I know the Labour Party a long time. I know a lot of ordinary Labour Party supporters who are not happy with the way it has become an appendage to the Sinn Féin Party.
TDs / Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Taoiseach
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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
198
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 6,461 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
When Deputy Bacik used the phrase "prearranged"-----
-----she was parroting the Sinn Féin false assertion.
I do not mind Deputy Bacik having a different view - of course we all have different views and different perspectives - but-----
-----she cannot make deliberately false assertions, just generally.
It is false.
There was nothing preconceived. The Ceann Comhairle has a responsibility that the business of the House gets done. The new tactic is this: if we shout loud enough, if we stop everybody on the Government side from talking and if we create mayhem and chaos, the Ceann Comhairle must then adjourn the Dáil and we get our way.
That cannot be the new precedent either but that is what Sinn Féin has been doing from the very …
Yesterday, I acknowledged that Deputy Bacik stayed quiet at the beginning and allowed me speak and so on. Deputy Kelly broke loose at the end.
The Deputy could not contain himself any longer. They stood up and joined the new-----
I said what Deputy Lowry did was wrong but Deputy Bacik omitted to say what Deputy Paul Murphy did was wrong.
Does Deputy Bacik not remember what Deputy Paul Murphy did to her former leader, Joan Burton? Does the Deputy not remember that?
These are Deputy Bacik’s new allies. What Deputy Paul Murphy did yesterday in waving phones around was unacceptable behaviour in the Dáil.
Equally unacceptable is the deliberate constant barracking and intimidatory behaviour.
I respect the Labour Party but two aspects of Deputy Bacik’s behaviour in this Dáil concern me. The first is the Deputy’s lack of sincerity in terms of the whole government formation matter.
The Deputy is refusing to call them by their proper titles and so on. That is a kind of othering I would not have expected from Deputy Bacik in times past.
First of all, from day one this Government has been focused on the issues. I have been focused on the issues-----
-----in terms of housing, disability and the economic challenges facing us and the geopolitical challenges – a war on our Continent that we all want to end on a fair and just basis, an end to the slaughter in Gaza and the violence across the Middle East and the need for a durable ceasefire there. By the way, the Government and Ministers have been going about their work, unlike Deputy Cian O’Callaghan. The Deputy and …
The Chief Whip endeavoured to get a reasonable solution because people are entitled to speak. People are entitled to ask questions as well in our view, irrespective of whether they are a Government TD or not. By the way, Government TDs have been saying this for a long time, in particular with their experience in the last Dáil where groups with two or three TDs get far more mandates than parties with 40 TDs. What has …
Deputy O’Callaghan made no effort and he has to be honest here. The Deputy made no sincere effort to form a government.
Deputy O’Callaghan trots out the line all of the time, laced with innuendo and suggestion, of "Who has something over you?" It is dark stuff and that is deliberate smearing by innuendo.
On the only issue between this Government and the Independents, I will be honest about it. I have a record in this House of supporting stability and formation of government. I did it in 2016 with confidence and supply.
We were involved in negotiating the programme for Government and I did it at a time when the country faced a significant threat from Brexit. We managed to facilitate a government, and no one said we should not have the rights of an Opposition in terms of tabling questions, even though we had negotiating influence on the budgets and so on. That happened because I believe governments should be formed after a general el…
I am around long enough to know what this is about. This is not about feigned sort of democrat-----
This is about reducing the majority of this Government from day one.
There has been an effort here to undermine this Government from day one. That is what is afoot.