For people who live in Estonia, Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, the daily fear and number one overriding consideration is whether they continue to exist as a sovereign country, and how they protect their territorial integrity, because of what history has taught them, what they have experienced historically and what they fear. The Deputy cannot tell them what they should be afraid of, no more than I can, but I can tell h…
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 propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 30, inclusive, together.
The Government has established Cabinet committees across a range of policy areas: economy, trade and competitiveness; housing; infrastructure; climate action and energy; disability; health; EU and international affairs; justice, migration and social affairs; water quality; Northern Ireland; and children and education. Issues relating to rural affairs an…
I thank all the Deputies who contributed.
I congratulate Deputy Cleere and join him in his comments on the camogie teams from Kilkenny and Carlow. I note his heartfelt concern about Cork's defeat on Sunday and the sincerity of how he expressed it. The season is young yet.
There is a theme all around the House of the need to deploy as many gardaí as possible in rural Ireland as well as the big cities. It would be fa…
One often wonders whether local solutions in terms of accommodation could have been resolved. I do not know but I will talk to the Minister for education about the school and what the issue is there. Is it school transport we are primarily talking about here?
They have been hit twice in that respect, both in not getting a place in the first place and then not getting transport.
I hear Deputy Cahill loud and clear in terms of the need to accelerate the regeneration schemes in a variety of villages in Kerry. I think he referred to Killorglin and Dingle, and there are many more. I want to say publicly that I note his recent correspondence to me as well. It was comprehensive…
It does not work the same way.
Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Níl an ceart aici. Tá níos mó déanta ag an Rialtas seo i dtaobh costas maireachtála agus an brú a ísliú agus a laghdú do chosmhuintir na hÉireann ná aon rialtas eile ar fud na hEorpa. Tá sé sin soiléir ón méid tacaíochta a thugamar sa cháinaisnéis a bhí againn an Deireadh Fómhair seo caite. Is léir sin. I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy's presentation. No Government acro…
I know the Deputy dismisses people on social welfare. She has just done so.
To be fair to her party, it moves along the spectrum from time to time in terms of the political narrative. The point, of course, is that what I did say was that provision has been made across the board in terms of taxation measures, the social protection code-----
-----and milestone and significant breakthrough initiatives. Every child going to school in this country now has free books.
If the Deputy had said that to me three or four years ago, she would not have believed we would do it but we did. We have also significantly expanded the hot school meal programme. These are universal, long-lasting programmes that are now embedded in the public expenditure programme. I recall the Deputy in high dudgeon when we were doing the cost-of-living packages, saying they were once-off measures, were not good e…
Just because the Deputy says something does not mean it is true. What I said to her on the most recent occasion she raised this issue, when she said she had read the programme for Government, was that the whole agenda was to create a narrative and presentation that this new Government, which is just a few months old, is somehow-----
Will the Deputy allow me to answer the question without the heckling and interrupting?
I know Sinn Féin's bona fides in climate change is exemplary.
The presentation of the narrative by Deputy Bacik is to characterise the Government as being somehow not in favour of measures to address climate change. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bottom line in terms of the climate action plan and the agenda ahead of us is that we are fundamentally committed to renewables and investment in them.
The D…
The Deputy knows that the emissions inventory report of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, from July 2024 shows a decrease of 6.8% in Ireland's greenhouse gas in 2023 compared with 2022, which itself saw a 1.9% reduction on the previous year. This is the lowest that our greenhouse gas emissions have been in three decades below the 1990 baseline. That is significant given that in that period, we have had a popu…
Children's Health Ireland, CHI, commissioned the audit. This is a very serious issue. It is of very serious concern to both the parents of children and to children who might now be teenagers. The audit is in respect of the period 2021 to 2023 and relates to developmental dysplasia. The decision by CHI to commission an audit was made in order to have an independent look at it and make sure that if there was untoward b…
Sorry, it is not your moment.
The generic letter I have seen essentially states that it relates to a follow-up to surgery at Children's Health Ireland to correct developmental dysplasia and that an audit is under way. It also states, in terms of skeletal maturity-----
Please, now. This is not about politics, Deputy.
I am not, now.
This is outrageous behaviour by you, now.
Deputy O'Callaghan is entitled to an answer. It is not the Sinn Féin Deputies' question.
You have been doing this since this Dáil began, and I ask you to stop because it is too serious. I have no interest in hiding anything - none.
Why would I? For God's sake, reflect on what you are trying to assert. I am as serious about it as anybody is. It is horrendous if anything wrong was done but we need to find out the full facts. That is what we want to do in terms of the parents and children involved. That is it.
The Minister asked CHI to please tell her how many letters are out there, but the context of the letters is as important as the number. The final point I would make is my understanding is that the audit will be ready - fairly imminently, I hope. I do not govern that.