First, I wish to put on the record my disappointment, to put it mildly, that there is nobody here from the Department of Health. The Minister for Health is not here and neither are any of the junior Ministers. I do not believe they are all abroad. They could be here. They will be here in the morning as well. It shows utter contempt for the people of Limerick.
This is an important day, 30 September. It is the end of …
TDs / Maurice Quinlivan
Maurice Quinlivan
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
317
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
56,958
words spoken in the chamber
Across 164 contributions. Plus 3 contributions from the chair, not counted
425
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
90
topics asked about
Across 16 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 317 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 164 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 12 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 31 | 9 |
| March 2025 | 18 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 8 | 7 |
| May 2025 | 32 | 12 |
| June 2025 | 15 | 8 |
| July 2025 | 15 | 14 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 17 | 7 |
| October 2025 | 19 | 10 |
| November 2025 | 21 | 7 |
| December 2025 | 6 | 8 |
| January 2026 | 26 | 10 |
| February 2026 | 9 | 11 |
| March 2026 | 23 | 4 |
| April 2026 | 13 | 14 |
| May 2026 | 4 | 10 |
| June 2026 | 11 | 7 |
| July 2026 | 13 | 2 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 9 | 3 |
| October 2026 | 15 | 11 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 88 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 Limerick City 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I am conscious that, while we debate tonight, there are 133 people on trolleys in UHL today. When I speak on this issue in the Dáil, I am always mindful of the families who have lost loved ones in UHL due to this issue of excessive overcrowding. Unfortunately, the report has come too late for them.
I know the Minister of State is not the Minister for Health or in a health Department, and he probably just read out hi…
I did not disagree with anything.
We just want the three recommendations implemented as fast as possible.
I am pleased to speak on national social enterprise policy. The purpose of social enterprise organisations is to sustain the social and economic well-being of people living in our communities. They are essential in delivering social inclusion and the provision of opportunities to some of the most marginalised groups in our society, such as the long-term unemployed. Across the State, they represent almost 4% of the wo…
Families from all backgrounds are struggling. I meet people all the time, especially in my clinic and when I do my weekly grocery shopping. They tell me they are struggling with the high cost of groceries, the cost of housing and the high cost of utilities, such as electricity and gas. The cost of these utilities is not sustainable for hard-working families. The prices consumers are paying are rip-off prices and, des…
I welcome the publication by the Government of The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. It has been suggested that this is a roadmap for inclusion of citizens who live with a disability. We have been down this road before and without a legal framework, I fear this strategy will not have any meaningful impact at all on the lives of those living with a disability, but I might be wrong. Each pil…
I raise the lack of gardaí in Limerick city and the perceived lack of a Garda response. In recent days, I have spoken to many community leaders who have all used the same words - "tense", "fear" and "dread" - to describe the situation. It is not fair that communities are left like this. This week alone, I was contacted by several constituents. One said a car was speeding around the area all day and there were no gard…
I thank CAB for the work it has done over the past number of years. I really want to talk about the community safety fund and how that can be enhanced.
The aims of the Bill are positive aims that my party and I support. Any efforts that attempt to deny criminals their ill-gotten gains are welcome. The message must be delivered loud and clear that crime does not pay. We have to make that a reality.
In my home city o…
I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, but I would have hoped somebody would have come from the Department of Health. At least they told us it was going to be the Minister of State. I appreciate that we were told, at least. The last time I had a Topical Issue it was on crime and nobody came from the Department of justice. I want to put that on the record. I will write to the Ceann Comhairle ab…
The Government did not oppose that motion and we await a response from HIQA.
I thank the Minister of State, but it does not give me any confidence. In the last line of his response he said, "I would like to reassure the Deputy, and all patients... in the mid-west, that this Government is fully committed to improving health services in the region." I have received the same reply since 2016 when I first started raising this nine years ago. The fact remains that we have record numbers of people …
I agree.
I said no recent progress.
We had the last Dáil motion on UHL which was passed.
We are the only party that actually called for-----
Yes, we have.
I thank Deputy Daly and Professor Ian Marder of the criminology department in Maynooth University, who helped us to draft the Bill initially. We introduced the Criminal Justice (Promotion of Restorative Justice) (Amendment) Bill 2023 in December 2023. It fulfils several objectives for the State, the victims of crime and alleged perpetrators. If enacted, I strongly believe it will be of benefit to victims of crime, pe…
For too long, survivors have had to fight to be heard. Since 2009, I have known and worked with courageous men who were the victims of sexual abuse at Creagh Lane school in Limerick. I met some of them again yesterday. The way they have been treated is frankly appalling. They have been on a very long journey to justice. Unfortunately, that journey has yet to be concluded. These men were failed terribly by the State. …
For the past number of weeks or months we have had Ministers saying they will not do a cost-of-living package. They have evaded the question every time they have been asked. When we heard about the plan from the Government to increase fees by €1,000, the Minister can imagine our shock. It shows exactly how out of touch the Government can be, because there is a cost-of-living crisis. I do not have to tell the Minister…
Fittingly, the all-island strategic rail review contains 32 recommendations across six headings. I welcome the all-Ireland nature of the document and its commitment to increasing rail coverage across the island.
I commute to Leinster House most weeks on the Dublin to Limerick train. I acknowledge the staff who service Colbert Station in Limerick city on this route. They are always friendly, approachable and very inf…
No disrespect to the Minister of State but I am really disappointed that nobody from the Department of justice is present. This is a really important issue as my colleague has outlined. I will preface my comments by saying the Government really needs to intervene here. It needs to commit to a fully resourced Garda operation targeting drug dealing and feuding in order that hardworking people in Limerick feel safe and …
I was really disappointed with the Minister of State's response. There was nothing new that we did not know about before we came in here tonight. It pains me when I talk about these issues in the city of Limerick that I love but it pains me more to see ordinary working families being abandoned by the State. In 2008, Limerick had 92 community gardaí; we now have 30. In 2008, John Fitzgerald commissioned a report which…
They are not there yet.
That is not true. It is down 5% in the last five years.