She keeps with her feigned horror and all the rest of it. It is a feigned kind of presentation.
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
We are involved with parents. We have all been involved-----
-----in special education.
We know about it. The Deputy is not the only person who knows about special education. We all know about it because we all go about our work. I know about it. I have known it for a long time.
Deputy Cairns made it about me. She made it about us. She made the remarks. It is a serious issue. It was the Deputy who started throwing them out again, not concentrating and focusing on the actual key point.
There is ongoing engagement by the NSCE and the Department with schools and parents. There was a dramatic-----
In the past two years alone, there have been 2,000 additional special classes.
Come on, acknowledge the expansion that has occurred.
The Deputy is incapable of acknowledging it.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The loss of life and the murder and killing of women is shocking. As the Deputy said, a large percentage of women are killed by people known to them. The horrific killings of Jamey Carney and of Adina Raluca Constantin in Portlaoise are quite shocking and the numbers are not going in the right direction in terms of the continued extreme violence that is occurring.
There is …
Again, I thank the Deputy for raising this. I should have referenced that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Dara Calleary, has announced the introduction of domestic violence travel supplement. The Deputy is probably aware of that.
It was announced since the last time the Deputy raised this. That is an important additional measure. Broadly speaking, we have a significant issue more generally in terms of the level and scale of violence and attitudes. In particular, and separate from the murders that occurred, access to violent pornography, for example, by young males is an issue as well, which could be creating an environment that is leading to …
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. In the first instance, each political party has its own rules in respect of a vote of conscience. In the Government parties' situation, it is in respect of human life issues. That is well known. Across the political system, parties vote in accordance with internal debates and under the Whip system. That is the position. Coursing is regulated significantly more tightly here as…
I have not seen the report-----
-----and to be frank with the Deputy, the provenance of the report is not something that I have knowledge of. It is not surprising that people would have done studies and analysis on this, but it is more than just economics in any event.
When I referred to bringing people along, I meant there are people in rural Ireland who would have diametrically different opinions or approaches from the Deputy, and there are. Tha…
I thank Deputy McCarthy for raising this issue. I share his frustration with the progress of this project because it goes back to that storm in 2016. I subsequently visited the rowing club and am well aware of it. I have spoken to the county manager about this and to the Deputy's good colleague Councillor Frank O'Flynn. I hope the Deputy does not mind.
All things Fermoy and all that, as the Deputy knows. I spoke to them to get the background to this because different Departments have said that it not their responsibility. I will convene a meeting between the OPW and the Department of housing - I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and the Minister, Deputy James Browne - as well as Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley …
The application was originally made for barrier mitigation funding. The Fermoy project involves the rebuilding of a weir and then the barrier mitigation programme deals with mitigating existing barriers to fish passage, but both are combined in this project.
It is about pulling people together to make sure that this can be done, and we need to get it done or costs will escalate, but it is important that it gets done…
Forgive me; I understood that the Deputy wanted the State to buy this site.
That was my understanding, so I thought the Deputy would be standing up to welcome this. Two weeks ago, she called for the State to buy this site.
The somersault this morning is interesting.
Either the Deputy is for the acquisition of this site, or she is not for the acquisition of this site.
Regarding the metro, the Minister is not in a position to put a definitive price tag on it right now-----
-----but the focus is on getting the metro built. Again, I presume that is something the Deputy supports.
Again, the Deputy has her perspective or characterisation of the communication between the State and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. It is not delay, delay, delay. The Government will enter into mediation and will be communicating to the legal representatives of the survivors. The fact it is the day after the Dáil rises is neither here nor there. The issue is going to be pursued.