Are we eating into the time for the next questions?
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
Deputies have asked a lot of questions. I welcome them all. To reply to Deputy Dolan on the review and the response, there will be a review. At the most recent meeting of the Government task force on emergency planning on 11 March, it was agreed that a review of the response to Storm Éowyn would be submitted to Government by the summer. That will be led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and …
More recent plans are much more towards broadleaf trees and a proper mixture. We need commercial forestry as well. Deputy Murphy called it for-profit forestry. We need timber. Timber-frame housing is more climate friendly than cement. We need a better balance. We cannot just ridicule forestry for profit. We need a commercial forestry sector. We also need greater biodiversity and varied plantations of trees. I am very…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 24, inclusive, together.
The programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, sets out a number of commitments relating to our national security and defence. The programme acknowledges that we live in a time of geopolitical upheaval and challenges to democracy and the international rules-based order with threats and challenges arising from a dynamic global geopolitical land…
I thank all the Deputies who raised the issue. I will make the fundamental point that the establishment of the national security council is about creating a proper structure to ensure democratic accountability on national security matters, and proper co-ordination between all Departments and between An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces.
As Taoiseach, I will chair it, and also participating will be the Ministers …
They do not have to protest at all. We had protests a year or two ago that were quite violent.
I am not saying the Mothers Against Genocide protesters were doing that; they were not. However, everybody in this House railed against the Garda for not having operational procedures to ensure access to, and egress from, Leinster House.
I did not interrupt the Deputies. Protestors do not have to block the gates of Leinster House.
What happened then was the Garda gave a direction under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act. That is what the Garda formally did. There was no physical engagement; gardaí just gave a direction. I am informed that the individuals were given a period of time to adhere to the direction. That direction was not complied with and 11 people were then arrested for offences contrary to section 8 of the Criminal Justice (P…
It is a horrible assertion. It is a demonstrably false assertion and a misreading that is absolutely wrong. It should not be made.
Deputies complain from time to time about assertions made about them and others. That assertion is very fundamentally wrong. It speaks to a kind of philosophy and mindset that is about how they can blame the Government or Irish parliamentarians for what is going on in Gaza and not the Israeli Government.
Those Deputies' approach always seems to be, "Let us blame the Irish Government", rather than putting the blame where the fault lies. They are attempting to drive a wedge between the Irish people and the Irish public representatives who are not of their persuasion.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann has confidence in the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy T.D.
As we begin this debate, I hope members of the Opposition will allow others to be heard and will not engage in the systematic barracking we have seen in recent months. This is an extremely serious debate that goes to the heart of a range of fundamental issues about how this democratic Parliament operates. It is profoundly regrettabl…
Over the past 106 years, the Standing Orders and structures of daily business of Dáil Éireann have changed regularly and often quite radically. There has never been a requirement for all parties to agree a change before it can be implemented. There has never before been a debate as long and as disruptive as there has been on these changes - changes that will mean the Irish Opposition will retain a greater share of sp…
-----has been seen here every day.
Day after day, it has become harder to be heard if Sinn Féin wants to have a go. The strategy has been implemented by means of the rigid discipline and control of elected representatives which is unique to Sinn Féin. We saw this last week when Deputy Carthy left his usual place to sit near the back and co-ordinate disruptions with Deputy Doherty, who led proceedings at the front.
Having collapsed the business of this democratically elected Parliament, Sinn Féin then did what it always does; it played the victim and blamed others for the scenes it had planned and orchestrated. Having broken every rule governing behaviour in the Dáil and making it impossible to hear anything, the party is not only disputing the Ceann Comhairle's ruling, it also disputing the detailed explanation of the Clerk of…
It should also acknowledge that the simple fact is that the majority of those in this Parliament supported the motion before the House, while the Opposition ignored every basic rule and democratic principle in trying to block it.
It is important that everyone understands that this new aggression has been extended to other areas. Until the start of this Dáil, the tradition had been that new Deputies would be given th…
If we continue to see this extreme escalation in the rhetoric deployed in debating every issue, the change to our political culture will be permanent and deeply destructive.
It is extremely sad that two parties which claimed to the electorate that they are centre left have been full participants in Sinn Féin's cynical strategy of escalating rhetoric and disruption. They cannot even bring themselves to admit that mob…
Over the past few months, I have talked with many other European leaders about the growth of extreme politics, and the impact it is having on their parliaments. The disruptions we have seen here-----
-----and the attack on the Ceann Comhairle are very much part of a pattern where extreme parties have sought to undermine public faith in the idea that anything can be achieved. The one consistent message from every country is to stand firmly against this behaviour. If it is accepted as normal, it will be destructive of parliamentary democracy.
This Dáil is still in its relatively early stages. Our ability to fulfil…
We do not have the time to waste on this effort to remove the Ceann Comhairle because she would not bow down before an Opposition which demands that the minority have the right to veto our business. This attempt at what I would say is a strategy of aggression and disruption will fail. Those of us on this side are willing to make this Dáil work. There has to be a will on all sides to make it work.
The Government is up for doing that and will work day and night to make it happen. We will then be able to get on with doing the people's business.
Ar dtús báire, ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta. Is dóigh liom nach bhfuil sí ag insint na fírinne in aon chor sa mhéid a dúirt sí faoin Chief Whip.
At the outset I wish to say that before this Dáil was convened, we were told - in no uncertain manner - that we faced a new era of total opposition. That was the Sinn Féin promise. When we met to fulfil our constitutional duty to appoint the Government, we saw the…
In this case, what we have is the profoundly antidemocratic demand that non-office holders be kept quiet if they support the Government.