is saying it seems to be a modern factory, so it is a facility that potentially another company could utilise. I would have concerns that Leprino Foods is moving to Northern Ireland or to Wales. We need to understand the reasons behind that because that would be a concern. Maybe those areas are offering more supports but we need to have a full understanding as to why the move happened. I will talk the Minister to see if something can be done with the agencies in respect of that facility.”
“That is across 2,000 schools and funding has increased by €42 million. The scheme has grown out of all proportion. In fact, it was a scheme that originally was meant to target children with additional needs or children in certain circumstances of disadvantage. Any review would need to keep a focus. It has grown exponentially. There has been a lot of interaction between the Department and the schools. We have a lot of SNAs appointed. About 11,500 SNAs participated last year, with a similar number expected this year. That is now a very significant resource, so let us have some balance and perspective.”
“I am mindful of language but in ten years we have gone from about 8,700 students availing of the summer scheme to 70,000 students availing of it. How does the Deputy call that a shambles? That is nonsense.”
“That is a reasonable point. I will talk to the Minister for justice on this to see if there are ways we can streamline vetting, particularly when someone has already been through a vetting procedure and process. If they apply for another job in parallel or some time afterwards, in a different area, apparently they have to go through the process again. Recruitment has been a considerable issue for us in the health service, particularly in the area of therapy. Anything we can do to speed that up is something we should do.”
“There will be songs written about the 132 bus yet. It has been raised here on numerous occasions and I will talk to the Minister in respect of it. There could be a few PhD theses written about Government agencies and Government Departments talking to each other. There is a human tendency to try to live in silos. We work extremely hard to break all of that down. The integrated approach of people working together is key. I will follow up with the Minister for Transport in respect of bus transport. There has been a significant expansion of bus services over the last number of years. There was some degree of consolidation this year, to be frank, and in terms of other expenditure items.”
“Aontaím leis an Teachta gur cheart go mbeadh muid in ann an buninfreastruchtúr sin a chur i bhfeidhm. Tá deacracht ann go háirithe in áiteanna iargúlta. Bhí sé soiléir le linn Stoirm Éowyn, mar shampla, nach raibh an córas chomh láidir is a cheap gach éinne go raibh sé. Cailleadh an córas go han-tapa ar fad. Beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire, an Teachta Calleary, le féachaint an féidir linn níos mó a dhéanamh ó thaobh áiteanna iargúlta agus b’fhéidir níos mó tacaíochta a thabhairt don pobal nó do na comhlachtaí chun plean a chur i bhfeidhm ionas go mbeidh broadband ann don phobal.”
“The Deputy has raised the specific case of Rosslare. More generally, we will have to put more resources to one side for the costs of adaptation to climate change. That change is here now. I understand the temperature in London, for example, will be 40 °C by the end of the week. That is an extraordinarily high temperature across the water. There has been too much complacency about climate change being something in the distant future. The impacts of climate change are here and now. We need stronger budget lines for the costs of those impacts.”
“Everything will be done to uphold the rights of children and human rights. There also has to be a fair and firm migration system. The key to it is to have timely processing of applications so that children or families are not here an inordinate length of time, during which they put down roots and so on, before then, as a result of the application process, being found not to have proper status. Huge progress has been made in accelerating the timelines for the first phase of applications. Work is also under way on the next phase in terms of the appeals process. I think ensuring children are not deported during school time is a reasonable position.”
“It is terribly cynical politics of the worst kind but it is a great old technique to create an issue and send a hare up the field when actually there is no issue in the first place. Of course the GPO will be an iconic building by the time we are finished with it but, as the Deputy knows, there is a huge complex behind it. We are looking at the major iconic cultural aspect. There will be a post office there and there will be other elements there as well to create footfall. We hope to have either a State agency or a public service there also. It will take a lot of work. Likewise, there is some very good work being done on Moore Street by the State but that has been attacked as well by your good selves.”
“My understanding is that under the current programme, the development is on track to go to tender for the main building works this year and to appoint a main contractor in quarter 1 of 2027, subject to the necessary approvals. As the Deputy knows, there was a phase 1 back in 2017. Phase 2 is the paediatric inpatient accommodation, which will deliver 82 much-needed inpatient beds, both new and replacement. It has taken time but, in parallel with all this, a substantial package of enabling works has been under way since 2024 to support both the paediatric unit and the wider redevelopment of the CUH campus. The paediatric unit forms part of the first phase of major CUH campus developments, which are significant in scale, cost and complexity. We will keep a weather eye on the project.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. There is a unit now within Uisce Éireann that is meant to be responding to public representatives in respect of issues. I do not have the specifics but I clearly can detect from the nature of the Deputy's contribution that he is irate at what has transpired in respect of a project in his area. I will talk to the Minister about it.”
