There is no big deal in that. It does not in any way-----
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
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| 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 6,501 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
The big demand from members of the Opposition at the beginning, when we met with them, was not to lose any time. They have not lost any time.
The Opposition groups have actually gained time.
It is interesting. I made a fundamental point. When a general election happens, and the Deputy knows this because they have engaged with us at different times after different elections, Governments have to be formed.
There is the realpolitik of forming a government. Governments have to be formed.
Some people have no interest in forming a government. That is fair enough but others do. The programme for Government-----
The programme for Government is the document that binds the people who are going to support the Government together. Underlying all of this, and the Deputy said we could have brought this to an end, I actually do not believe the Opposition wants to bring this to an end.
The Opposition is enjoying it a bit for its own electoral purposes. However, I want to make this point-----
The Deputy cannot be serious. He talks about it costing our democracy. Eight minutes on a Tuesday and our democracy is gone.
Come on; it is farcical. However, in a more serious vein-----
What is really behind this, and it is very clear, is that the Opposition-----
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together.
The National Emergency Coordination Group is the central Government platform established as part of the response to a threatened or ongoing national-level emergency under the strategic emergency management framework.
Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta as ucht an méid a dúirt sí. Níl aon amhras ach gurb é an t-ábhar is tábhachtaí agus is práinní sa tír seo ná cúrsaí tithíochta. An phríomhaidhm atá againn mar Rialtas ná níos mó tithe a chruthú agus é sin a dhéanamh chomh tapa agus is féidir linn. Is é sin bun agus barr pholasaithe an Rialtais. In the first instance, housing is the number one issue in this country. I made the fo…
-----and discuss those issues with them. On the housing issue, if I could comment for a moment, there were several projections throughout 2024 in respect of completions. We have exceeded targets, particularly in 2022 and 2023. We exceeded Central Bank targets and other targets that suggested we would come in lower. That is the position. The first quarter of the following year is when the statistics come in. There are…
I think that is pathetic. The Deputy accuses me of spoofing? Get off the stage. No one was sniggering at any housing problem. The Deputy knows that.
It is pathetic - the protestation and the Deputy's attempt to exploit that particular moment, completely oblivious and refusing to reference the actual substance of what I said in terms of housing being the number one priority in Ireland. The Deputy can criticise our policies as a Government but she should not try to say she has a monopoly of concern or empathy on the housing question. Everybody in this House knows i…
-----on many an occasion for Sinn Féin, but when it comes to putting the party fist as opposed to the country first, Sinn Féin will always put the party first.
That is why Deputy McDonald did not go to the US-----
On spurious grounds, she did not go to the US.
No one is convinced-----
-----about your false assertions.
I am always open to new ideas, to concrete and substantive ideas. I was not particularly impressed with what the Labour Party put forward in the general election campaign. Establishing a new national building agency would have only delayed things. It would take years to establish and it is a kind of rowing the clock back to earlier eras and to models that simply would not work now in terms of where we are with regard…
There was no clear blueprint, no paper in respect of how this agency was going to be established.
If the Deputy has other ideas, that is fine, but they have to be focused on getting more houses built and getting them built faster, which I have said consistently over the last while.
From about 2020 onwards about 130,000 new homes were built, which is more than anything in the previous decade or more. Momentum did switch. There was a turn and a significant shift in momentum in terms of house construction but given…
Two and a bit months-----