I will be very honest. I have not heard of anybody waiting six months which is a long, long time because we now have 840 members of staff working around the clock to respond and to make sure the passports are posted out and everything is turned around as quickly as possible. Some 97% of passport applications are now online, so everything is uploaded and we do not have that issue with postage time, although that metho…
TDs / Helen McEntee
Helen McEntee
Minister for DefenceMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
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
245,309
words spoken in the chamber
245,286 as a minister, 23 as a TD
321
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 806 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 58 |
| March 2025 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 69 |
| May 2025 | 45 |
| June 2025 | 32 |
| July 2025 | 38 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 8 |
| October 2025 | 13 |
| November 2025 | 74 |
| December 2025 | 40 |
| January 2026 | 2 |
| February 2026 | 28 |
| March 2026 | 32 |
| April 2026 | 2 |
| May 2026 | 161 |
| June 2026 | 34 |
| July 2026 | 65 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 50 |
| October 2026 | 54 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 727 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Meath East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Education 23 January 2025 to 1 May 2025
- office Minister for Education and Youth 2 May 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 18 November 2025 to now
- office Minister for Defence 18 November 2025 to now
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Like all colleagues, I very much welcome the announcement by President Trump during his recent visit to Ireland regarding the elimination of US tariffs on Irish whiskey. As the Deputy said, this is a hugely important market for us. The US market, in particular, is a very strategic market for Irish whiskey.
Irish whiskey exports to the US in 2025 were worth €362 million, acc…
Any way in which we can highlight our produce that is home grown and directly connected to our food producers is a win-win for everyone here. I am not just talking about whiskey. I am also talking about food and other types of spirits we produce. There is a connectedness and when it comes to source to product, our country is seen as green, sustainable and one that applies the highest standards across the board. There…
The co-ordination is already happening. The fact this was achieved, that there is an agreement with the US for Irish whiskey, came about not just because of political engagement from my side. I engaged directly with Mr. Jamieson Greer and the ambassador. The industry and agricultural sector engaged directly, as did the Taoiseach with President Trump. There has been a significant level of engagement from agriculture a…
I would like to use this opportunity, because I was not aware of the details last night, to wish our colleague, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, well. Any attack on an elected representative is an attack on our democracy. It is something we all need to condemn and push back on. I wish him and his family well.
Like a lot of people here, I also watched the documentary last night. It covered a wide range of very serious matte…
To be very clear - the legislation is very clear - while individuals may choose to talk about it, that does not allow us, legally, to talk about it. That is clearly set out in the legislation. Individuals chose to speak about it last night but that does not enable any other person to speak about it. I want to be very clear about that. The legislation was agreed by this House in 2014 and enhanced in 2022. What is real…
-----so I made sure legislation was put in place to speed up the process. We all want to make sure there is a system in place that protects whistleblowers but we also need to make sure we adhere to the legislation.
Finally, I will come back to the last point. There is an opportunity for this legislation to be reviewed. That will come up soon-----
-----and all stakeholders need to be included in it.
First, I will not be lectured to by a party whose history when it comes to protecting our gardaí is less than standard.
I have done everything in my role as Minister for Justice to protect gardaí and make sure that when they carry out their duties they have the resources they need and that the legislation is in place to protect them. That is always how I have carried out my work. It is how the current Minister carries out his work and how the Minister before me carried out his work. There is a clear process in place. There is a clear …
No, hold on a second, I am not hiding anything.
Let me be clear-----
The Deputy just does not like the answer
We elected representatives to this House who then passed legislation in 2014. Sinn Féin supported the legislation in 2022, which strengthened-----
I have been pretty clear in what I have said. It is a matter of public record that An Garda Síochána changed the holsters. It said that clearly. It is also a matter of public record that the Garda Síochána Act 2005 states clearly that procurement or any of the other matters the Deputy outlined are the role and responsibility of An Garda Síochána and that I had no role as Minister for Justice in that.
It is also clear-----
It is also clear - and we have done this for a reason - that there is a differentiation between the roles of An Garda Síochána, the actions and roles of the Ombudsman-----
-----and those of me or other Ministers. That was clearly introduced and voted for by this House in 2014 and again in 2022.
I thank the Deputy. There are two parts to what he asked. One is the matter of a protected disclosure and that is the information given by the individual last night. As I said, it is for individuals to disclose what they have disclosed, but it is not for me to discuss it. The matters discussed last night about the office, as the Deputy mentioned, are clearly, as was set out, the subject of an ongoing investigation, s…
I know I sound like I am repeating myself but it is important to say that the Act very clearly states that, under the law, it is not an option to comment on or confirm the existence or details of any specific protected disclosure. What the Deputy is referencing, what was highlighted last night and what was spoken of by individuals clearly suggests that is what is being talked about here. I am not trying to be evasive…
I will start where I finished in answering the last question. In my role as Minister for Justice, at all times and on any matter, I adhered to the law and the structures we have to adhere to under this Act and legislation. The Deputy can look elsewhere, shake his head at me or say that I was incompetent or whatever it is he was trying to suggest.
That is exactly what he has suggested. I have adhered to the legislation at all times. At all times, I ensured that I everything I did in the Department was to ensure accountability and oversight, even at times when that did not make me popular, which happened quite a lot. How did we make sure there were better structures in place? It was by introducing new legislation, putting in place better oversight mechanisms wi…
I thank the Deputy. I too have met the family, and not just on that occasion I mentioned. It was the very first thing I did as Minister. I met them subsequently and I know how difficult and traumatic this is for them. I know they never want anybody else to go through that. The death and the murder of any individual is traumatic enough but for this to happen to somebody who is tasked with protecting each and every one…
I thank the Deputy. While I do not have the specific details of the case he outlined, I will bring this and all of the challenges he outlined directly back to the relevant Minister. Unfortunately, we still have a number of communities that are impacted by water infrastructure, much of which is decades old. It is important that the Government ensures that the significant amount of funding we have put directly into Iri…
I fully agree with the Deputy. Irish Water should be and is accountable to every single person in this House.
There is a process in place and it should be the case that the Deputy can access and can talk directly to people. I am not saying that it is working effectively; it is clearly not if the Deputy is raising this here.