I welcome all those supports. In my constituency, we have some of these issues in the context of neighbourhood centres, which are neither shops nor accommodation. That is frustrating. I would like to follow up on the derelict sites levy, which is to become a tax. When do we anticipate that it will be activated to try to encourage more of these properties to be brought back into use?
TDs / Maeve O'Connell
Maeve O'Connell
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
551
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
21,976
words spoken in the chamber
Across 84 contributions
414
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
132
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 551 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 84 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 9 | 7 |
| March 2025 | 16 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 62 | 4 |
| May 2025 | 109 | 10 |
| June 2025 | 95 | 1 |
| July 2025 | 54 | 10 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 27 | 0 |
| October 2025 | 21 | 5 |
| November 2025 | 15 | 11 |
| December 2025 | 11 | 3 |
| January 2026 | 31 | 6 |
| February 2026 | 18 | 6 |
| March 2026 | 11 | 2 |
| April 2026 | 10 | 0 |
| May 2026 | 15 | 4 |
| June 2026 | 16 | 4 |
| July 2026 | 24 | 2 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 5 | 1 |
| 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 Dublin Rathdown 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
I wish to take the opportunity to ask the Taoiseach to talk to the Minister for Transport and ask him to urgently introduce the policy framework for unmanned aircraft systems. This regards the guidelines for the commercial operation of drones. In my constituency of Dublin Rathdown, there is a plan to open a drone delivery hub right in the heart of Dundrum village, next to Holy Cross Church. The decision has to be mad…
100. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if his Department will create a centralised third level information hub for students. [37814/25]
I thank both Minister and Minister of State for being with us here tonight. Does the Minister have plans to create a centralised third level information hub for students?
As the Minister is aware in the programme for Government outlines plans to create a single application portal for further and third level education. I would have thought that a first step in that is to create an information hub. The Minister correctly identified four different websites that people have to try to go through. It is quite challenging for young people to navigate all of this, particularly if they do not …
I welcome that the Minister is trying to understand the behaviours. One of the potential problems of the CAO system is that it is easy. Students fill in their top choices and then they are done. They may not be considering the other options because they are much more difficult to navigate. I will give a specific example. Only about 12% or 14% of students study accounting at leaving cert but there may be many more who…
107. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his views on his Department's plans for the reduction of the student contribution fee as per the commitments in the programme for Government. [37331/25]
I have one thing to add. I represent Dublin Rathdown, and UCD is obviously a significant institution within Dublin Rathdown. The key recommendation of the students' union there, in last year's report on student accommodation, was that reducing the student contribution fee is the most effective way to support students and their families. I think that highlights where the students are coming from and what their expecta…
I thank the Minister. Will he detail the update on supports to help to achieve a better gender balance in apprenticeships?
I thank the Minister of State. There have been some notable successes. For example, with aircraft mechanics, women's participation has gone from 11% to 18%. That is possibly an area from where we could take some learnings on it. One of the other things I wanted to follow up on is the fact the targets for female participation are quite ambitious. From 2023 to 2025, we are looking for an increase of 124%. That is why I…
I thank the Minister of State. I will come back to the bursary again. Are there specific sectors where the uptake was more than others? Is there thus an opportunity to target other sectors with low representation, particularly of women? I agree and assumed hairdressing was the one area where there might be a balance to be struck. Are there learnings from sectors which may have been more successful in taking advantage…
I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on housing, which every representative in the House knows is the most important issue facing families in our country today. I was delighted with the news last week in my constituency, Dublin Rathdown, that an agreement had been reached with the Land Development Agency for the transfer of 17 acres, giving the Government the ability to develop 800 new homes on the site. Thi…
14. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to report on the work of officials within his Department on the new further education and training strategy in collaboration with SOLAS following the conclusion of its public consultation earlier this year. [25568/25]
This morning I wish to ask the Minister about the work of the officials in his Department on the new further education and training strategy in collaboration with SOLAS, particularly following the completions of its public consultation earlier this year.
I welcome the clarity that the Minister of State provided regarding the 800 individual meetings and 70 submissions to the public consultation. I look forward to hearing more details about that over the coming weeks as that is progressed.
One reason I am raising this issue is the importance of the apprenticeship sector, which this public consultation is dealing with. We have done quite well in raising the numbers fro…
I welcome the approach of a collaborative strategy. It is worthwhile. All the actors and relevant stakeholders in our third level and further education sector are critical to make this work and create consistencies across the sector. I especially appreciate and welcome the focus on lifelong learning. I also welcome the focus on workforce transformation because we are operating in a transformative world. We have had d…
I welcome the opportunity to discuss the transformative effect further and higher education can have. Having worked as a lecturer for many years in what is now Technological University Dublin, which the Minister visited last week, I have seen at first hand how education, particularly third level education, can open up opportunities for everyone. However, I must express my dissatisfaction with the fact that in schedul…
1. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Taoiseach to report on any ongoing or planned negotiations for the introduction of a new NACE code, designed for classifying businesses and used for statistical purposes, a subset of NACE 0149 breeding of other animals, to uniquely identify dog breeding in Ireland. [15834/25]
This question is to ask the Taoiseach to report on any ongoing or planned negotiations for the introduction of a new NACE code, designed for classifying businesses and used for statistical purposes, a subset of NACE 0149 on breeding of other animals, to uniquely identify dog breeding in Ireland.
I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply on this matter. I am raising this subject because we have serious concerns with regard to the management and monitoring of dog breeding in Ireland. We are all well aware of the terrible instances of dog attacks that occurred last year and the specific breeds that then had to be dealt with quite summarily. We need a greater understanding of that industry. My re…
I am delighted to hear that an update to the regulations on dog breeding, dog control and the breeds of animals included in that list will be looked at. I ask for the list of dogs currently on the dog control list to be reviewed as well. With some breeds, there have been concerns over the years as to the appropriateness of their inclusion on the list. I look forward to that legislation coming forward.
I appreciate the clarity on that.
I thank the Minister for giving us time to have this debate today on this very important issue. I also offer my sympathies to her.
On the publication of the Grace report, I began to read the nearly 2,000-page document. Like many others, I found it difficult and upsetting to read the details of Grace's life.
As the discourse on the report began, I was interested to find that others…
109. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Education to report on the progress of the capital build project of a school (details supplied). [17155/25]
I ask the Minister for an update on the progress on the capital build project for St. Brigids Girls School, Cabinteely. I recently met the school principal. After a conversation with her about their building project, I followed up with the Department. Following this, the school received a very positive update from the Department. I would like to get the latest update. This is a significant project for the school, whi…
I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. I can tell from it that it is quite a complex project. It started and then it had to be amended, and we are now at the redesign stage. The school authorities informed me that they have the design sketched out and they will be able to follow up with that. I appreciate that the Department is dealing with a significant number of projects. Some 1,300 school building proje…