“As I said earlier to a series of questions on this issue, we will be responding in a positive way to correspondence from representatives of the survivors of Dunderrow National School in regard to mediation. The abuse was horrific - of that there can be no question - and the trauma experienced was equally life-enduring but there were earlier ex gratia payment schemes so mediation will be entered into in respect of the correspondence we received.”
“I have not seen the programme. I appreciate that the work that went into the making of that programme. Again, it is another story of horrific abuse as we discussed earlier in terms of the wide-scale prevalence of child sexual abuse in our society and by institutions as well. We have had a number of inquiries and a number of them are being contemplated again in respect of these issues. To a certain extent, the system is being fairly widely stretched in terms of the number of inquiries. I will ask the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to examine this in greater detail and I will revert to the Deputy.”
“In the forthcoming budget, we are going to focus very much on the child poverty question, as we did in the last budget. It is recognised that increasing child support payments and domiciliary care allowance is a very targeted way of helping those most in need, and that is what we intend to do.”
“Actually, I would disagree with the Deputy's solution. What we did in the budget was child support payments for the lowest income, not the middle but the lowest income, We dramatically increased it and have done for the last two budgets. That is how you tackle poverty. It did reduce in the budget by any yardstick and objective. Over the last number of years, we brought in free primary school books and post-primary school books for children, which is a huge help to families. We have expanded and extended the free hot school meals. There is a universal childcare subsidy. There is a €280 new baby grant. Hospital inpatient charges were abolished. We have expanded free GP care and free contraception and we have done much more than that.”
“Particularly for complex special educational needs, again, there is provision for SNAs and for teachers. In 2025, there were about 11,500 special needs assistants participating in the programme and similar numbers are expected to participate in this year's programme. For any specifics, I can revert to the Minister. I would like to welcome the Dolmen group from Butlerstown and Portlaw. They are very welcome.”
“The Deputy paints a picture of a scheme that is growing and growing year on year but he does not articulate that in his presentation. Funding has grown from about €12 million back in 2016 to about €62 million this year, with over 70,000 students participating across 2,000 schools. We have gone from 8,000 students participating to 70,000. That is an enormous, exponential increase in students participating in the summer scheme. The funding has increased by €42 million. I am told here that no eligible child is being precluded from taking part in the summer programme this year, that all sanction letters to schools that applied to run a programme have issued, and that officials in the Department of education are engaging with schools on an individual basis in relation to the running of their summer programme and staffing allocations.”
“The Minister is pursuing these issues across the board. We certainly we engage in respect of a support system. When any industry comes looking for a support system, it is reasonable that the Government approaches that in terms of value for money, representing the taxpayer and to make sure that we do it properly and right. I will engage with Minister in respect of the issues the Deputy has raised now and revert to him.”
“I have witnessed some of this at some of the openings we have been at. For example, in the midlands in particular, we will see further developments in that regard. However, we have made a lot of progress. We can make more progress. When the Deputy said it is wasted and so on, it is an issue of technology and technology catching up in terms of that storage area. That has been an evolving story for the past number of years. It is not quite there yet but it is making huge progress. We will do everything that we can to support it.”
“There is about 1.91 GW of electricity storage systems with planning permission and connection contracts pending fulfilment with EirGrid as of last December. As the Deputy knows, we are pursuing offshore wind capacity. Particularly in terms of the auctions that were concluded over the past two years, if we can get those developed, then we will be in a very significant position in terms of renewables powering the majority of electricity. On the storage issue more generally, we will commit to setting a target. In terms of an incentive scheme or grants, as the Deputy has outlined, I will revert to the Minister in respect of that. Again, that is something that will be assessed. More broadly, the technology is improving all the time. There is a significant degree of private sector investment in the storage area, also.”
