There are tens of thousands of people in this country working in cafes and restaurants throughout the length and breadth of the country. They are workers. It is an industry under pressure.
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
688,766
words spoken in the chamber
686,628 as a minister, 2,138 as a TD
197
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 6,546 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 11 |
| January 2025 | 6 |
| February 2025 | 438 |
| March 2025 | 518 |
| April 2025 | 317 |
| May 2025 | 426 |
| June 2025 | 424 |
| July 2025 | 344 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 146 |
| October 2025 | 375 |
| November 2025 | 291 |
| December 2025 | 281 |
| January 2026 | 326 |
| February 2026 | 529 |
| March 2026 | 229 |
| April 2026 | 385 |
| May 2026 | 474 |
| June 2026 | 425 |
| July 2026 | 181 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 198 |
| October 2026 | 222 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 6,426 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Cork South-Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 23 January 2025 to now
Studies show-----
Studies show that increased labour costs did impact on those businesses.
Deputies should not be so dismissive of the hospitality sector, as they are in their commentary, and likewise in terms of housing.
We do need to narrow the viability gap. The Deputy is all bluff and bluster about housing-----
-----but any time there is a solution that can contribute to housing-----
-----Sinn Féin just knocks it and condemns it and sloganises it by saying it is a tax break for developers.
It is not.
What it is about-----
I did not interrupt you, Deputy.
I did not interrupt the leader of Deputy Doherty's party-----
-----and he should stop heckling and shouting and being Mr. Angry all the time.
The bottom line is this-----
Well, maybe Sinn Féin's decision to sit it out and not have a candidate might have been a wise one after all, but anyway-----
I will just say-----
Sinn Féin does not-----
A Cheann Comhairle, that is not good enough. We will either have-----
I think we need fairness. I am not being allowed to answer.
I have to disagree because in terms of the commitments we made in the election, we are following through on them very clearly in this budget.
Deputy Bacik avoided the whole area of child poverty.
She should welcome the move we have made in that regard. We have to do more, but there is a €300 million package alone for the lowest income. Look at the objective assessment. The Labour Party should acknowledge that the two lowest-income deciles will benefit the most from this budget. That is the reality.
In terms of disability, there are significant increases in a range of payments, particularly the disability pen…
No, I said during the election that I wanted to maintain the enterprise economic model that we have, which Deputy Murphy resolutely opposed.
That was a big choice in the election and people voted accordingly in terms of that fundamental principle.
That is why we have invested in public services. This is a €9.4 billion budget. A lot of economists are saying it is too high and we should not be expending as much as we are spending.
Sorry, that is what a lot of economists are saying to us. We disagree. We think the expenditure increase is in line with the basic premise of an expenditure rule, that this represents real growth of the economy-----