The Minister has not answered what I asked.
TDs / Cian O'Callaghan
Cian O'Callaghan
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
896
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
123,606
words spoken in the chamber
Across 642 contributions
422
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
255
topics asked about
Across 19 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 896 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 642 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| January 2025 | 51 | 4 |
| February 2025 | 41 | 47 |
| March 2025 | 44 | 42 |
| April 2025 | 64 | 38 |
| May 2025 | 39 | 40 |
| June 2025 | 55 | 33 |
| July 2025 | 47 | 51 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 38 | 6 |
| October 2025 | 16 | 52 |
| November 2025 | 41 | 57 |
| December 2025 | 29 | 19 |
| January 2026 | 42 | 24 |
| February 2026 | 46 | 35 |
| March 2026 | 41 | 23 |
| April 2026 | 58 | 24 |
| May 2026 | 80 | 47 |
| June 2026 | 31 | 40 |
| July 2026 | 44 | 12 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 41 | 21 |
| October 2026 | 48 | 23 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 510 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 Bay North 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
I have to take the Minister of State up on what he has just said, trying to imply somehow that the Social Democrats are not strong supporters of the European Union. We always have been, since our foundation.
That comment really is beneath the Minister of State. He knows well we have always been strongly supportive of the European Union. There is no question on that. It is really just a distraction tactic. The heart of this is in the Minister of State's speech, where he keeps talking about reform of the triple lock. This Government is not reforming the triple lock. That is what it said it would do in its manifesto. It is …
Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach to name a single parliament in the world where there is a time slot on the schedule where 100% of the time is given to the Government members of that parliament and he did not answer. Today, the Taoiseach came in with a list of parliaments where government MPs can ask oral questions. That has always been the case in Ireland where Government TDs can ask oral questions. They can ask que…
I thank the Taoiseach. I would ask him to get this into his head. I have asked him the question: “What is your deal with Michael Lowry?” Is the Taoiseach saying he made no deal with Michael Lowry to support the Government? Is that what he is saying? Is he saying there was no deal?
Was there no deal at all? Is that what the Taoiseach is saying? Is he saying he made no deal with Michael Lowry about these speaking rights at any stage, that there were no agreements, that he has done this off his own bat and that this is entirely his own initiative even though from day one Michael Lowry was saying that he was going to get these special speaking rights that Opposition leaders get?
From day one he w…
Will I not get three minutes, a Cheann Comhairle? No. Okay.
The Taoiseach's efforts to defend the indefensible are not working. Dáil rules are being reverse-engineered to guarantee one outcome, that is, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will deliver on the deal they have made with Michael Lowry. That is what it all boils down to. The Taoiseach's backbenchers are well aware he would not be going to these extremes for them. The truth is the Government has caused chaos in this Dáil…
Given this track record of duplicity, why should anyone in the Opposition or the public trust what he says?
The Taoiseach is right. This is quite extraordinary-----
Yes, but in more than 100 years of this Dáil, never ever in the weekly schedule has there a time slot created where 100% of the time is allocated to the Government. Does the Taoiseach not see something fundamentally wrong-----
-----with a time slot being created where Government TDs ask the Taoiseach questions without any input from the Opposition? Can the Taoiseach tell me of any parliament in the world where there is a time slot where 100% of it-----
-----is for government backbenchers to ask government leaders questions with no time allocated to the opposition? That does not exist. Therefore, this is quite extraordinary and it should not be done. Will he tell me one place in the world where this happens?
No, it does not.
Tens of thousands of children with additional needs are being failed by this Government.
Some 14,221 children are overdue an assessment of need. New figures released to me show the scale of the crisis for children trying to access essential therapies. At the end of December, there were more than 41,000 children waiting for an initial assessment for speech, language and occupational therapy. The figures for occupatio…
What are parents and families to do now? They are at their wits' end. They are increasingly being told that the only way to get the assessments of need that are needed for their children is to take legal action. The State is not contesting these cases, so the State is effectively putting its hands up and saying it is failing to meet the legal needs of children with additional needs. What is the Tánaiste's advice to p…
So parents should take legal cases to access that. Is that what the Tánaiste is saying?
The Taoiseach was asked a simple question, which he did not answer. Did the Minister for Finance share with him the analysis from the Department of Finance that the 40,000 homes claim was not going to materialise last year? Did he share that analysis with the Taoiseach before the election date? The Taoiseach might answer this question because he has been asked twice and he has not answered it. The Taoiseach promised …
There is now a mountain of evidence that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael deliberately misrepresented housing delivery figures during the election. The Taoiseach cannot continue to deny it. This is a Comical Ali routine he is playing in pretending it was somehow an honest mistake. Not content with massaging last year's figures, the targets for this year are now being clearly reverse engineered. When the Taoiseach was asked …
The Taoiseach set the target a few months ago.
The Taoiseach told the electorate a few months ago that the housing target for this year was 41,000 homes. Is he now saying that target is gone? Is he now saying that he has no housing target for 2025? What is the Government's housing target for 2025? The Taoiseach was explicitly clear a few months ago with the electorate that it was 41,000 homes. Is that still his target or has he ditched it? Why is he refusing to a…
Answer the question.
The Taoiseach says there will have to be forward planning in the future. Why is that forward planning not taking place under this Government? Why did it not take place under the previous Government? The crisis in special education is simply getting worse under the Taoiseach's watch. There are now hundreds of parents who do not know if their children will have a school place in September. One mother in north Cork, She…
Does the Taoiseach see something wrong with parents who have a huge amount on their hands being cast into the role of project managing to try to get a school place for their child? There is something fundamentally wrong with that. What is the Taoiseach doing to sort this out? Parents should not be put in that situation. The Taoiseach said 400 special classes have been promised to be opened this year but he has also s…
I also welcome this. It is very important. Like others, I have spoken to people who have been treated absolutely abysmally by some of these credit servicing firms. These include people who have been harassed or who have tried to get out of the situation and tried to sell. On contacting the firms to say they want to sell, they have been told that if they want to talk about that, then they will be charged a fee. They h…