As I have said already, housing is the number one issue. It was not, in any shape or form, a deliberate attempt to mislead people. I have quoted those who early in the year and mid-year were predicting close to 40,000, such as EY-Euroconstruct, Deutsche Bank and Cairn Homes.
Others, by the way, in other years the Deputy identified, underestimated the number of houses that were subsequently built. That is something D…
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
705,467
words spoken in the chamber
703,329 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 4 November 2026.
Contributions to debates 6,677 in all
Dec 2024Nov 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 |
| November 2026 | 131 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 6,554 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
-----in terms of the housing issue and the housing market.
One of the challenges we have, and it will remain a challenge irrespective of what gets said, is how we balance the unprecedented level of State investment in housing with private sector investment in housing, because if we want to get to 50,000 homes per year, we are going to have to do that. That will need fairly focused, specific change in what we have been doing. I acknowledge that.
I have said we are disappoint…
-----at all of the initiatives that have happened in recent years and where we have to do more. I would respectfully suggest it is not in opposing every initiative the Government comes forward with. It is not taking safe options such as saying it all has to be social housing on one side or nothing, which delayed housing schemes-----
You did - which delayed housing schemes for years in this country. Absolute fundamentalism in respect of how things should happen has held back housing growth in this country. I am going to put it to the Deputy that we are going to take initiatives here and I would welcome his support for them, instead of what has happened over the past four years, where you have opposed every single progressive measure designed to g…
First of all, as I said to the Deputy, and I will say again, there was no attempt to mislead the public on this. That is the first point.
I will make another point. We used ESRI data for our election targets in housing, which the Deputy's party did and everybody did. The fundamental question is how the targets are achieved. That is the core question. What the Social Democrats put forward on its election manifesto an…
One of your main contributions to that meeting, and I remember it well, was you looking at your watch: nudge, nudge, time to get out to make the 6 o'clock news for the soundbite. That was your contribution to Government talks.
That is what happened. We saw it on our side: nudge, nudge, look at the watch, we better get out and get the 6 o'clock news.
The Social Democrats had no commitment to going into Government.
On the Sinn Féin strategy, I believe the party did tell journalists that it was going to bring a new aggression in its Oireachtas strategy. I think it has decided to import the total opposition approach which has now become the norm in many parliaments that are dominated by populists.
On the issue raised by Deputy McDonald, we have the largest population in our history. By the way, we have the largest Dáil in our history. We have gone from 160 Teachtaí to 174. I do not see any 14 volunteers who want to resign their Dáil seats. We have a growing agenda and I would argue - I will be clear about it - that the legislation governing Cabinet and Secretary numbers and all of that is out of date. One can …
-----or not.
We have just-----
We have just discussed climate and the storm. The storm is a consequence of climate change. These are issues that were not there when the Constitution was enacted, in terms of the number of Ministers and so on. There is a whole range of new areas: energy, offshore renewable and so on. We need a Minister of State for the marine. We need a Minister of State for migration. Of that there can be no question. Marine is so …
-----in terms of security and defence, marine security, subsea cables and cybersecurity.
The issues are growing and the agenda is growing. We either want to be realistic about it or we do not. The larger Dáil reflects a larger population and that has to manifest itself as well in terms of the structures and size of Government.
On the storm, my understanding was that agreement had been reached yesterday with regard to arrangements for the storm. I hope I am not now going to begin a new Dáil season where …
The more fundamental reform that is required is to the ratio of costs or the manner in which they are dealt with under our regulatory framework, the role of the CRU and so forth. In our view, that must be reformed. There is no question but that repairs will be necessary. We will then look at how those costs can be apportioned. A more fundamental point is that we are going to need very significant investment in the gr…
The Deputy's party put forward a very poor housing programme.
There was no fleshing out of the national State construction agency it proposed. There is no blueprint and no paper. It would have had disastrous results given the length of time it would have taken to establish and how out of touch it is with working practices and the norms within the construction industry today. It was an ill-thought-out and very poor approach. That is why people were not persuaded by it. I answere…
I am intrigued by what you are saying.
I am absolutely intrigued. By the way, the economic relationship between the US and Ireland is absolutely vital for hundreds of thousands of workers in this country.
I do not take that lightly, which is what you are suggesting.
I am not doing that-----
-----but I just want to make that point because these kind of remarks get thrown out as if they are of no consequence. Our fundamental duty as a State is to protect our people in a turbulent world. We will do that. That means protecting the enterprise economic model we have. We will do that while also maintaining our values, our foreign policy values and our interests as a nation. That is what we are doing. I made th…
Do you want it done immediately?
The Government has made commitments in the programme for Government in respect of VAT and costs that small- to medium-sized businesses are incurring. We want to consult business because it not just hospitality; the retail sector is feeling the pressures as well. We want to consult and come up with a package that will involve VAT in the context of the next budget. Public expenditure increased last year by 9.5%. That i…