I do not disagree with the Deputy at all. I agree with him that there is an issue with the budget going in and the services coming out. That needs to be constantly interrogated. There is no question about that. I am chairing a Cabinet subcommittee meeting on disability and we are establishing a disability unit in the Department of An Taoiseach to work hands-on with all the various Departments and get a co-ordinated a…
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
Aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil géarghá ann i bhfad níos mó infheistíochta maidir le huisce a dhéanamh sna bailte beaga ar fud na tíre, go háirithe sna háiteanna iargúlta. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil easpa infheistíochta sna bailte beaga ag an mbabhta seo agus tá drochthionchar aici sin ar chúrsaí tithíochta agus ar an infheistíocht go ginearálta.
I agree that there is a very significant issue in terms of capacit…
I refer to our engagement with Uisce Éireann, and I will be meeting with it. Given the scale of what is required in the country, we have to be a bit more innovative as well. It is not on that 132 houses cannot get built or are waiting for years for connection. I know there has been a resistance to the private sector developing some of these systems and I understand why, by the way, because in the past certain operato…
I pay tribute to the family of Sean Browne for their advocacy and for pursuing this case to seek justice and full transparency and truth surrounding it.
In my engagements with the British Government, both as foreign Minister and now as Taoiseach, I have already sought an inquiry. The Court of Appeal has ruled and I think that the British Government has to respond to that ruling.
I hope that we could get to a conclu…
First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Yesterday, in response to a similar question, I condemned unreservedly the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. There has to be an independent, prompt and thorough investigation into the killings of 15 emergency responders. As far as I am concerned, they were murdered. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, tweeted about the matter this morning. I think his words su…
That is the ESRI, figure, as Deputy Hearne well knows. All Members will be aware that a figure of 50,000 homes a year was identified as being required over the next five years. Very few of the Opposition Members identified how to get there. The tenant in situ scheme does not build houses.
Yes, but it does not build houses. Let us not conflate the two. It is important to prevent homelessness but that scheme does not build houses. The focus has to be on how we get houses built faster and as quickly as we possibly can.
I note that Deputy Hearne is quoting Sherry FitzGerald. When the Government used similar private sector bodies last year to identify projections, his party subsequently ridiculed the reli…
I am absolutely focused, however. As far as I am concerned, it is a crisis. Young people need to be able to afford to buy houses and be able to rent houses at affordable prices. That is the Government's agenda and we have already allocated an additional €800 million in the first two months of this Government over and above what the provision was for housing.
First of all, I listened to that interview from Kate this morning on "Morning Ireland". It was absolutely horrific what Kate had to go through. The behaviour of those involved was beyond any comprehension that such violence and violation of a young woman could happen in modern society. We have to deal with that on a whole-of-society level, through programmes in education, through the social, personal and health educa…
I want to pay tribute to the previous Minister, Deputy McEntee, who did a lot of work in this area over the past number of years. The current Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is absolutely focused on this and will be hosting a national forum on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence at the end of March.
I will ask the Minister and I will engage with the Deputy on that.
It is on the way.
It is on the way.
I know Newport. I have visited Newport. It is a beautiful town. When a treatment plant is on the way there should of course be full engagement with the business committee or the people living in the town, through the various structures, to identify the progress that has been made and the timelines. This is what Deputy Lawless's question is about. I will check with Irish Water. Deputy Lawless is saying the project is …
It is in a lovely corner of the town. There is a lovely café there with the little manufacturing unit for the black pudding there also. Am I right?
That is a fair point. For some time I have been hearing Deputies in the House articulating the problem with the delays in getting driving tests, which are crucial for people seeking a job. For the want of getting a test they can be stymied and undermined in this respect. I will speak to the Minister about what we can do in the interim. I appreciate Deputy McGrath raising the issue because it is a real issue for many …
I thank Deputy Brennan for raising this issue. There was what was perceived to be a big breakthrough two or three years ago when the then Government allocated substantial funding to enable the first-ever agreement between unions and employers in respect of childcare and a JLC was established. I take Deputy Brennan's overall point. Compared with primary education we are still not anywhere close in terms of comparable …
I accept fully what Deputy McGreehan is saying. The existing sustainable rural housing guidelines date back to 2005. The national planning framework fully supports the sustainable development of rural areas. The updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We are looking at the guidelines to change them and make them more amenable to getting more pla…
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, particularly on national slow down day. I do not have an up-to-date position on where the working group is at. I will talk to the Minister about the Deputy having raised this issue and will ask him to come back to her directly on both issues, namely, the technology and the working group. We are losing too many lives on the road. We changed the dial significantly in the past, …
I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Flood relief schemes are taking far too long. There is a structural issue in terms of permits and various planning procedures. All across the country the delivery of flood relief schemes is snarled up. There are planning objections, and while people can object, it is taking far too long, with judicial reviews. It is serious because climate change is now. Its impact is being …
First, on Ghaelcholáiste Reachrann I will come back to the Deputy. He is looking for the current status and that there will be ongoing communication with the school, which should be happening, and with the parents community in particular. In the case of KRC, the Government has been favourably disposed to any applications for coeducational schools. I will certainly ask the Department and the Minister for Education to …
The Minister for Health is here but the Deputy asked me about the public inquiry. I did not jump to the conclusion. It has been a view of mine for quite some time. Of the last two inquiries published, the inquiry on Project Eagle found nothing in the end. Do not get me wrong, that in itself can be a finding, but it cost millions of euro and took years. We need to be honest with advocacy groups and with everybody who …
We know the essentials in that something unbelievable and incomprehensible happened and it should not have happened. Yes, there are issues around that. We then need to deal and engage on the governance issue. Let us work through. There have to be better ways than the formula of public inquiries, which are not giving people closure or satisfaction.
I will come back to the Deputy on that.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It seems all roads lead to Killarney at the moment. There are a lot of requests in. I will follow that up with the county council. There are a lot of requests in from different local authorities in respect of roads. The costs of them are increasing in terms of when they go to tender and so on. There was a major investment yesterday of €450 million. I will look at the issue an…