I heard the Deputy. The Deputy may be aware that the Minister has brought the heads of the Bill in respect of the issue of counselling notes.
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
The Deputy has raised the issue. The Minister has brought legislation. It will go to pre-legislative scrutiny and people will have an opportunity to input into the Bill. The Minister is acting on it, and has acted on it, and no person in this country is above the law.
I have experience. I know what is going on here. The Deputy calls for clarity but what he wants is confusion. What the Deputy wants is to be able to say that it is incoherent, it is drip-drip, it is bit by bit whereas I am asking if we cannot wait for the audit to be completed and given to the Minister, with the Minister to share it with the Oireachtas, the public and, above all, the families that may be affected by …
I would accept that. Obviously, there is some degree of uncertainty. Most artists on that scheme, by the way, were very positive about the impact of the scheme on artists, and particularly those on the lower income spectrum of earning artists. I will talk to the Minister for arts and culture to get more information in terms of the reviews but also future plans.
My understanding is, while the Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to the national roads programme, it is TII that is responsible for the delivery of the national roads programme. It has informed the Department that Wicklow County Council has just completed the option selection phase for the N11-M11 bus priority scheme. The project team made presentations to …
I will do everything I can. I will raise the issue with the Minister.
The Deputy can send me the detail. I will forward this to the Minister concerned and we will come back to the Deputy with a reply.
My understanding is - I will check it - that it may have gone out to tender as part of a bundle that could involve Lismore primary care centre as well.
There has been a lot of progress made on primary care centres over the last four to five years. Gorey is a huge and growing town and area.
I hear what the Deputy is saying. I will talk to the Minister and get her to respond to the Deputy in respect of the issue.
It is a beautiful part of the country.
Again, our bathing water continues to improve because of the provision of additional wastewater capacity. I note that the Minister is also from the sunny south east. I will certainly talk to him about the wastewater requirements there. We are looking at capital for Irish Water. Additional capital will be provided. We will endeavour to progress that.
I absolutely agree. Reflecting on the last number of years, there is a perception that urban environments are not as safe as they once were. I refer to the centres of different cities. That is the perception in Cork, although it is a beautiful city with a beautiful city centre and there are continuous improvements to the public realm. I believe people are specifically talking about the city centre at particular parts…
I thank the Deputy for the interesting point he has raised. I was the one to introduce the threshold of six for a special class with two SNAs and a teacher back in 1998 when we took a very significant decision in a Government memorandum. It is fair to make that point about a model for rural schools and schools whose numbers are quite low. I will talk to the Minister for Education, Deputy Helen McEntee, and the Minist…
Would that report come from the HSE?
We will let the HSE know that the Deputy has raised the issue and ask that a serious incident report be completed. I do not know the background of the case. I extend my sympathies to the family of Jimmy Loughlin on what transpired here. I do not know if it was referred to the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, which could be one way of-----
Well, it depends. It may be for the Mental Health Commission in respect of mental health issues but there may be broader issues. That should be the direction of travel rather than a full public inquiry, which could take a very long period of time. It is a serious issue the Deputy has raised and I will follow up on it.
Over the last number of years, the Government has allocated significant investment to pubs. The investment during the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented and enabled many rural pubs to develop good outdoor facilities and so on. That is a good thing and very positive.
I do take the Deputy's point about socialisation being good for you. Professor Luke O'Neill has written in his Sunday Independent articles about social…
I am just saying what the reality is.
We are all familiar with it. We have all enjoyed a pint in a pub.
Will I engage in having a pint?
We always engage with the VFI.
Part of the reason could be the expansion of medical card eligibility. More than 1.5 million people now have a medical card. There has been exponential growth in that number. The previous Minister took significant steps in successive budgets to expand coverage. I am surmising but I will ask the HSE and the Minister to get some background information or statistics for the Deputy. I presume and surmise that quite a lot…
Just hear me out. Some people who might not have been entitled because of income ineligibility are now entitled-----
-----so they move from discretionary to automatic entitlement.
It is difficult to believe that ten years have passed since that momentous referendum and the huge endorsement of marriage equality by the Irish people. We have come a long way in respect of LGBTQ rights. We still have some distance to go. It is extremely important in public discourse, particularly in relation to trans rights as I said here yesterday, that we acknowledge every person's journey through life, that we h…