You cannot describe my views. I will describe my own views.
TDs / Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,527
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
205,529
words spoken in the chamber
Across 1,276 contributions
383
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
314
topics asked about
Across 20 departments
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
What they ask about
The subject headings the Oireachtas filed their questions under.
Who they ask
The departments their questions were addressed to.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 1,527 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 1,276 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| January 2025 | 78 | 10 |
| February 2025 | 138 | 69 |
| March 2025 | 120 | 75 |
| April 2025 | 115 | 100 |
| May 2025 | 97 | 97 |
| June 2025 | 88 | 70 |
| July 2025 | 92 | 52 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 66 | 60 |
| October 2025 | 50 | 82 |
| November 2025 | 84 | 73 |
| December 2025 | 59 | 79 |
| January 2026 | 94 | 61 |
| February 2026 | 71 | 78 |
| March 2026 | 49 | 41 |
| April 2026 | 76 | 45 |
| May 2026 | 50 | 40 |
| June 2026 | 58 | 95 |
| July 2026 | 67 | 59 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 30 | 23 |
| October 2026 | 45 | 64 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 977 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Worked out by computer from the subject headings of each TD's questions, giving more weight to headings few TDs use. It shows shared subjects, not shared views.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin South-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party People Before Profit-Solidarity 29 November 2024 to now
There are two very important lessons that we have learnt from the SNA debacle over the past couple of weeks. The first is that the Government does not care about the most vulnerable and, left to its own devices, will abandon them. The second is that people power works because the Government is now promising an extra €19 million for SNAs. The Government is also saying that no school will lose SNAs next year. The only …
These are the words of Mary Dunlevy Greene, one of the hunger strikers who fought for redress from the Government for the State's part in their abuse:
We were child slaves. We got very little portions of food. We were deprived of every human right. A capitation grant was paid by the State to the religious orders to keep us there. They gagged us. We weren't allowed to speak afterwards or name an institution or a perp…
2. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [10454/26]
Over the summer, I met with Kirsty and Barry, who told me a heartbreaking and deeply troubling story about how their son Brody had been treated at Children's Health Ireland, CHI. He was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG, in May 2024. This is a very aggressive brain tumour that is inoperable. Children are treated as palliative once they are diagnosed. He then had a very invasive and dangerous proce…
-----than other countries with no medical benefit in doing them. Will the Taoiseach examine this?
Yes.
It was not in this case apparently, because it was a bank holiday. The MD team was skipped, apparently.
Can we take the reply as read?
20. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach to report on his attendance at the British-Irish Council summit. [10456/26]
I presume the Taoiseach saw the news ten or so days ago about the UK High Court's ruling to the effect that the proscription and banning of Palestine Action as a terror group is unlawful and disproportionate. The court also directed that it should be overturned. It was heartening to see the scenes of many protestors being released from prison. They are heroes. They are not criminals. They are people who have put thei…
143. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if his Department has carried out an assessment of the climate impacts of AI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14504/26]
This Government is probably one of the most pro-AI in the world. The Taoiseach has compared AI to the invention of the printing press. The Government has swallowed the Kool-Aid of big tech seemingly with no assessment of the impact it will have on our ability to achieve our climate targets. I know the Minister has said we are not going to achieve them anyway even though they are supposed to be legally binding. Has th…
The new digital and AI strategy is not about climate change. I think there are five references to climate in the entire document. It is not about protecting children or artists. It is not about any of those things. It is about a commitment to "strengthening Ireland’s position as a digital leader", seemingly without regard to the negative impacts AI is having in our society. The Minister of State has confirmed the Dep…
I find it remarkable that Ministers and Ministers of State are still answering questions about climate inaction by saying "Oh, don't worry, we've got legally binding targets." The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is sitting beside the Minister who said we are not going to meet these targets, so how can it still be an excuse to say that when we raise inaction by the Government or action in the wrong direction? His se…
The truth is that the expansion of data centres has deepened our dependence on fossil fuels. They have outpaced the renewable deployment. They have strained the grid. They have hoarded power connections. They have built gas generators on site. More and more are burning fossil fuels directly. They have stalled decarbonisation and deepened their dependence on fossil fuels.
Sometimes we see greenwashing statements by t…
People power has forced the Government into a retreat on SNAs. That is extremely welcome. However, the underlying problem of the basis allocation of SNAs and the insufficient number of SNAs remains. This special school in Tallaght illustrates the problem precisely. It received a letter on 11 February saying its allocation would be reduced from the 2025-26 academic year. It was withdrawn on the same day, but the ratio…
I thank the Minister of State and I would very much welcome the idea of a meeting. I also invite him to come and visit the school and meet with the principal, teachers, SNAs and so on.
On the bottom-line point, what happened in the 40 minutes between the letter removing the SNAs and the letter saying that no SNAs would be removed was that the principal contacted the NCSE to say that all the parents' questionnaires t…
I will ask the Tánaiste about Connor Green, the surgeon responsible for inserting non-medical springs into children at Temple Street. He is also the subject of the Nayagam report, which recommended that two thirds of the children it looked at have a follow-up clinical review. I understand that he is seeking an injunction to prevent the publication of the Nayagam report. Is the State contesting that and seeking to pub…
Has the HSE contacted its counterparts in Maryland to warn them about this surgeon and to explain he is currently under investigation by the Medical Council?
Our Bill is simple. It would make social housing universally available. It is the opposite to what the Government has been doing. The Government has effectively, for decades, been copying Maggie Thatcher by cutting the amount of social housing being built and then ensuring they shrink the pool of people who are eligible to apply for it. It has done that by refusing to increase the income limits in line with average w…
The protest organised by parents for next Wednesday at 5 p.m. outside the Dáil is going ahead because they do not just want a pause; they want the cuts to stop. They want proper support for their kids. The other point I want to make is that this matter is being treated as if the cuts have come out of nowhere. The Government is shocked to hear that all of these SNAs are being cut, but this is the outworking of the pol…
It is a funny sort of pause because the cuts were not going to come into place until September anyway. The Minister of State said it is a review of suspending it but it is not like there were going to be cuts and now they are paused. Some of these schools may still face the same cuts come September. The Minister of State is not giving any guarantee that will not happen. Can the schools that went through the wringer i…
I thank Deputy Lawlor for tabling the Bill, which would represent significant improvements on the current situation whereby workers have no right at all to remote working. What Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael legislated for was a right for employers to refuse reasonable remote working requests. I was on the enterprise committee at the time when the Government Bill went through. ICTU came in and told us the Government's law…
There are about 20 Northside Home Care healthcare assistants in the Gallery. These workers are on strike today. Some of them have worked for 25 years and are only paid €15.04 an hour. Others are on minimum wage. They get approximately 30% less than others doing the same job. They provide vital care for about 500 people on a daily basis. The reason for this ultimately is the HSE has arbitrarily excluded them from bein…