I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Minister of State has been down there, so he is very well aware of the situation. I cannot get into the specifics of the engineering resolution of the problem, but I will talk to the Minister of State and ask him what can be done in the interim.
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
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.
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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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|---|---|
| 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 |
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| 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
I thank the Deputy for raising this case and I commend the people for rallying behind Eímear Byrne, a young teacher, and her family. I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of this case. I am aware of the treatment abroad scheme being confined to the European area. There is some talk of engaging with the European reference network on rare multisystemic vascular diseases, ERN, and similar conditions. I am no…
I am sorry, Deputy, but the ballot was last year and not 18 years ago. There were a lot of discussions and a lot of negotiations and a proposal came to the Government. I have spoken to both Ministers, and my understanding is that NewERA was examining, as a final step, the entirety of the scheme and that the board was going to give it consideration. I hope we can get this issue resolved very quickly now. I have, thoug…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He has been a strong advocate for reform of the reimbursement scheme, particularly insofar as it applies to what we might term orphan drugs. There is a growing issue here in terms of how some of these drugs are coming onto the market, the level of engagement between some companies and the State and, yes, our own system as well. Some companies are more accessible in terms of …
I accept the need for a review.
Again, I do not have the specifics of that. The Deputy said it is going to the Mater Private. Can she send me a note on the case so that I can see the different stages? It seems unusual and I do not know what the relationship with Temple Street is, with the system there or with CHI more generally.
First, I welcome the fact that talks are in progress right now through the labour relations machinery. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of those talks or say anything that might harm them. Dialogue is key to resolving this. We have modernised the service very significantly over the years. Everybody has been involved in that, including workers and all concerned. It is important that these discussions can get a r…
Is the Deputy referring to when I was at the site of the National Concert Hall?
That was for the concert hall.
Why is the Deputy saying it will not go ahead?
That is a separate matter completely.
The Deputy knows there are huge issues with that. Come on.
I do not agree with Deputy McDonald's assertions once again. No matter what any State agency does, or what anybody out there does, she will blame the Government. That is her standard practice. The Government is at fault for everything. Her latest assertion is that the Government must now run RTÉ. Just think about that and reflect on it. Is that what Deputy McDonald is actually saying, that politicians should go in th…
I know she has to do this for electoral reasons and politics and to play the game but there is a serious undercurrent here, and coming from the Sinn Féin Party it will create its own challenges in good time and I want to put that on the record.
I would say what has happened is unacceptable. The Minister has had a meeting, or will meet, the director general today. Deputy McDonald made a comment on the legislation. Th…
The Oireachtas pre-legislative scrutiny took a considerable length of time. Deputy McDonald's party and members were involved in this legitimately. Please do not come in here, after taking time on pre-legislative scrutiny, and then say the Minister is acting in slow motion.
That is the kind of dishonesty that characterises every one of her presentations here in recent times on Leaders' Questions. She does not really care about the truth any more. Whenever something breaks out, let us have a go at the Government and let us blame the Government and that is it. It is a simple formula and that is what Deputy McDonald is about.
I do not believe the current management is laissez-faire. I do …
-----in terms of his role. There may be others. What this speaks to is a lack of structure in terms of how people are recruited, designated and treated from a human resource point of view in RTÉ. The wider issue that the bonnet needs to be lifted on is whether there is consistency across the organisation in respect of the treatment of people and the treatment of employees of the company. There is a real disparity in …
I fully agree with that, and that is what the Minister is doing. It is going to the C and AG, and it will be before the public accounts committee. It took some time to get through the Houses, but the Minister is doing that. It took some time because of you guys, rightly. I have no issue with pre-legislative scrutiny, but you cannot blame the Minister for delays with pre-legislative scrutiny. They cannot do that. They…
The Minister has brought through the legislation that will bring RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which is a stronger regime of public accountability for RTÉ than has been the case hitherto. There has always been sensitivity in the relationship between the political system and RTÉ. In the midst of all the turmoil and noise, we need to keep an eye on that too. It will go before the public ac…
If he could run RTÉ, he would run it in the interests of his party. That is how you guys operate and would operate.
The point I am making is that the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is meeting with the director general and the chairman of RTÉ today. I believe they are making a sincere effort to try to get this reorganised. There has been some progress made but what has happened is unacceptable. What is more important is that there is consistency across the board in RTÉ in terms of how people are treated from a human resources point of…
I again do not accept the full presentation because the Deputy is being somewhat disingenuous. She attacked the rent reforms. By the way the whole reform of that was advised in the first instance by the Housing Commission and she urged us to implement its recommendations. That is the first point, and it did need to be reformed and the reforms have added protection for tenants. One of the outcomes of that is, in terms…
-----who have actually entered the market. As some people exit the market, more enter the market and it needed to be sorted and to be solidified as well, and the Deputy knows that. Her objection was she tried to portray it as an incentive to developers and landlords but it is the protection elements of the reforms that have caused some smaller landlords, perhaps, to exit. She cannot have it both ways.
No, I am sorry; the Deputy cannot have it both ways. We need to have a settled landscape out to the next decade or so in terms of the investment side of the equation to get more in. The bottom line is 36,000 homes were delivered last year, which is the highest since records began and up 20% on 2024. A total of 38,000 new dwellings were completed in the 12 months ending quarter 1 of 2026, which is an increase of 26 ye…
-----and cost rental, the increases are happening across the board.