77. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Transport to provide an update with timelines for the restoration of the Derry to Dublin air link. [63485/25]
TDs / Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Portrait: Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (CC BY 4.0) · source file
584
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
50,740
words spoken in the chamber
Across 447 contributions
442
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
153
topics asked about
Across 20 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.
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Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 584 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 447 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 3 |
| January 2025 | 5 | 11 |
| February 2025 | 43 | 38 |
| March 2025 | 53 | 18 |
| April 2025 | 28 | 39 |
| May 2025 | 33 | 26 |
| June 2025 | 37 | 17 |
| July 2025 | 35 | 24 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 12 | 22 |
| October 2025 | 38 | 16 |
| November 2025 | 40 | 17 |
| December 2025 | 14 | 42 |
| January 2026 | 39 | 16 |
| February 2026 | 35 | 43 |
| March 2026 | 24 | 18 |
| April 2026 | 16 | 29 |
| May 2026 | 39 | 21 |
| June 2026 | 40 | 5 |
| July 2026 | 12 | 9 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 20 | 10 |
| October 2026 | 21 | 22 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 319 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 Donegal 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
The announcement by the Government after such a long time that it will restore funding for the Dublin to Derry air link is extremely welcome. The population of the north west of Ireland is about 500,000. The removal of this air link was devastating and continued to devastate us for a long time. We need to get it restored as soon as possible. I want to get timelines for when we will have this link restored.
Some 40% of the passengers who use the City of Derry Airport are from Donegal. The Minister of State understands the geography of Derry and how close it is to Donegal. It serves a region of about 500,000 people. If he gets a map of Ireland out, he will see that, unfortunately, we do not have a motorway connection. Our hearts have been broken with the A5 delays. We do not have a direct rail connection from Derry to Du…
The defective concrete products scandals have destroyed so many lives across Ireland.
The Taoiseach's Government recently extended the pyrite remediation scheme. Almost 3,000 families in Dublin and Leinster have rightly received 100% redress. The State will take responsibility for the remediation of their homes directly. It is a very different scheme in Donegal, Mayo and the west of Ireland. Why are our people in th…
In three successive elections Fianna Fáil engaged and paid for media coaching services provided by broadcaster Ivan Yates.
He coached six Fianna Fáil Ministers, including the Taoiseach, yet you failed to disclose this relationship even though there was a clear conflict of interest. You knew Ivan Yates was playing for your team, contributing to Fianna Fáil election strategy and then presenting himself as an independe…
We are talking about a person who presents himself as independent.
It is a totally different matter. It is a matter of an analyst presenting as independent while playing for your team.
There is a major wind farm just above my hometown in Buncrana. Recently, I drove up the hill and observed that half of the turbines were actually turned off. When I made inquiries as to why that was the case, apparently the electricity infrastructure just is not there to take the power from them. It is absolutely extraordinary. These wind turbines are there a very long time. I just have to ask: what the hell is going…
There is a story online on theskipper.ie. It is the Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, annual fisheries report and it has caused outrage in the fishing industry because, essentially, the report says it is all fine. It is good; it is all fine. It is data from 2023.
This has to stop. We have to stop denying what is happening. My party conducted a survey late last year of hundreds of fishers and their families. They did not jus…
There are a number of barristers in this Dáil. One of them, our Minister for justice, has expressed his concerns about the attempts to undermine our justice system. It is important that we deal with that this week. There should be statements with questions to defend that system. Of course, the Minister for justice himself was attacked politically in this regard and he knows what it feels like.
This motion is utterly sensible. It is asking the Government to prepare now for Irish unity - to have the citizens' assemblies, a dedicated Minister for Irish unity and an Oireachtas committee to pursue these issues. It is about being responsible. It is an exciting challenge. What type of health service will we have? What type of education system will we have? How do we protect unionists within a united Ireland? All …
I apologise, can we get a copy of the speech?
I commend my colleague Deputy Charles Ward on putting together this motion. It speaks volumes that every single member of the Opposition accepted the invitation to co-sign the motion because it reflects the reality on the ground in our counties. My colleagues from other counties will speak soon. As someone from Donegal, I can say with absolute authority that this motion reflects the lived reality of our people. The G…
It is not agreed. This is unprecedented. The Government is moving a motion of confidence, when there has been no formal submission of the motion of no confidence. We have not seen the text of the motion of no confidence, so it is unprecedented to make this move.
I also add that at the Business Committee meeting on Thursday, I raised the unprecedented crisis in fisheries and seafood communities, which is unprecedente…
However, time has been made available now. It has all of a sudden been created to do something that is unprecedented. There was no time for the crisis in fisheries and seafood this week, but there is time for an unprecedented move by the Government-----
-----to move a confidence motion, when there has not been a formal receipt of a no confidence motion. It is usually done to negate the no confidence motion. This is a stunt. It is cynical-----
-----and we will absolutely oppose it.
We had a debate, so that did not work.
88. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on his plan to save the fishing and seafood industry from the impact of the proposed devastating cuts to the mackerel, blue whiting and boarfish quotas; and the financial aid that will be provided to the affected businesses and workers. [54988/25]
The Minister of State and I had an extensive engagement at the fisheries committee earlier today. These proposals are devastating. There is a 70% cut to the recommended mackerel TAC, 41% for blue whiting and 22% for boarfish while a zero TAC is recommended for cod, haddock and whiting. I would like to engage with the Minister of State on the Government's plan.
As he was coming before the committee, the Minister of State will not have had a chance to hear the contributions from the fish producer organisations and the representative of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association. In all of my time, I have never seen it worse. I have been in politics for 23.5 years, representing the fishing communities around me. In all those years, I have never seen a worse situation…
This has to be the moment where everything changes. This has to be a radical reset of the operation of the Common Fisheries Policy. The policy talks about climate change, sustainability and those communities closest to fisheries benefiting from them. We need to expose how all of that amounts to nothing. This is apparently four times worse than what happened to us after Brexit. Brexit was an absolute disaster for our …
It did not do that in the budget last year
I want to talk about the defective blocks grant scheme that is being made available to home owners in the west of Ireland. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, stated that the scheme would be the biggest redress scheme in the history of the State. He said it would be over €3 billion. He told home owners in the west of Ireland that they would get €500,000 each, the biggest redress scheme in the history of the State. That wa…
One third of a million euro.