For 18 years, before being elected as a TD for Carlow and Kilkenny, I worked as a carer for people with disabilities, supporting them to live their fullest lives possible. The people I worked for are the salt of the earth. As many of us know, working as a carer is so much more than just a job. We grow incredibly close to those we care for. That is why it has pained me so much to watch those with disabilities and thos…
TDs / Natasha Newsome Drennan
Natasha Newsome Drennan
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
145
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
43,044
words spoken in the chamber
Across 172 contributions
439
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
67
topics asked about
Across 15 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 145 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 172 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 6 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 8 | 8 |
| March 2025 | 7 | 4 |
| April 2025 | 10 | 10 |
| May 2025 | 7 | 8 |
| June 2025 | 11 | 4 |
| July 2025 | 8 | 12 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 1 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 4 | 10 |
| November 2025 | 12 | 11 |
| December 2025 | 2 | 7 |
| January 2026 | 3 | 6 |
| February 2026 | 3 | 13 |
| March 2026 | 12 | 15 |
| April 2026 | 10 | 10 |
| May 2026 | 12 | 18 |
| June 2026 | 18 | 5 |
| July 2026 | 9 | 11 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 0 | 8 |
| October 2026 | 2 | 7 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 60 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 Carlow-Kilkenny 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
This commission to investigate historical sexual abuse in schools is very much welcomed but it is long overdue. With every year of delay, survivors grow older and the risk of evidence being lost increases. Thousands of children across the State were failed by those entrusted to protect and raise them. Not only were they failed but their entire childhood was ripped away and destroyed. It is vital that survivors play a…
I commend my colleagues in Sinn Féin, especially Senator Maria McCormack on her outstanding work in raising awareness about endometriosis. If we ever needed a clear-cut example of how women are treated as second class citizens-----
-----we need look no further than the treatment of those suffering from endometriosis. Despite one in ten women having this condition, there is currently a nine-year delay in diagnosis. This allows the disease free rein to spread, causing irreversible damage to organs.
Three weeks ago Senator McCormack, Deputy Cullinane and I hosted a public meeting on endometriosis in Kilkenny city. Dozens of women attended and sha…
-----with support from their families. Now that we finally have a female Minister for Health, I implore her, woman-to-woman, to implement modern, fit-for-purpose treatment for women throughout Ireland because for far too long women's health has been treated as an afterthought by her side of the House.
I wish to raise the case of a woman in Kilkenny who is unable to work due to cancer treatment and who has struggled with her mortgage as a result. Her mortgage was then sold off, without any consultation, by PTSB to Mars Capital, as it was labelled "under performing". Zero compassion or understanding was shown by PTSB, a majority State-owned bank. This is an outrageous practice by PTSB, selling off the mortgages of s…
What I am asking is that-----
The practices of these vulture funds have to stop.
Not in this case.
I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. All of us here at some stage will have to think about whether our parents will be in need of nursing home care. It is a very difficult and uncomfortable conversation for any family. It is something we would all like to think our parents will not need but this simply is not how life goes.
We put immense faith in these nursing home providers that they will show love and…
Throughout Kilkenny, there are major ongoing issues with the school transport scheme. In Gowran, the Department advised last year that another school bus be added due to the increase in the population, but still no additional bus service has been allocated. In my own area of Ballyhale, families like my own have been pushed to send children to school outside of their parish, despite the school bus collecting their nei…
Bus Éireann needs to engage with people.
So far today, over 40 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli airstrikes. In the past two days, over 250 Palestinians have been killed. A large number of these people were murdered while seeking aid from aid stations. Even Israeli media is reporting accounts from soldiers operating near these stations that they are being ordered to shoot civilians seeking aid. In the West Bank, Israeli forces are evicting Pales…
Has the Minister of State ever stepped back and reviewed the performance of Fianna Fáil in running the Department of housing over the past few years? I refer to a performance review, so to speak, because from the outside looking in, the performance of Fianna Fáil in the Department of housing is looking disastrous and in need of a complete overhaul.
Across Kilkenny, we have dozens of council-owned homes left boarded …
Last week, we witnessed highly distressing scenes of neglect and abuse at two Emeis-operated nursing homes in Dublin and Portlaoise. These were scenes the Government had long assured us were consigned to history. First and foremost, my thoughts are with the individuals and families affected. I hope counselling and health services have been made available immediately to them. If not, the Minister of State must ensure …
Genocide is taking place in Gaza. There is widespread ethnic cleansing happening across Palestine. Israel is an apartheid state. Almost every week, weapons are being transported through Ireland to Israel and these weapons are being used to continue that genocide and ethnic cleansing and to uphold the brutal system of apartheid. There is absolutely no denying this. While there is no absence of talk and spin from the M…
Across Kilkenny, almost 100 council-owned homes lie empty. Over 60 of them will remain empty throughout 2025. Almost one third have been boarded up for over a year. Dozens of families and people in dire need of housing have been blocked from a home of their own this year. While the Government will try to pass the blame on to the local council, the fault and blame lies solely at the feet of the Government and Minister…
I welcome this opportunity to contribute on the crucial issue of flood relief schemes. My home county of Kilkenny has borne the brunt of devastating floods far too often in recent times. We do not need to look too far into the past; we all remember the damage done across Kilkenny by Storm Babet in 2023, when the banks of the River Nore broke, leaving Kilkenny city suffering heavy flooding and scores of homes, busines…
Part of the N25, in particular the stretch out past the Rhu Glenn Hotel, can be described in no other terms than a deadly accident black spot. Over the past number of years, there have been several fatal road accidents along this road. The road traffic report clearly states that the road has completely exceeded the safe number of vehicles. It has a 360% increase in road users. The community has repeatedly sought road…
The volume of traffic on this route has increased hugely. For 2024, we are looking at a figure of 15,000. That should be 8,000 or 9,000. This route has hugely exceeded what it was built for. There are also 11 local road junctions along this road now. This road was not built for those. We have what is the main route for Wexford traffic coming in to go to the hospitals. More than 80 people have died in the last 40 year…
I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion.
As someone who has worked as a carer in the disabilities sector for 18 years, I am acutely aware of the struggles facing this sector. This motion clearly sets out the vital role carers and front-line healthcare workers play in our society. The role they carry out every day across Ireland is a quiet but vital contribution to Irish society. They are the b…
The United Nations has reported that up to 14,000 children in Gaza are at risk of starving to death in the next 48 hours. That is the same number of children under the age of 18 living in Carlow. It is unimaginable to picture that amount of death for such innocent children - 14,000 childhoods erased in 48 hours. The genocide in Gaza is reaching levels of unimaginable horror. Yesterday, the EU Foreign Affairs Council …
Over 15,000 children are currently awaiting an assessment of need. By the end of this year, that number is expected to soar to over 24,000. The law set out in the Disability Act clearly states children must be assessed within six months, but only 7% of children are assessed within that timeframe. Day after day, the Government is breaking the law and, in doing so, failing vulnerable children.
After more than a decade…
I thank my colleague Deputy Ó Broin for his work on this motion. Right across counties Carlow and Kilkenny, we have towns and villages crying out for an increase in housing. These towns and villages have prime sites for housing developments that are unusable simply because the Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has failed to invest in adequate and fit-for-purpose infrastructure. It is common sense to plan for th…
This Friday marks the 75th anniversary of the historic signing of the Schuman Declaration just five years after the end of the Second World War. To paraphrase that declaration, it was intended that the pooling of Europe's resources would change the destinies of regions long devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war. Today, 75 years later, the core of that vision has been abandoned. Instead of demilitarising our …