Private wires will allow for direct connection between generation and the customer where it is more efficient to do so than connecting to the national grid. Private wires will also provide an alternative connection mechanism from renewable projects to customers. As far as I am concerned, large-scale generation can be positive as well for SMEs. I will talk to the Minister about the aspects the Deputy feels are not cov…
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
In the first instance, the Government has sanctioned legislation to ensure RTÉ comes under the aegis of the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General. That will give the Oireachtas a specific mechanism to hold RTÉ to account regarding the types of expenditure the Deputy has just described. It is for RTÉ to account for that. The Government does not run RTÉ. We allocate funding, principally f…
The Tánaiste and I have met the Irish Thalidomide Association four times over the past eight months. All of the meetings were cordial and positive. We are anxious to get things moving. We have provided comprehensively and substantively in respect of issues relating to health needs for the entirety of the lives of people impacted by thalidomide and in terms of independent living and any supports that are required in t…
I outlined earlier in my comments to Deputy Bacik that the Government and Irish society have made significant progress. The target of 51% is very challenging, but we have made a hell of a lot of progress in onshore wind, which has been quite dramatic. In April, the third month in a row, onshore wind represented 50% of electricity generation here. Solar is really moving at pace now and, from all we can see, will conti…
Let us understand and acknowledge the challenges. Wind farms are objected to and are a source of huge issues across the length and breadth of the country. Solar farms are now becoming a significant issue that people are not happy with.
People are against gas generation stations as well-----
-----and the bottom line is we cannot switch on lights if we do not have more and more renewables. The consensus is not out there in relation to that in society more generally.
There is a challenge and a problem here in terms of the regulatory frameworks governing what is a new phenomenon of drones providing services like delivering coffee or whatever else to people in residential areas. I do not understand why people cannot just go to a café, socialise and so on or why people think a drone is necessary to deliver a cup of coffee or whatever. It is something I do not comprehend, and I do no…
-----and the Irish Aviation Authority need to come together on this. I have asked Ministers to work on it.
There are fundamental issues with the insourcing model as it evolved. We are talking about people working in tertiary public hospitals who are being paid already. There are issues of which we have to be very conscious in terms of making sure that we are not paying twice for the same procedures or services. There have to be clear lines of demarcation. We are always open to engaging with perspectives people may have on…
I was almost wishing the leaving certificate upon us given the very tough, wet winter we had. I said that surely when the leaving certificate comes around we would get good weather. Lo and behold, we have scorching weather, which is unfortunate for the students involved. It seems to be the case every year that there is a burst of sunshine at this time. I hope it will create a good backdrop to what is a very significa…
I would be a very enthusiastic supporter of what the Deputy has articulated in respect of more facilities. Local authorities have a key role in the zoning of land and the designation of lands. We were fortunate in Cork city over the years that successive city councils and city CEOs saw the value of land for playing pitches.
I have always contrasted that with the Dublin experience, which I find, frankly, poor in term…
Overall, funding is increasing in health and continues to increase dramatically and exponentially, certainly for the past five years.
The Limerick surgical hub is expected to be operational in quarter 4 of this year. Medical assessment units are extending services. Opening hours have been extended from 8 a.m. until midnight in Ennis and Nenagh hospitals. Overall, significant progress is being made in the HSE Mid West region on both waiting lists and waiting times. Compared to December 2021, the April 2026 total waiting list in HSE Mid West has redu…
I am not aware of the specifics of that case. It seems a fairly unusual one in terms of the interaction of a potential wind farm with radar. Normally, the aviation authority has a role in housing, for example, close to an airport, which I would be familiar with. It is difficult to understand how things got to the stage they got to. An Coimisiún Pleanála has made its decision but I am not sure it would have as wide an…
The Deputy should not be condemning himself so much. It is only 16 months that this Government has been in place. The idea that we are not getting to 50% because of the past 16 months is nonsense. The Deputy must know that. Policies take a lot of time to bed in and deliver. The last Government did a lot, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens. The Green Party does not have a monopoly on climate. What is the …
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know he has been advocating strongly on behalf of children and families in Cavan-Monaghan. Those counties have been facing some of the longest waits in the country for children's therapies. The root cause of that has been a chronic staffing deficit. At the Deputy's instigation, the Minister, Deputy Foley, visited the region recently and acknowledged directly that…
First of all, there has been very significant investment in GP services, significant increases in recruitment and additional placements and positions in our third level colleges.
Parallel with that, there has also been the expansion of pharmacy in its role in primary care, which should not be dismissed either. I would argue that a lot of investment under the various negotiations have occurred in respect of primary c…
I am going to come back to the Deputy on that. I will talk to the Minister in respect of that specific issue but the idea that there has not been investment or significant resources allocated to GPs needs to be questioned.
It is happening.
I will ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to have a look at that issue and to give some background information to the Deputy in respect of it.
I have been a lifetime advocate for family resource centres and, in government, Fianna Fáil has always been very supportive of them. That is why we approved in the last budget ten new family resource centres. The Minister also levelled up certain family resource centres because there were different levels of core funding to different centres. I will talk to the Minister to see what we can do in the forthcoming Estima…
I will engage with Iarnród Éireann on this. A lot of expansion is happening and there are a lot of costs attached to it, investment required and so on like that. On the specifics of what the Deputy has raised, I will communicate to Iarnród Éireann his concerns in terms of the lack of frequency of such services.
I fully accept the urgency and seriousness of this for those who require Skyclarys. The engagement between the HSE and the company has perhaps at times been problematic. When I saw "problematic", delays have taken place, but meetings did happen. I will talk to the Minister again to see if we can get an outcome to this as quickly as we possibly can for all concerned.
I think I was at the site some time back, albeit not when the school was operational. It was a private school for many years and came over to the public system in 2012. It is an historic listed building. It is my understanding that modular provision has been made. I am getting a lot of prompts from behind me from the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who is very familiar with the issue as well. It is an historic buil…