Hang on a second----
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
Am I not allowed to speak?
Are you going to shout me down all of the time? Do you not believe in freedom of expression for everyone in the House?
It is wrong for the Deputy to misrepresent me and to misrepresent the Government's position on this. We were not involved in An Bord Pleanála's decision.
By the way, while I have not had the opportunity to go through this, the Deputy knows that because of the planning protections in the laws we have passed, if any human remains are found there, work has to stop immediately. There has to be a forensic archaeological strategy involved. That is mandatory. A forensic archaeologist must be present throughout the entirety of the excavation works. All works must cease immedi…
Having said that, in terms of your basic question on a compulsory purchase-----
I was heckled again.
I am not being given the opportunity-----
There has been a lot of misrepresentation. The Ceann Comhairle allowed the Deputy to speak.
We need a bit of balance here.
I appreciate the constructive manner in which the Deputy has raised the questions, particularly in the context of her question as to how she can work with us. I appreciate that response. She has not attempted to name-call anybody or misrepresent people. I appreciate that.
What I was endeavouring to say is that the commission did examine the site extensively, including in the context of cartographic and archival rese…
We can say it is deeply chilling, but it is with a view to protecting human remains. That is important as well. I think that is something that should be in the planning condition.
If it was not in the planning condition, the developer could do what the developer might want to do if it came upon human remains. That is one of the issues here. We are dealing with a 60-acre site here. I know the site very well. I have known it all my life. Buildings have been put on that site over the years. There are services on that site, funded by the State, in new buildings and so on. I mean social services an…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government is not lax on crime and has allocated significant additional resources this year and last year, and will continue to do so.
Fundamentally, we are recruiting more gardaí which is important. In 2026, we funded the recruitment of a further 1,000 new gardaí and 200 more Garda staff and additional Garda reserve this year. At the end of April, the overall Garda wor…
I take the Deputy's point in respect of multiple offences. We will discuss that further, as well as the Deputy's issue of monetary penalties in respect of people's incomes.
There has been a general reluctance on that front because you could create unintended consequences for others in the family, including other children in the family who are not breaking the law, but I take the Deputy's point more generally that th…
I think all of us have met with families and young people who have Friedreich's ataxia as a condition and who are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the drug approval process, and there is a process. It is science led, primarily. It is not politically led, primarily. We had an outcome at the last meeting in respect of another drug. All of us want a positive outcome in terms of the deliberations that are ongoing but I th…
They are not waiting two years specifically. I am not going into the details. It then has to move on-----
It then has to move on to the senior clinical team in the HSE-----
-----and we want the right outcome here. I just make that point.
The Taoiseach to respond.
Many Deputies in the House have raised this issue long before two weeks ago. Deputy McAuliffe and others have been active on this front. Laws have been passed, additional gardaí have been recruited and enormous resources are being allocated to An Garda Síochána.
I do not think it is a good enough response.
Will the Deputy let me answer the question? I will make a point. It is not a good enough response. If someone goes to a Garda station and is told they are not going anything about it because they do not have resources, I do not think that is an adequate response. It just should not be thrown out-----
I am simply saying that it is not an adequate response.
I am sure the Deputy will agree that for a long time we have been seeking to reform the criminal justice system. There have been many calls for the elimination of inefficiencies. The objective of these reforms is to make the system more effective and efficient. The Minister has introduced a fee of €520 for District Court criminal cases under the criminal legal aid scheme. This figure represents the current fee paid f…