We are entitled to know.
TDs / Louise O'Reilly
Louise O'Reilly
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
769
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
109,508
words spoken in the chamber
Across 611 contributions. Plus 82 contributions from the chair, not counted
400
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
161
topics asked about
Across 20 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 769 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 611 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 4 | 18 |
| February 2025 | 31 | 58 |
| March 2025 | 36 | 41 |
| April 2025 | 39 | 15 |
| May 2025 | 96 | 43 |
| June 2025 | 40 | 34 |
| July 2025 | 34 | 52 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 23 | 45 |
| October 2025 | 24 | 52 |
| November 2025 | 62 | 20 |
| December 2025 | 19 | 21 |
| January 2026 | 52 | 34 |
| February 2026 | 28 | 34 |
| March 2026 | 39 | 13 |
| April 2026 | 34 | 36 |
| May 2026 | 20 | 22 |
| June 2026 | 133 | 23 |
| July 2026 | 16 | 19 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 29 | 19 |
| October 2026 | 10 | 12 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 370 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 Fingal West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I agree with my party colleague that given the Minister of State's position as a representative of a Border county, she will be more familiar with this issue than some in the House. Not that one would guess it from listening to me, but I also grew up in a Border town and I know that people who live along the Border do not recognise it in the same way as those who live elsewhere because they go back and forth across t…
Very briefly, to echo the sentiment expressed by my colleague, this impacts a number of social welfare payments but in real life the numbers are tiny. I sent in a parliamentary question about it. I did not expect the numbers would be big. I did not think they would be as low as three but that is where we are at. We are not talking about big numbers but these people are paying into a system. If this cannot be facilita…
I am not getting into that.
She married a Fermanagh man now so that is where she is at. In all seriousness, it is something that will not take the Minister a long time. These are cases that are very real and very live now so I would appreciate if, when Deputy Smyth brings this back to the Minister, she could emphasise that we are talking about small numbers, statutory instruments, co-operation from the Opposition and possibly getting this resol…
I remind Deputies present that if everybody takes ten minutes - and I know Deputy Cleere has not - we will not get to everybody. I ask Deputies to be mindful of their time. You are entitled to the ten minutes but that might knock someone else out so keep an eye on the time if you can. The next speaker is Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice.
In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time next week.
I thank the Deputies for using Private Members' time to facilitate this debate on protection for whistleblowers. From the bottom of my heart, I welcome every one of the whistleblowers who had the bravery to come here and be with us today. I will also say a word for those who simply cannot speak up, the people who have been beaten by the system and battered by the State, for whom a protected disclosure represented, in…
We do not mean to the vultures. We mean working people.
Is he in Dublin?
Hear, hear.
15. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to expand access to a remediation and compensation scheme for homes built with defective blocks in Skerries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65211/25]
Every town and village across this island has a Palestinian solidarity group. Some are small and others are much bigger. They are made up of thousands of people who are involved every single week in making sure we do not look away and that we do all that we can to sanction Israel and support the Palestinian people in the face of a brutal and vicious genocide. I refer to groups like Balbriggan for Palestine and Skerri…
I welcome the opportunity to make a small contribution to this debate. I pay tribute to the parents of Harvey Morrison Sherratt, people like Claire Cahill of the Scoliosis Advocacy Network, the parents of Mikey and all those campaigners who time and again have brought to the fore the issue of the scandalous treatment of children with scoliosis. We should not know the names of these children. They should be able to li…
71. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the provisions that have been made to ensure that agencies, organisations, charities and service providers funded by his Department will be able to meet their obligations under the new auto-enrolment scheme. [62181/25]
My question, as is often the case, is very straightforward. I am looking for information about the provisions that have been made concerning agencies and organisations which deliver services on behalf of the State, are funded by the State and have workers who want to be part of the auto-enrolment scheme but are concerned they are not funded to be able to do that. The Minister will well know the last time there was a …
However, they are going to be disadvantaged if the Government does not fund them. Bearing in mind the hands-off approach that the Government takes to these agencies, we should remember that although it caused the homelessness crisis with its policies, it has asked people to come in to shore it up. Some of the agencies are funded only by the State, and if they do not have additional funding – I have checked in the bud…
The Minister and I know they are covered, but my question is on whether they are funded. The Minister of State says he has had extensive engagement, and I absolutely do not doubt that for a moment. I would say his engagement was exceedingly extensive; however, as a result of his engagement, have his Department and other Departments confirmed that the agencies they fund to deliver services will be in a position to mee…
73. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection for an estimate of the number of new people who will be eligible to receive carer’s allowance following budget 2026; if he will explain to carers who are currently excluded by the means test exactly when they will be made aware of when they will become eligible; the amount his Department is prepared to spend on the relaxation of the carer’s means tes…
This relates to the commitment given in the programme for Government to phase out the means test for the carer’s allowance. I am genuinely struggling to understand the timeline the Minister has in his head. He told me, via a parliamentary question, that it will cost more than €600 million. He has only budgeted €10 million for next year, which is a partial year, so it works out at €20 million. By that logic, it would …
Forgive me but I am still none the wiser. Following on from the budget announcement, I submitted a parliamentary question to the Department. It told me that the budgeted €10 million only covers existing recipients. By implication, the 3,000 people the Department estimates will benefit from the measure are people who are already in receipt of carer’s allowance. Am I right on that?
Presumably, the 53,000 people the De…
It is from the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
I know the Minister’s ambition is to abolish the means test. I am not disputing that but if he cannot tell me how he is going to do it, he will forgive for being somewhat sceptical about the commitment. It is a little bit like the however many thousand houses the Government was going to build. That was an ambition as well. Ambition is not going to put money in the bank account of carers or bring those carers who are …
I want to talk to the Minister about the filling out of these forms. The parents of children with additional needs are the exact same as every single parent in the State. They want the best for their kids, they want their kids to be given a chance, and they want their kids to be able to thrive. They celebrate the milestones for their kids the same as every parent. In order to be able to fill out a DCA form, they have…
Is Deputy Byrne sharing time with Deputy Heneghan?