I will talk to the Minister. I did not get the final point the Deputy made. The issue is that about 93% of all eligible providers have signed up to the current core funding scheme. Some are leaving in certain areas, as was articulated yesterday-----
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
I will engage with the Minister for children on this and ask her to talk to the Deputy in respect of the points he made. Our aim is to try to get the fees down and we have made a lot of progress in the last number of years in doing that. I hope that people are not exiting in certain areas because they feel they can get better prices on the market as opposed to the constraints that the core funding scheme puts on peop…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 14, inclusive, together.
I had a bilateral meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, on 10 March at which we discussed plans and priorities for Ireland's EU Presidency, international issues, including the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, and bilateral relations, which are excellent. My visit to Madrid was the first in a series of visits to European capital…
I should have congratulated them.
I thank all the Deputies for their comments. At the outset, I congratulate Spain on an emphatic win last evening against France, our nearest neighbour in the European Union. I attended the French Embassy last evening and wished them the best. Thankfully there was not a Spanish function afterwards but they did spectacularly well and we eagerly look forward to the final.
Deputy Daly raised the issue of the memorandum …
Exactly, but we can always learn. I am always open to learning. Every day is a new day.
On the electricity charge, the issue there was the preponderance of renewables in Spain and on the Iberian Peninsula which they did during the Covid crisis because they felt gas was completely distorting their price, given the fact that they were overwhelmingly renewable. They got a carve-out from gas being the determinant price-…
I did not realise there were five more.
In response to Deputy Whitmore, there will be no retreating or withdrawal from climate change during our Presidency. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is very committed to this. He will be taking a leadership role in respect of Europe's presentation at COP. There have been different perspectives across the European Union. People in some member states want to reform and revise the …
He has raised it with great consistency. I have raised it with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, who keeps telling me the Department is on the case. There are some issues in respect of making sure of safety and so on in houses. I will check that with Bord Gáis. The Deputy was saying it was misleading. I do not think Bord Gáis would deliberate mislead but I will point out the point he has made to it.
On Deputy Ó Murchú's…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 30, inclusive, together.
This will be a long answer because there is one task group and one futures group. In May 2024, the Government appointed a task force to take a holistic view of the measures required to rejuvenate Dublin city centre, north and south, making it a more thriving, attractive, and safe cityscape, and a desirable location to live, work, do business and visit.
…
Can I talk about Cork at all? Give me one minute on Cork.
Give me one minute on Cork.
A dedicated body, to be known as The Cork City Futures Group, will work to unlock the city’s full economic, cultural and academic potential, alongside further investment, innovation and infrastructure. I think people are familiar with the terms of reference. The group is comprised of members representing academia, business, An Garda Síochána, the arts and culture sector, tourism, transport and the community and volun…
Who?
Deputy Séamus McGrath raised the issue of the need for a strategic integration transport office in Cork. There are multi-billion euro projects on the go at the moment. The biggest one is the docklands. On 23 June, the Government approved a preliminary business case for the Cork city docklands enabling an infrastructure investment programme. That was reviewed by the major projects advisory group in KPMG, as well as th…
Deputy Whitmore has now left the Chamber. I understand she probably has another committee to go to. I take her point on antisocial behaviour on buses, particularly Dublin Bus. That is a serious issue. We do not want situations where people are afraid to go on a bus, or are discouraged from doing so, because of antisocial behaviour. I will talk to the Minister for Transport in respect of where we are in terms of secur…
The social media companies as well, absolutely.
Deputy Heneghan referred to the living city initiative. This initiative, in the context of the changes that have been made to it, is a game-changer. The old living city initiative seemed to be something that civil servants in a certain Department created to make sure that it would not have any impact. They succeeded, because it did not have an impact. In the most recen…
What the Deputy has described is horrific for Sandra - I did not get her surname - and her son Jayden. It is something that we are going to deal with very robustly. The legislation in terms of Grace’s law was enacted on 3 April. We are now in the middle of July. I know the Garda Commissioner is speaking to the Oireachtas committee as well.
There has been very proactive seizure of scramblers and, indeed, of e-scooter…
As I said, vehicles are being pursued on an ongoing basis. This idea that there is not pursuit-----
I am talking about generally. The idea that gardaí do not pursue criminals or activities is wrong. Yes, there have been cases, unfortunately, taken against gardaí. That is why the Ministers are bringing in additional legislation to protect gardaí while in pursuit. Even with that legislation, we all know judgment has to applied in given situations because pursuits are dangerous in themselves. It could be potentially d…
Sorry, I-----
The Deputy's presentation as to archives being sealed is somewhat disingenuous and totally inaccurate. My understanding is that the action the State took - well I know, because it was dealt with by means of legislation introduced by the previous Government - was to protect those archives. If we had not introduced that legislation, they would not be extant now. They would have been destroyed by the commission. We need…
The Deputy has now said that a decision of An Bord Pleanála is the most callous decision of this Government.
I am sorry; I did not interrupt you.
I did not interrupt the Deputy. She does not have a monopoly on empathy or anger on this issue.
I did not heckle you.