Results 261-280 of 1,092,402 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Chris Andrews8 OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Chris Andrews6 OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Joe McHugh OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Marian Harkin: In what may well be my last Leaders' Questions in the Dáil, I return to familiar territory, an issue I have raised with the Tánaiste and others many times, namely, the delivery of balanced regional development. I understand that the delivery of a balance of development between regions is not something that can be accomplished overnight, particularly when there are significant gaps....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: I appreciate that the Deputy has been consistent and persistent in addressing the issue of balanced regional development. There are statistics, damned statistics and all the rest.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Marian Harkin: Oh-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: Hear me out, please. I was in a rural village recently during the local elections. A councillor pointed out to me that the population had gone from about 500 when he went into local government to 2,500 or 3,000, the point being that the place had grown. A lot of rural Ireland has grown in population yet the mantra is a declining rural Ireland. It has elected a lot of Independents to this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Verona Murphy: The Government has led to it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: Somehow the truth is not reconciling here because there has been huge development in many parts of the regions. Equally, there have been big investments in Dublin and other urban areas. Post-Covid, it will be very interesting to see what happens because of the development of remote working, rural working hubs and so on. We are now getting a greater concentration of workers outside cities...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Marian Harkin: This always happens. The Tánaiste lists a few projects. Of course, I do not dispute that they are happening but he ignores the overall abysmal picture. He ignores the facts and does not deal with them. He does not come back to me and say "Well, Deputy Harkin, actually you are wrong about the completions in housing, wrong about the fact that we do not spend a reasonable amount in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: I know the ICJ ruling on the illegal Israeli settlements was extremely important and welcome, but I repeat that we did not need it to act. I presume the Tánaiste agrees with that because if I am correct, Fianna Fáil brought forward the Bill in 2019.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: However, because the Government waited, we are now running out of time. I heard the Tánaiste on The Irish Times podcast say that we would have an election after critical pieces of legislation were passed. Does that mean there is an army of lawyers in the Attorney General's office and the Department of Finance working morning, noon and night to try to get the occupied territories Bill...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: There are aspects of the occupied territories Bill that are clearly unconstitutional but they can be rectified and amended. It is clearly unconstitutional as it is currently drafted. There was a case just ten days ago concerning France v. the European Commission in respect of Western Sahara. There are very clear similarities between that and the West Bank. The ruling on that was not as...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I wish to raise the issue of the Government's carbon tax mismanagement. Billions of euro have been collected and millions of euro wasted. The C and AG report, which the Tánaiste drew on just minutes ago, reveals that 39% of carbon tax funds are misallocated. I am very concerned about the Government's handling of carbon tax funds and the allocation of the €2.872 billion...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: I do not accept that. The carbon tax commenced with this Government. We legislated for it to provide funds to help us reduce carbon emissions and transform certain sectors of our economy, one of the key aspects being retrofitting and creating more energy-efficient homes. The carbon tax has ensured that €262 million-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Will the Tánaiste answer the question?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy asked me where the money was spent.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I am asking where is the money that is missing.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Government allocated €380 million to retrofitting this year, more than half of which is dedicated to providing 100% free retrofitting to low-income households and those at risk of energy poverty. Anybody in the country would have to acknowledge that the retrofitting programme has been a transformation in the past four years. If we did not have the carbon tax, we could not do that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: My God, you are a professional spinner and spoofer.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: Sorry?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: You are a professional spinner and spoofer.