I am of the view that if particular facilities are being provided for workers, in particular, or for people visiting any public institution, for that matter, value for money should apply and they should not cost outrageous sums. It should be done modestly, and very simple structures should be put in place. It should not have to cost €100,000 to provide a bike shed. Again, I am not into the detail of a bike shed at a …
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
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| 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
No, no.
Workers want facilities. These facilities are not for anybody in here, except the Opposition TDs who did want the bike shed last year.
They wanted a second one as well. They wanted two bike sheds for here. They wrote to the Ceann Comhairle for a bike shed-----
-----and did not come in condemning the costs. I presume the one in the maternity hospital is for workers to facilitate them if they cycle to work. We need to be careful too. Are we saying workers should not have facilities in an active travel context to reduce traffic congestion and allow people to cycle to work?
I can understand the Minister of State, Deputy Moran's annoyance because the bottom line is the Deputy's assertion-----
She talked to me about being a smart alec. Her assertions today were bogus, flawed and not serious. No one is taking that kind of nonsense seriously. She should take heed of what the Minister of State said. Read the e-tender. Yes, we have spent billions of euro on infrastructure. A lot of the projects we spent on have come in on target. Many schools such as Edmund Rice College, Dublin, Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy, Lime…
I have answered the question. Go and read the e-tender.
With the greatest of respect-----
What I would say to Pearse is: would you go away and design a bike shed for us and give us the costs? We will take it away and see what we do.
For God's sake, cop yourself on.
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very serious issue that demands a very profound and comprehensive response. I again express my deepest sympathies to Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison on the very sad passing of their son Harvey. We have to do much better when it comes to healthcare services for our children. I understand the anger and frustrations felt by parents and the children and young people who are …
We need more capacity, both in human resources and physical capacity in terms of ring-fenced surgery and so forth, to enable us to make even further inroads into the waiting lists.
At that stage there would have been newer members on the board. This is important. It is very easy. This is a challenge. The Government has a responsibility to maintain existing services. In the interim, you just cannot announce new initiatives off the top of your head. I signalled very early on the move that has transpired in respect of CHI coming in under the remit of the HSE. In fact, originally - I might have bee…
That may potentially create challenges as well.
I thank Deputy Cairns for raising a very important issue. We value the work of carers. Michael Woods brought in the carer's allowance quite a number of years ago. He was a Fianna Fáil Minister for social protection and at the time it was a novel concept. It was quite innovative. It started at a very low level, but incrementally things have improved significantly. We committed in the programme for Government to elimin…
The Deputy is correct when she says we have choices. Everyone in the House has choices. The estimated cost is around €600 million. We also want to increase domiciliary care allowance and other categories of social protection, which the Minister will bring to the Government in the first instance and then the measures will be announced on budget day. It will all come under an overall amount that will be allocated to th…
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for a very significant industry in the country. He spoke eloquently about the west Cork experience. As he will know, the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, has been hounding me on this issue, as has the Minister, Deputy Foley, from the Kerry perspective. All the counties where hospitality is particularly strong in the summer period have been strong advo…
I understand the issue the Deputy is raising. The costs increased significantly for the sector. I acknowledge that. The data we are getting in is not showing any significant decline in employment, but there could be churn. Some people could be in difficulty while other new businesses are established and opened. We want long-term sustainability for the industry and the hospitality sector. You could have a crowded rest…
He agreed yesterday.
First, I join the Ceann Comhairle in welcoming the active retirement group from Midleton, and Ability West. I have a strong fondness for Midleton women.
I know. In any event, in terms of the bike shed the Deputy referenced earlier, the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is saying the approximate cost for the actual bike shed was €32,000. There is a lot more going on there.
In terms of the IPAS, that report was circulated today and we need to examine it. We have transferred responsibility for migration and IPAS centres from the Department of children to the Department …
House prices are very high, and too high for many young people. That said, since 2020, notwithstanding Covid, about 148,000 new houses have been delivered in this country. The percentage of first-time buyers has been steadily increasing from about 25% of all purchases in 2015 to just under 40% in July 2025, and the latest data indicate further increases. First-time buyers continue to make the largest contribution to …
That review is going before the emergency development forum, which is imminent. I met with many of the groups after Storm Éowyn. Irish Water, in particular, undertook to immediately procure additional generators for the number of facilities where there had not been generators prior to or during Storm Éowyn. That was one practical step that we could take. We have also undertaken to resource various community-based gro…
It is but I will get the most up-to-date information for the Deputy and will communicate it to her directly. From 1 October, trawling activity and fishing vessels over 18 m in length over all waters inside the 6 nautical mile zone will be prohibited.