Martin, Micheál

Leaders' Questions

The Minister for Finance, following publication of the Mercer report on bankers' pay and so on, requested the banks to reduce the pay of bank workers by between 6% and 10%. The impression given by...

The Government has washed its hands of this issue. When the Minister requested banks to implement a reduction in pay of between 6% and 10% in line with the recommendation made in the Mercer repo...

The Government has the submission from the banks since the end of April. It is extraordinary and incredible that the Taoiseach says he does not have a clue about this issue and has no detailed kno...

Leaders' Questions (Continued)

I find it incredible that the Taoiseach or the Government seem to be unaware of this. It has been raised in the Dáil by my colleague and other Deputies in the House already in recent weeks. I p...

We are not talking about senior bankers.

We are not talking about the Labour Court. We are talking about ordinary workers. Will the Taoiseach use plain language and stop this camouflaging?

It is the Taoiseach's decision.

It is not a dispute.

Sorry, it is not a dispute. The Taoiseach said to take 6% off and they are doing it through pensions. The Taoiseach should tell the truth.

Deputy Byrne is a great representative of the working classes.

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy

Táimid bailithe anseo chun comhbhrón a dhéanamh le clann P.J. Morley agus, mar aon le sin, léiriú do chách an méad measa a bhí againn go léir air agus an méid oibre a rinne sé ar son muintir na tír...

P.J. Morley was a decent, modest man, who committed his life's work to public service to his country and, in particular, to the people of Mayo. I would again like to offer my sincere condolences...

I met P.J. when I was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1989. In trying to come to grips with this tumultuous House, and the difficulties that a new Deputy can encounter, I found P.J. a calming i...

He was a man with quiet determination. He went out and got the job done. It is fair to say he was very well liked across the political divide and he had great time for people, with his natural,...

Beneath that unassuming nature and distinctive good fun, however, there was a driving commitment to public service and to looking after people. That commitment saw him first elected to Mayo Coun...

The infrastructural benefits of his work in the Dáil and the council are still to be seen in Mayo today in road and water projects across the county. They, in themselves, represent a lifetime of...

We do not have to look far to find what P.J.'s most remarkable achievement was.

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (Continued)

People often say that politics is the art of the possible but with Knock Airport, P.J. may have proved people wrong. In the teeth of opposition from a significant Dublin 4 set - I see the Minister...

P.J. had that kind of quiet commitment to public service that toils away not for profit or glory but for the common good. His cause was the ordinary people he represented and their fight was his...

His legacy is greater and more enduring that any piece of infrastructure. His family can genuinely look at a life that has been well lived and see every day the impact he has had on their county...

Order of Business

There was a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce child care legislation and to prioritise child care services and the inspection of such services. I want the Taoiseach to indica...

Order of Business (Continued)

We read reports recently about senior advice to the Government not to increase the pupil-teacher ratio in early child care settings and not to cut back on allowances to child care providers. In li...

Social and Affordable Housing Provision

Asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government: the new initiatives taken by him to tackle the problems in areas of high deprivation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.