That is the other side of this.
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
Yes, we can. My understanding is that it is done by regulation but we can. There will be some legislative changes needed. I agree 100% with what the Deputy said. In fact you can now subdivide a house as well under this planning statement. Equally, you can do what the Deputy said in terms of people creating a unit for themselves and renting out the house. There is no question that in many of the older housing estates,…
Yes, it is open to families.
I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising what is a very important issue and for sharing his personal experience with us about the impact of dementia on family and on individuals. I commend the runners for their initiative to create awareness. The Deputy correctly credited the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who does fantastic work, particularly in the area of day care centres. There are 60 such centres now across the cou…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 13, inclusive, together.
I attended the 2026 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on 21 and 22 January. My attendance at the forum is a useful opportunity to exchange views on key economic matters at a platform that brings together people from enterprise, politics, academia and media.
During my visit, I met with international and political leaders, including Prime Minis…
I thank all the Deputies who have raised issues on this basic question, the first of whom was Deputy Boyd Barrett. Overall, it is interesting that Deputies Boyd Barrett and Murphy look at Davos through a certain prism. In terms of taxing the wealthy, the reality is that one third of tax revenue now is corporate tax. A lot of the companies I met in Davos pay huge amounts in corporate tax to the Irish Exchequer. Those …
As corporate tax-----
It is one third and it underpins a lot of spending on public services. Deputy Boyd Barrett's view is to attack them. That is his view. He does not really think they have value in the Irish economy even though some of them have been here for 50 years in terms of pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Many of them have been here. Microsoft came in in 1985. I go to Davos, as do the Irish Government and the IDA, to keep iden…
I have never seen it.
It is a very anti-worker perspective in terms of the Deputies' attitude to the companies I am talking about more generally-----
-----and the industry and the sector.
If I could, through the Chair, say that Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of equality. Ireland is more equal than most, actually, because of our progressive taxation system. In fact, there are a lot of people railing against that now on various platforms and media saying that we are overtaxing but Ireland is a much more equal society than others because of a progressive income tax system.
On Deputy Murphy's remar…
The humble TD has been as proactive about the back garden as the Collison brothers have. I will put it that way to him.
It is not a new idea.
Deputy Ó Cearúil raised an issue. I was thinking of Mourinho when the Ceann Comhairle said that.
Deputy Ó Cearúil described himself to me as the Maradona of Kildare hurling one time but anyway. I should not be betraying private conversations but there you are. Apparently, he was.
On the more serious issue of AI, we have the national AI strategy. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, as Deputy Byrne has raised, is on the skills side. The IMF said we are well positioned from a skills perspective, but AI is coming fast. T…
Okay. I was dealing with Deputy Ó Cearúil and Deputy Byrne there as well. In response to Deputy Byrne, the National Economic and Social Council came through Cabinet today. It has a very good report on AI, which we will be publishing imminently and is well worth a read.
In response to Deputy McCormack, I am absolutely clear that EU membership is critical to Ireland, as is the EU Single Market. Parts of the EU Preside…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 28, inclusive, together.
For compelling reasons relating to energy security, energy costs and climate change, the Government is committed to quickly reducing Ireland's reliance on fossil fuels. We are taking the necessary steps now to ensure Ireland's long-term energy security and unlocking opportunities for further economic growth. The development of a vibrant offshore wind se…
We did not say that.
There is also Cork.
Deputy Crowe opened proceedings with a heartfelt plea for the mid-west in the aftermath of having met with the Limerick Chamber of Commerce. I outlined earlier the progress that we have made in terms of auctions, planning permissions and applications that are in progress. I would be positive about this but, obviously, we have to work on the port there in terms of it being ready and capable and having capacity. A new …
We were not in government for 20 years. We have been in government for the six years since 2020. There has been a significant change since 2020.
I pay tribute to the Green Party's contribution to that as well. The three parties involved in the previous Government all contributed to moving the dial completely in the context of offshore wind. There still are a lot of challenges with offshore wind. Some of these have to do with supply chains, costs and inflation. Someone referenced the fact that the position of the United States in terms of wind energy has impac…
We are rolling it out. We have a plan. That plan has been published, but, let us be honest, it has met roadblocks from all Opposition Deputies. Politically, these are difficult issues. Onshore wind is a difficult issue, but we are all saying that we have to replace fossil fuels. There are tough political choices to be made, but there is a plan for that. We will continue to work on it.
Deputy Joanna Byrne mentioned t…
-----they indicated that there were difficulties of a technical nature which could delay the project somewhat. There was not a single planning objection to the interconnector because of the work that Eirgrid did in terms of meeting with communities and so forth. We will get an update in respect of the matter in order that we are all fully and properly informed in relation to it. I take the Deputy's point.
The other …