Our economy is strong and our population is growing, and we are building a robust infrastructural backbone to support this. We are seizing the opportunity now to invest for the benefit of current and future generations.
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
Deputy Geoghegan might communicate with Deputy Hayes on that one.
The Deputy left out the main supporters, the people who made it happen.
Did 21 speak? I thank them all.
Deputy McGrath began on Cork BusConnects. I am familiar with it and may have been responsible for some of the delays in terms of the consultation required with residents and communities. The initial preferred routes that the NTA produced created huge anxiety and stress for many families across the board and we all had to intervene to try to get common sense. Then, lo and behold, there…
In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I presume that the 1,000 housing units are being sold on with a view to development for housing.
I asked that rhetorically.
I cannot help the-----
----- energetic responses from Deputy Boyd Barrett. He is engaged anyway. He is on every word I am saying, which is important, too. I am not being facetious about the matter, but I presume and hope that is the case and I will engage with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to make sure that it will go for housing and that the 1,000 houses will be built because we need those 1,000 houses as well.
In response to Dep…
It is happening anyway, but Deputy Hayes said that it was not happening at all and the Deputy Geoghegan said it was. The Taoiseach now believes that it may be happening. It is important. It is a huge housing development, and we obviously need public transport to service it and the Luas would be an outstanding facilitation of that.
In response to Deputy Coppinger, I will talk to the Minister. If it is recommended by …
-----transport, rail. I do not know if the Deputy would be playing golf there, but Adare is doing well, and that is no harm for that region either.
In response to the Deputy Conway-Walsh, I was very disappointed that she never mentioned Fianna Fáil.
Fianna Fáil built Knock airport - everybody knows that - with Monsignor Horan, and she could not mention Fianna Fáil. She could not mention Charles Haughey. Monsignor Horan embraced him when he went there to dig the old sod. Everyone said we were stupid, all of the media and the Opposition. They all said that it was nonsense and asked how bad and stupid could we get.
Lo and behold, 40 years later, it is still doing very well and the Deputy could not mention Fianna Fáil.
Deputy O'Rourke asked about Ashbourne and the treatment plant.
We have put huge investment into Uisce Éireann. It is up to Uisce Éireann to get on with it and start delivering. It has no issue with funding now and that is clear.
In response to Deputy Cleere, it is an interesting proposal and idea. I will talk to TII. It would be responsible for that, but I hear what he is saying. Car-pooling is something that we are encouraging. We need to give capacity to enable that to happen…
Yes. I will talk to the Minister to get behind that to get the full details around that IT system and what the issue has been, as well for full accountability in respect of that project.
Deputy Whitmore asked about the DART to Wicklow town. She gave a long timeline and then she said at the end that it had gone out for tender. If it has gone out for tender, we are in business, and I think it will progress. The precis…
I have so much to say.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 to 37, inclusive, together.
Our programme for Government sets out an ambitious agenda for building our shared island backed by our €2 billion commitment to the shared island fund out to 2035. We are forging ahead with the investment and co-operation agenda across all sectors.
In November, the Government made a funding commitment of over €50 million from the shared island fund to …
I thank all the Deputies for their commentary. Deputy Brendan Smith raised the studies that have been under way by the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, and the ESRI under shared island. There is a range of studies. Never before in the history of the State have we had such a body of research commissioned and completed on the differences between systems in Northern Ireland, be it the health service, educatio…
Whether it falls within the legacy framework or not, that is perhaps the best avenue to pursue it. If we can get the legislation completed in Westminster and here, we will. That is an important aspect of it. Even though it happened in 1976 the trauma goes on for the second generation - the grandchildren, cousins and nieces - and the need for closure continues with each succeeding generation.
To Deputy Hayes I would …
I apologise. The response to the Deputy’s question was on the next page and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle was looking at me intently.
I could not agree more with the Deputy on the North-South interconnector but there have been a lot of political challenges with it. As I said last week, we all need to pause a bit and say what our priorities are. We need the North-South interconnector in terms of the energy needs of those…
Rents have been too high for a long time. Why?
It is because there is a shortage of supply.
The Deputies have had their chance. With respect, they should allow democracy to take place.
The one thing I observed in the presentation by Deputy McDonald was the absence of any solution, the absence of any idea except to ban rent hikes-----
-----which will destroy supply. Any international organisation analysing the rental market or any property market has said time and again that rent controls or the freezing of rents just reduces supply, kills the market for the long term and will keep prices at too high a level. The Housing Commission recommended that we had to change the rental situation in terms of the rent pressure zones.