“What the Deputy said at the beginning is true. We are making very significant progress on renewable energy in this country. We have reached a record of circa 8 GW of renewable energy generation capacity, which is up from 4.8 GW in 2020. Onshore wind now provides very significant levels of power. Last year, we hit the important milestone of 5 GW of installed onshore wind capacity. We also reached the milestone of 2GW of installed solar capacity last November. In terms of solar generated electricity, in April we reached a peak of 1 GW on the grid. That is enough power for around 500,000 people. Solar generation went from zero to replace coal as the third highest source of indigenous generation in less than a decade. This is the progress we are making.”
“The legal representatives of the Dunderrow survivors have written to the Government and to the Minister inviting the Government to enter mediation with their clients with a view to resolving their claim against the State. That is what I said this morning. We will respond positively to that invitation. Those are the specifics of the request. This correspondence arrived in the past week or ten days. That is the factual and specific response to that point. On the broader issue, the interdepartmental group is due to report next year. We will see if we can bring that forward.”
“It was not opened up completely, not comprehensively, but in many respects. A torrent of abuse has emerged in all aspects of life, it seems to me. We can look at the SAVI report going back along and the context in which it reported in respect of its estimations of the nature of abuse. That said, on religious orders, the Government's position on the Labour Party's legislation will be a six-month timed amendment. We believe it aligns with Government policy. We are not in disagreement with the intent or purpose of what the Labour Party is proposing legislatively. We will support that. We are entering into mediation in respect of Dunderrow. We will try to progress that as quickly and as effectively as we can, while also knowing we have a broader issue to deal with, as the Deputy has said, in respect of the interdepartmental group.”
“As to the capacity to get money at the time, we did not want to put victims and survivors at that time through years and years of courts. Then, we had the swimming abuse inquiry. We had a series of diocesan inquiries, which the government initiated against Cloyne and against Dublin. I remember the Ferns inquiry, for example, and further abuses and revelations right up to the present day in respect of the Spiritans and of schools more generally. We are now in a situation where we have a comprehensive commission of inquiry into schools, which we did not have before. The situation has evolved. There was a time prior to the nineties when the State did not habitually establish commissions of inquiry into abuse, but from the late 1990s onwards Irish society was opened up in many respects.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. If we look back over the last three decades, we have had numerous episodes or revelations pertaining to institutions both public and private in respect of child sexual abuse. It has been quite horrific. I refer to governments from about the late 1990s onwards and the 1999 period onwards when we first initiated the inquiry into industrial schools. I recall the anger when the State paid up close to €1 billion in redress. Everybody attacked the government of the day, of which I was a member, because the accusation was we left the religious off. I never accepted this fully by the way because I felt the State had culpability there too, in terms of inspectorial reports and so on. The State always had culpability in respect of its involvement in the industrial schools.”
“That was the idea of the overall comprehensive inquiry and the idea of the interdepartmental group to examine how we deal with all of these issues, not just in one or two schools but the generality of where abuse has taken place.”
“It is not delay, delay, delay in respect of the mediation that has been sought by the representatives of the survivors of the abuse by Leo Hickey. We will engage in that mediation. There is a wider redress issue that has to be examined in the context of schools in general across the nation over the last number of decades. That is the point I am making. This has been in a legal framework for quite some time as well. I have no issue meeting with people but the Government has to resolve this as well and come to conclusions in respect of it. I am clear on what we need to do, specifically in terms of these survivors of this particular abuse but there will be others as well. There will be other schools and a need for further responses in different contexts.”
“The established mechanism was that where schools were run by the diocesan authorities or by religious orders, it was those that were primarily culpable in terms of abuse that happened. In the context of Dunderrow, of course, in the 1960s, this was pre any official guidelines from the State or Government to these patron bodies in respect of safeguarding children and guidelines that we have today, like Children First. We have a far greater framework of laws and guidelines to try and protect children, which did not exist then. That is the area where the European court found the State culpable in respect of adequate safeguarding not being provided to schools at that particular time. We will take this forward and revert to the House in due course.”
“That person would have received compensation at the time but even that is at a modest level, if I am honest. The legal representatives wrote to the Attorney General last week. As I said, we are going to engage in a constructive way and I do want to see a resolution of this. There are also wider implications in the context of what emerged in the last number of years in some religious-run secondary schools, which led to the scoping inquiry that recommended a full inquiry - which we have established - into abuse in primary schools and all schools across the country. There is also the issue of redress and how that would be handled. An interdepartmental group was established to deal with that, which will have far-reaching implications all round but also with regard to accountability and responsibility.”