There are 60,000 households, many of them families with children, in receipt of the housing assistance payment, HAP. They are classed as having their housing needs met but I want to give the Tánaiste a case of one person in my constituency. Last night, I met a father with two young children who told me that he was sick with worry about being able to afford the weekly shop. He got to the Lidl counter and his debit car…
TDs / Rory Hearne
Rory Hearne
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
487
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
142,007
words spoken in the chamber
Across 575 contributions
398
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
112
topics asked about
Across 17 departments
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
What they ask about
The subject headings the Oireachtas filed their questions under.
Who they ask
The departments their questions were addressed to.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 487 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 575 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 6 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 21 | 16 |
| March 2025 | 24 | 21 |
| April 2025 | 20 | 27 |
| May 2025 | 22 | 28 |
| June 2025 | 23 | 28 |
| July 2025 | 126 | 46 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 25 | 7 |
| October 2025 | 24 | 40 |
| November 2025 | 12 | 17 |
| December 2025 | 10 | 28 |
| January 2026 | 38 | 53 |
| February 2026 | 5 | 53 |
| March 2026 | 40 | 28 |
| April 2026 | 27 | 19 |
| May 2026 | 12 | 65 |
| June 2026 | 26 | 26 |
| July 2026 | 11 | 26 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 11 | 22 |
| October 2026 | 4 | 24 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 359 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Worked out by computer from the subject headings of each TD's questions, giving more weight to headings few TDs use. It shows shared subjects, not shared views.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin North-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
To follow on from my fellow Deputies in Dublin North-West, we are highlighting this issue today because St. Aidan's CBS in Whitehall is at the centre of the community. It provides excellent education. We met the school principal and deputy principal recently, who outlined their very real frustration with the lack of progress on promises of new school buildings. Tá foirgneamh scoile nua ag teastáil ó St. Aidan's agus …
It is important that St. Aidan's is included in the new list and is prioritised. I again express the frustration from the school. The principal and deputy principal outlined that they had submitted the developed design to the Department in January of this year but they were still waiting to get a response on that. The Minister of State set out that it was undergoing a comprehensive technical and cost review. It would…
It is extremely frustrating to come back in here and put forward these proposals. We put forward key, targeted proposals for the budget last year and the Government completely ignored them. The Government has thrown its hands up and said the cost-of-living crisis is down to an international situation. It is blaming global oil prices for the cost-of-living crisis but the reality is core aspects of this cost-of-living …
We voted no confidence in the Government today because from our perspective, from what we see and from what our constituents tell us, people are struggling and suffering. They are being devastated by a cost-of-living crisis. What we are being told about the reality of people's lives is that they cannot cover the basics. There are people in this country right now who are choosing whether or not to turn on the heating.…
This is a cost-of-living crisis that has been going on for almost five years. The lack of self-awareness on the part of the Government is really frustrating and disappointing. What we saw last week was an expression of how people are struggling. It was one section of society but so many people are struggling. At the time of the most recent budget, we in the Social Democrats put forward an alternative budget that incl…
I have been researching and critically analysing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's infrastructure policy for almost 20 years. In fact, I did my PhD on it, specifically on infrastructure and how it was developed during the Celtic tiger period. Back then, 20 years ago, the key policy of Fianna Fáil was to have public-private partnerships deliver infrastructure through new ways which were, essentially, handing our public infr…
I will raise the issue of evictions, which I raised last week. The Tánaiste has probably heard that a number of people are facing eviction from a retirement village in Sligo. I am completely shocked by this. It is described as involving people in their 80s and couples. One couple in their 80s have a child with disabilities in his 50s who is facing eviction from this place, which is a retirement home. There is another…
What about all these people now?
I represent the constituency of Dublin North-West. The communities of Finglas and Ballymun have some of the highest deprivation in this country. The Minister has been out to visit us in Ballymun. I was at a community safety meeting in Ballymun just two weeks ago where members of the community outlined how there are primary school children walking to school past drug dealing. There is open drug dealing going on outsid…
Tairgim: “Go gceadófar go dtabharfar isteach Bille dá ngairtear Acht chun an Bunreacht a leasú.”
I move: “That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Constitution.”
This is my first Bill to be brought forward in Dáil Éireann. The Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026 seeks to put a right to housing into Bunreacht na hÉireann. The housing crisis is the most…
Tairgim: "Go dtógfar an Bille in am Comhaltaí Príobháideacha."
I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."
The response from the Government to the cost-of-living crisis that has come on top of a cost-of-living crisis is absolutely inadequate. The Government response is miserly in comparison to the scale of suffering in the country. We are seeing rising numbers of people living in poverty under this Government. The Minister claimed that the Government is addressing these issues. The Taoiseach goes on about addressing and c…
The Government had no problem giving back cuts to investor funds and developer funds in the budget but it will not give them to people who need the money.
That was a substantive point.
I am not shouting. I am making-----
Younger generations, renters and workers are being broken by the Government's housing policy failures. Today, we hear that last year there were 20,000 eviction notices issued to private renters, the highest we have seen since the Famine, and up 41% in the last quarter, made worse by the rent hike Bill. We are seeing evictions increasing on a scale we have not seen in this country. These evictions are causing a trauma…
I want to raise the issue of children in my constituency who are currently attending the Finglas Parochial National School. These children have additional needs and should be prioritised and yet do not have the classes they were promised and for which the school was sanctioned in 2024.
These children are spending two hours a day in a community hall and this is not good enough. These children should be in classrooms …
I thank the Minister of State. I reiterate that it is absolutely unacceptable that children are left for two hours a day - this is their education – in a community hall. The teachers have to re-set up every time. They do not have the proper toileting or sensory spaces. These are not appropriate school places. It is unfair. As one parent said last night, it is cruel for the Department and NCSE to be sanctioning and al…
149. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to ensure transparency in the home-buying process, to curb ghost bids and gazumping, and to curtail bidding wars that are leading to higher house prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18166/26]
House prices are completely out of control and have been for a long time. They have increased by 68% since 2020 when Fianna Fáil took over the housing Ministry - 68%. In Dublin, the median price of a home is €500,000. That is half a million euro for a home. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that are contributing to inflation in the market, such as dysfunction in our housing market, ghost bids, gazumpin…
Does the Minister accept that we have a serious problem in our housing market? We can look at it in terms of the gap between advertised sale prices and actual selling prices. We have a problem with that massive gulf and it is ordinary people - families and individuals - who are being squeezed on house prices, which are absolutely unaffordable. What is happening in the housing market can be seen on the Crazy House Pri…
I am very concerned because what we saw from the previous Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government was a commitment to address gazumping, ghost bids and the problems in the market. I am deeply concerned because the Minister is again making commitments to review it but I am not sure about the timeline for delivering changes and action on this. You can read article after article about this. We have examples of estate agents us…
So are arrears.
That still leaves a gap of 250,000 households.