Deputy Bacik knows that as a legislator and as a person with legal background. It is a creature of the Oireachtas. Yes, the Government proposed reforms but it is a creature of the Oireachtas and Deputy Bacik knows that.
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
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| 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
She would be the very first person calling on a Minister to resign if that Minister tried to interfere in an independent planning process.
It is utter hypocrisy of Deputy Bacik to call us bystanders because we did not interfere and tell An Comisiún Pleanála that, no matter what its views are, it is to pass that along and rubberstamp it because that is what the Government wants.
That is what Deputy Bacik is saying.
That is what the Deputy is saying.
All of us have met the Rotunda. All of us support the Rotunda. I have met the master and the people involved, and so has the Minister for Health.
The clarity is that An Coimisiún Pleanála has made a decision. We now have to deal with that decision and we will.
I believe this project is in the overwhelming public interest and that there is an overwhelming public benefit. That is why we funded about €16 million into Hampson House to facilitate decanting but also provision of a first-class service now in terms of outpatient facilities, antenatal clinics and all of that. The Government is 100% behind this project but An Coimisiún Pleanála is independent, as all TDs would want.…
----- in the interest of public health. Deputy Cairns has summed up the neonatal intensive care unit correctly. I do not argue with her summation of the conditions there.
Those who objected to this vital project should have taken up the invitation of the master of the Rotunda. They should have visited the neonatal intensive care unit and they should have then weighed up what they are objecting to. They have their co…
The Deputy has omitted the fact that Dublin City Council approved this planning and the inspector at An Coimisiún Pleanála recommended and approved the decision of Dublin City Council. There was no expectation-----
Sorry, now. I know it is the job of the Opposition to blame the Government all of the time. An Coimisiún Pleanála took a decision which obviously went against the Dublin City Council decision and the recommendation of the board's own inspector, I am informed.
There was a split decision as well but that can happen. In fairness, I do not believe in microscopic examination. People make decisions in their own right as officers of An Coimisiún Pleanála. In my view, it is the wrong decision. In my view-----
Anyone who knows anything about this and sought to know anything about it would know that this critical care wing is needed now. It is not needed in five, ten, 15 or 20 years' time.
It is needed now, as Deputy Cairns has articulated, because we are all aware of-----
Do not be interfering with the Social Democrats' time, please. You tend to want to monopolise the Opposition a lot. I know that but you should not be trying to do it on Leaders' Questions.
Anyway, that is-----
The critical care wing is needed now. An Coimisiún Pleanála knows that. Dublin City Council was clear, that it was okay and it approved it, and so was the inspector.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he will be aware, I dealt with it earlier on a previous Leaders' question. It is important to make the point that no SNA is being removed from any school during this school year. Second, no SNA will lose their job. Those are two very important points.
There are no cuts to overall special needs assistants' numbers. By September next year, we will have approximately 24,900…
I said earlier the reviews should be regular to match resources to the needs of children, and new children will come into schools. We have about 4,000 schools with children who leave primary and go into second level, and children develop differently and so on. As the Deputy knows, the SNAs are allocated to the school, so the general number is allocated to the school. Obviously, within the context of the children in t…
I did not write the letter.
I did not write the letter.
We paused it now.
I would be worried if we brought clarity to Deputy Michael Collins's campaign-----
We assess it.
We would assess it.
First of all, some of the Deputy's language and the untruths she says are difficult to comprehend in respect of the Government's position in respect of the Rotunda. She said we put the hospital "through the wringer" and we denied it investment.
Is she not conscious of the Hampson House project? Some €16 million was allocated to the Rotunda. It has been a great success. The works are completed and so forth. The budget increased by 47% or €35 million since 2020. That is not putting anybody "through the wringer". The Deputy casually gets up and says stuff that is completely untrue.
The Deputy seems to be-----