There will be supports in the budget to support people in dealing with the cost of living. Food inflation in Ireland in May was 4%. We are mid-table across the European Union. This is a Europe-wide phenomenon. It is a global phenomenon in terms of what is happening with the energy crisis.
I love the way the Deputy tosses out an aside to the effect that infrastructure is on the Government-----
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
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0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
688,766
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686,628 as a minister, 2,138 as a TD
197
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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 |
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| 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
-----and that she does not have to account for it at all. We have spent record levels of investment in the past four years. We are going to go further again. The most important thing for the future of this economy is to ensure that we substantially increase and more than double the investment in the energy grid in order that we will have connections. That will allow us to deal with the growing population and economy.…
That will be a more effective allocation of spending-----
-----and prioritisation of the surpluses we will have at the end of this year and, hopefully, into the future.
I say that notwithstanding the difficult backdrop of the US potentially imposing high tariffs on the world.
That would put a lot of predictions out.
I thank the Deputy for her presentation and I pay tribute to Grannies for Palestine in highlighting the genocide against children in Gaza, the slaughter of children indiscriminately by indiscriminate bombing and now the indiscriminate shooting at food checkpoints, which we have witnessed via those who have captured those images on social media. We often complain about the use of social media in other spheres, but it …
-----on a massive surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Can I say very resolutely there has been no delay in the evacuation of children who require hospital treatment or medical treatment?
Absolutely no delay, and I think it is important that we get truth on that. I am happy for the Deputy to meet the Minister for Health and the Minister for justice who will apprise her of the details of this.
In fact, relative to other European countries, Ireland is well up. We are placed fifth overall in terms of the number of patients who have been evacuated to European countries, after Italy, Romania, Spain and Norway. We will do everything we possibly can. There is a further 18 to come, bringing us to 30. The issues are logistical. We are working with the WHO through the Egypt crossing.
Sorry, Deputy. This is Deputy Bacik’s moment. We will work but it has to be with the WHO. It simply has to be in terms of protocols, looking after the children and making sure everything is done properly. Today, we have formalised what is already happening; more family members can come in with the children because there can be issues.
There will be total family unification, and there has been in respect of that, and there will be for the next 18, but there is no delay on our side in terms of those 18. There are others-----
On the GAA, I am perplexed by this. No appeal has gone in. There was no pre-engagement with anyone here on the Government side. I am not clear if there even was with the Gaelic Athletic Association formally. There is a bit of a-----
I will say no more other than I am not comfortable with how this has been handled overall.
Not on our side but on the side of those organising it. We have to be fully conscious of our obligations to child welfare and child well-being in how we handle all of this.
First of all, Deputy, we have had the biggest expansion of access to free GP care in the history of the State, which the Deputy did not reference in his presentation on primary care services. It is the biggest expansion of access to free GP care in the history the State. Some 2.3 million people are now eligible in this country for free GP care. I would ask the Deputy to forward me the details of the individual cases …
That is a separate question,-----
-----but the Deputy never asks it because he does not want to fall out with anybody, which is understandable coming from the Opposition. There are issues in terms of how we deal with therapists. We have set up a new in-school therapy service for children in special schools that will start in September. We have already allocated money for that additional to the Estimate that was provided. That will be significant. Rec…
We will continue the work to recruit. We have been recruiting. There has been an increase of €6.71 billion in expenditure in health. This is a 35% increase in health spending since 2020, so do not say we are cutting back or are not allocating. The Deputy cannot say that with credibility.
We have allocated, which is a fundamental point.
By the way, we have made huge impacts across a lot of areas in health in the last five years, to such an extent - though this would be over a longer period - that our mortality rate fell by 11% over the decade from 2014 to 2024. We now have the second lowest mortality rate among the European 27, so the investment is having impacts of a positive nature.
Are there significant issues? Yes, especially with access to some primary care services, mental health services and, above all, therapies, but we are allocating. There have been issues in the HSE with recruitment and retention in some areas and those are being worked on.
Apart from the last sentence, I found that a fairly bizarre presentation. Deputy Tóibín is blaming the European Union. Europe did not impose any tariffs.
I am not missing it at all. His entire three minutes was about how the European Union is doing this, the European Union is doing that, the French have-----
-----have more influence than the Irish. It is absolute nonsense, if you do not mind me saying so. It is the US that has imposed the tariffs, not Europe. We do not want tariffs. Europe does not want tariffs. They are bad for the economy, people, patients, industry and businesses.