Yes.
TDs / Darragh O'Brien
Darragh O'Brien
Minister for Climate, Energy and the EnvironmentMinister for Transport
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
168,229
words spoken in the chamber
166,330 as a minister, 1,899 as a TD
323
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 680 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 30 |
| March 2025 | 29 |
| April 2025 | 54 |
| May 2025 | 22 |
| June 2025 | 59 |
| July 2025 | 4 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 44 |
| October 2025 | 5 |
| November 2025 | 73 |
| December 2025 | 2 |
| January 2026 | 43 |
| February 2026 | 55 |
| March 2026 | 33 |
| April 2026 | 77 |
| May 2026 | 11 |
| June 2026 | 82 |
| July 2026 | 2 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 49 |
| October 2026 | 6 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 529 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin Fingal East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Transport 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Transport 2 June 2025 to now
- office Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment 2 June 2025 to now
The Deputy is aware of this, but I restate An Bord Pleanála is independent of Government. Applications are made. The potential development she refers to is a matter that has been before the courts and has been with An Bord Pleanála. I am not going to comment further other than to say Government will not intervene in that instance. It would not be appropriate for us to do so. Our focus is on the FSRU, which will be St…
The Department engaged Cambridge Economic Policy Associates Limited to carry out an updated analysis of security of energy supply in Ireland covering the period beyond 2030 and up to 2040. This study builds on CEPA's technical analysis of the security of supply of Ireland's electricity and natural gas systems up to 2030, published in September 2022. That helped inform the review of Ireland's energy security review.
…
I did. I will come back to it in the supplementary.
To answer the Deputy's question directly at the start, the analysis conducted by CEPA is under review in the Department now and I must review that. However, I can confirm the study finds Ireland will not meet the N-1 infrastructure standard for gas during the 2030s. The report finds the addition of an FSRU will allow Ireland to meet that standard and I will publish that in the coming weeks. I do not have a definitive…
Yes.
The Deputy is aware of this, but I restate An Bord Pleanála is independent of Government. Applications are made. The potential development she refers to is a matter that has been before the courts and has been with An Bord Pleanála. I am not going to comment further other than to say Government will not intervene in that instance. It would not be appropriate for us to do so. Our focus is on the FSRU, which will be St…
Yes. We will share it with the Deputy.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht na ceiste a ardú ar an ábhar an-tábhachtach seo. I thank the Deputy for his question on this very important subject. As he knows, Ireland has one of the most ambitious home retrofit targets in the world. The national retrofit plan sets out how these targets will be met, including with an €8 billion financial allocation in the period to 2030. I met my British counterpart, Ed Mi…
The warmer homes scheme is important because it focuses on lower incomes families. I am looking at this issue. For context, the average value of upgrades in 2015 was just €2,600. In 2024, the most recent year for which I have full annualised data, it was €27,700. Deeper upgrades mean more lower income homeowners can benefit to a greater extent from the scheme and the upgrades can tackle energy poverty by reducing the…
Affordability is critical. If we look at it from a positive standpoint first, about 162,000 homes have been supported for energy upgrades and 55,000 of those are B2 upgrades. We have to look at B2 or B2 equivalents and where the house is going. To improve the energy and heating in a home, particularly in older homes, the cost of getting to B2 can be substantial, if not prohibitive. That is why the home energy upgrade…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta agus go n-éirí leis ina phost nua. As part of EU efforts to tackle climate change, Ireland has accepted specific emissions reductions targets for the period to 2030, set by the EU effort sharing regulation, ESR. These targets are also in line with domestic commitments in Irish law as set out in the climate Act 2021. Ireland can meet these targets by reducing emissions and through addi…
The future is renewables and particularly offshore renewables. We have six projects off the east coast in planning, as the Deputy knows. We have our first DMAP through, which is in the south east. I will be bringing forward proposals to the Government in the coming weeks to accelerate the DMAP process. I have met stakeholders, including in the development sector, and will meet representatives of the Climate Change Ad…
The State is investing tens of millions in this sector right now. We have put the legislative infrastructure in place. That was done in the previous Dáil. I had the honour of bringing forward the Maritime Area Planning Act, which was passed in this House, although it was not supported by everyone. It saw the establishment of MARA. I will meet representatives of MARA next Wednesday to discuss how we can streamline our…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 25 together.
We have had a good discussion on LNG already, because we have been here since 10.23 a.m., but I thank the Deputy for his question.
Well done, that is great. I hope the Deputy was working with colleagues in a constructive manner this morning, as one would expect.
I thank him for the question. I know he has a certain view on this. I mentioned to colleagues earlier that we could not ignore the advice we have received with regard to our own energy security, and the FSRU is needed. I am going to be publishing the CEPA analysis in the coming weeks. I…
The Deputy has a bit of a fixation on this. I have talked about-----
Yes, you do. The reality of it is that I cannot ignore the risks the State has with regard to our energy supply. It would be dereliction of my duty as Minister on behalf of our citizens if I ignored the independent advice I have with regard to the risk to our society, economy and country should there be a disruption to our gas supply.
I said this earlier, but I appreciate that the Deputy was at the Business Committe…
It has not. It suits the Deputy's narrative-----
-----that he goes out and starts telling people we are buying fracked gas from the United States. That is not the question at all, but it suits the Deputy's narrative that he will be able to stoke up anger in this regard. We are doing pretty well as a country with regard to our transition to green energy. On an average day, approximately 33% of our energy is generated through renewables. We need to do a lot better, a…
-----for opposing it. I brought the Bill forward. On one hand, some Deputies opposite will say they want a green transition and to move towards renewables - we are doing that - but when we bring forward any legislation that actually assists in doing that, they oppose it just because it is the Government that brings forward the legislation,.
No, you do not.
You are twisting-----
You are twisting what I said again.
That is not what I said.