However, it is absolutely essential that an organisation that has been provided with €12 billion, as it has been in a revised national development plan, and that has been provided with billions of euro to support the delivery of homes and to invest in our capital infrastructure is accountable to every person in this House.
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
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| 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 am agreeing with the Deputy. I am saying very clearly it should be the case. Deputies should not be standing up here saying that they cannot access or engage with people. I will again raise this directly with the Minister. We have spoken of it. I have spoken of it. My party colleagues have spoken of it. Any organisation that receives billions of euro of taxpayers' money from the Government should be and is accounta…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset, I commend the fantastic job that all of the teachers and staff within our schools do. While I take the opportunity whenever I can in my role, particularly last year as Minister for education, I had an opportunity to travel right around the country to meet with many teachers, SNAs, secretaries, principals, caretakers and assistants - everybody who plays a sign…
I fully agree there are lots of things we need to focus on to make sure children are going to, staying in and progressing in school. When I was Minister of the Department, following on from the work of the previous Minister, Deputy Foley, before me and work the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is now carrying on, there was an action plan put in place specifically looking at attendance and how we can ensure children come to…
The Deputy is right; people need action, not words. That is exactly why, at this time and at this moment in the year, €1.4 billion has already been provided to people to try to assist with what is a very challenging time - I fully agree with the Deputy - much of which has been caused by the conflict in the Middle East, where we need to focus our efforts as well. While we are a small country, we still have a voice and…
As the Deputy said, the National Transport Authority made the decision to publish the new fares on 3 September of this year, with the revised fares taking effect from January 2027. This was a really important step in standardising the national fares structure. It is in line with a strategy that was published back in 2023. Since 2022, we have seen inflation of almost 21%, which has of course driven up the cost of oper…
We do have a plan. Every year, more and more children are getting access to school transport. I appreciate not everybody is getting access and there is more work we need to do. I think the figure was 181,000 young people who had access to school transport this year. We have to acknowledge we only have so many buses and drivers, but we also need to make sure we have a system that works effectively.
One of the most im…
I am pretty sure no matter what we did in this House, the Deputy would be encouraging people to protest either way and that is people's right. That is something we must protect, but he cannot ignore the fact that as a Government, this year alone, we have introduced supports of €1.4 billion.
In other parts of Europe and the world, very few governments have been able to introduce that type of funding and support to as…
-----and obviously the Deputy does not acknowledge that data centres represent critical infrastructure, that they are central to our modern economy and that significant work was being done through the large energy user action plan, LEAP, which is the new strategy looking at large energy users. A main focus of that is how we can introduce more renewable energy and how we can reduce the energy needs of those large data…
There is a clear plan in place, which is already happening because I have seen it in many businesses, to make sure that where possible, businesses put in place their own measures to make sure they are focused on a zero-sum approach and can produce their own electricity and their own grid through renewable sources. That is where we need to get to and I agree with the Deputy on that.
Every local authority is probably conducting the review of their own county development plan at the moment. It is important in that review that we are all increasing our housing targets and the allocations that we have been given, and that we are making sure land is zoned on land that is appropriate, but also that land can be opened up where it needs to be. To support that, there is a significant fund that has alread…
Unfortunately, I will not be able to give the Deputy a direct response today. I hope the Deputy would agree that this Government, the previous Government, and governments before that have placed a huge emphasis on investment in cancer care, prevention and on identifying it at the earliest stage possible, then providing the treatment, and also investing in new therapies. I know the CAR-T therapy that the Deputy referr…
I met a number of members of men's sheds at the National Ploughing Championships this week and they raised this matter with me directly. I have known and worked with men's sheds locally and at a national level for many years. As the Deputy said, I can only commend the position and role that they have in our communities in addressing the well-being of older men and health issues, and bringing people together in a way …
As the Deputy outlined, this is actually a really positive story. We have all, the Deputy included, worked closely with parents over the past number of months to make sure that the additional classroom that was needed to ensure that children going from naíonraí were able to go into a Gaelscoil in their local community. That happened. I welcome the work by the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, to support us in mak…
I acknowledge the work that has been done to get to this point in trying to make progress on this capital investment. I will raise this directly with the Minister and highlight the Deputy's representations on behalf of the local community and those working in the hospital in ensuring that these type of services can be provided. Again, while I cannot give the Deputy a commitment today, I will raise it directly with th…
Without knowing the details of the contract or what happened, I take what the Deputy is saying. I am not contradicting that, but without knowing the details of what has happened, the timelines and why it has happened, I do not want to comment on something I do not have information on. The Deputy is right. In any business, if somebody is offered a contract and they have signed it, an agreement is in place. It is impor…
Deputies Healy and Roche have referenced, and I reiterate, the importance of our men's sheds. I acknowledge the significant contribution they make within our communities, particularly for the men who avail of the services. I do not think they see it as services; it is a place for them to go to engage, address and talk about issues that are important to them, as well as engaging in activities. I will raise the Deputy'…
That is simply not the case. I outlined in a response to a previous Deputy that we have seen costs reduce. We have a 20% cost discount in terms of a living discount. The young adult Leap card is a 50% discount and we have allowed children under nine to travel for free. We have tried to put in targeted measures over the years, while at the same time recognising that the cost of fuel is impacting our public transport s…
I agree with the Deputy on both fronts. I think we all agree that we need to invest more in renewable energies. We need to invest more in offshore wind and in solar of all types, not just on land but on roofs and on our public sector and service buildings. We also need to engage with communities and make sure that we get this right. What the Deputy has outlined in his county is a similar concern that I have in my own…
While I cannot point to something specific to this at the moment, I do know a body of work is being done, looking at trees planted along our roadside. That is specifically following Storm Éowyn and some of the recent storms where the trees have become a danger during the storm, including taking down electricity wires and by causing danger on our roads. Unfortunately, we know a young man was killed in one of the recen…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is really important that we do everything in our power to bring derelict properties back into use, that we use every lever available to us and where local authorities are not responding that we look at what other levers are available. It is a priority for this Government, and a priority in the Government’s housing plan. The Derelict Site Act contains a number of actions …
I am happy to raise the specific cases and specific area. I know it has been a challenge over the years to fill all the teams across the country but there has been a huge focus and a huge investment specifically in disability funding to try to fill the particular places the Deputy mentioned. There has also been a look at restructuring and how the teams work so that you are not dependent on perhaps the senior clinical…
The Deputy is right. One of the biggest barriers or things that slows down projects is a lack of engagement and at the earliest stage possible. I fully agree with the Deputy and support the need for the NTA and TII to engage directly. I know the Deputy will do so himself in his own capacity and to highlight what is happening and the benefits and the challenges that will arise as is the case with any development of th…
The Digital Omnibus package is one of perhaps 12 pieces of legislation we are bringing forward at the moment under the simplification objective we have during the Presidency. I want to dispel the myth that might be out there that changing legislation in some way weakens or loosens it a bit. The whole objective is to make it more straightforward and simplify it where we can while, at the same time, protecting people’s…
No.