Let us turn to some facts.
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
There are more people using public transport than ever. There were 365 million public transport journeys last year. That is a 6% increase. Our fare structure is affordable. We have many free fares across the system, which we will continue to maintain. On the other issue in relation to the electrification of our fleet, Limerick and Athlone are fully electrified. There were additional buses purchased in the previous Go…
Excellent.
We actually are. We are expanding services across the country. The numbers bear that out. To answer the Deputy's question directly, to be fair to my predecessor, he had bought additional electric buses because the capital was there. They were purchased forward. They were not all going to go into use over the course of a month or two. It has gone on longer than it should. We are looking at about 10% of our fleet in Du…
I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will be sharing my time with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the road transporters' support scheme, RTSS. I will provide more detail on the scheme and who the scheme will support . The road haulage sector is of national strategic importance in bringing essential supplies into and around the State, supporting key infrastructure and …
He has been sitting here for a half and hour and his phone did not ring.
I thank the Deputy for this timely question.
The allocation of the carbon tax is a matter for the Minister for public expenditure and reform, who took questions just before this. There has been no change because of the pause in the increase in the allocation for 2026. That was published as part of the Revised Estimates Volume, REV, last December and approved by the Dáil on 26 March 2026. Within my Department's 2026 …
It is a good question. What we have tried to do regarding the support package of about €750 million is to make sure that it is balanced and targeted. We have done decreases in excise duty. We have also brought forward specific schemes of support for vital sectors. For example, the haulage sector has been provided €40 million per month for three months in targeted payments and there is €100 million for the agriculture…
This is not a cancellation of an increase; it is a deferral. The cost is approximately €22 million in paused tax receipts. To put that in context, the overall investment from 2019 to now is over €2 billion. Our budget for this year, I assure the Deputy, is unaffected. We have also changed the retrofitting grants for households and seen a significant uptick in applications there. We want to bring forward a retrofit pa…
That is not what EirGrid said. We have to put the facts on the floor of the House. EirGrid is the transmission system operator responsible for managing our power system at all times. It is independent of me as Minister but I meet and engage with its representatives regularly in the exercise of their functions. They are accountable to the regulator, CRU.
Fault ride through is what the Deputy is referring to. It is a …
That is not the case. Industrial and economic growth is not in conflict with growth in housing output. In the past five years, we have delivered 135,000 new homes; last year, over 36,000 new homes. That is good and is what we need to do. In PR6, the grid investment programme that has been published and that is there for everyone to see, there are about 520 capital projects. As part of that, it states what this invest…
We need a plan-led approach to this and that is why we have published the large energy user action plan. The final decision has been given on that, which is very clear. It involves a planned approach to where and how we deploy electricity and energy resources to enable large energy users to grow and to enable us to continue to attract increases in domestic indigenous business and in foreign direct investment. That is…
As Ministers and as TDs, we fully understand the pressures households and businesses are under due to the price increases because of the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. It is a global situation that every country is grappling with. By any fair assessment, the intervention that the Irish Government has made on behalf of its people amounts to multiples of the value of others made in the EU. It is about 7. 5 tim…
The Taoiseach has not been dismissive in any way, nor has the Government as a whole. Maybe the Deputy could explain why his party was the only one on the Opposition benches to vote against every excise reduction when the first round of packages was introduced, on 25 March? It did that again this week. It voted against the measures introduced by the Government in the Dáil by way of financial resolutions to reduce cost…
It is not a fair assessment to say we have done nothing. Ours was the largest intervention that has been made in the EU. I simply asked the question of Sinn Féin, as the main Opposition party and the one that presents itself as the potential alternative Government after the next election, in 2029, where it would get the money from? How would it pay for the retrofitting of houses and businesses? How would it pay for s…
Relax.
Those warnings were calls for compliance. Check out the facts. They are the facts.
The Critical Infrastructure Bill is a central pillar of the Government’s Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan and represents a significant step forward in strengthening delivery across all key sectors, including energy, which I will turn to in a moment. Accelerated delivery of infrastructure does not disapply our climate commitments or our targets at national level, but recognises an urgent need for the…
If the Deputy takes our offshore wind projects that are in planning right now as an example, she will see that many of them are the subject of requests for further information. We have already had groups say to us that if and when they are granted, these projects will be subject to a judicial review, JR, and will be brought to the High Court or the Supreme Court. That is not acceptable either. We are talking here tod…
I do not think it does. I respect what the Deputy says but I disagree with it. Take the example of the floating gas reserve - the floating storage and regasification unit, FRSU - which we absolutely need. That is consistent with the climate Act in relation to the energy security of this country. That needs to happen. It will be debated in the Dáil and we will see whether it receives the support of the Dáil. It needs …
Is the Deputy trying to get rid of me?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 151 together.
We are committed to delivering on Ireland’s responsibility to address the climate crisis and work remains ongoing across Departments to carry out climate-mitigation efforts every day, as evidenced by the roll-out of retrofitting, renewable energy development and deployment, and more affordable electric vehicles. All that continues at pace and is progressing well.…
I fully accept the need to provide clarity on timeframes. I just want to explain what is happening on this. The last two climate action plans for 2024 and 2025 are still in place and the actions within them are still being worked through. I want to enable us to set climate priorities. The Deputy has previously asked me in the House about our climate targets. I have just said very clearly that while our projections an…
I will take a couple of examples of where the commitments are. I agree with the Deputy. The next plan has to question how we can look to bridge the gap. We need to recognise the progress that has been made by our people and by successive Governments in this regard. That is why, looking at our retrofit programme, we have made some very significant changes to the grants to make them more accessible. People are respondi…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a smaointí ar an ábhar an-tábhachtach seo. Aontaím leis go bhfuil sé fíorthábhachtach agus go gcaithfimid athruithe breise a dhéanamh ar son fuinnimh in Éirinn agus fud fad na hEorpa go háirithe. I agree with the Deputy. We need to accelerate the changes we are bringing in given the existing crisis. Ireland has been to the forefront of many of the renewable energy generation initia…