From today, the crisis in our health service will deepen. This morning, 6,500 psychiatric nurses began industrial action in a dispute over unsustainable staffing levels. On Monday, a further 80,000 healthcare workers are planning to start a strict work to rule. At the core of this dispute is the pay and numbers strategy, a strategy which none of us has seen. This so-called strategy is just a recruitment embargo by an…
TDs / Pádraig Rice
Pádraig Rice
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,771
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
97,768
words spoken in the chamber
Across 271 contributions
430
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
233
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 1,771 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 271 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 11 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 116 | 12 |
| March 2025 | 109 | 9 |
| April 2025 | 84 | 3 |
| May 2025 | 116 | 20 |
| June 2025 | 80 | 47 |
| July 2025 | 164 | 11 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 91 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 80 | 14 |
| November 2025 | 117 | 15 |
| December 2025 | 94 | 15 |
| January 2026 | 114 | 7 |
| February 2026 | 82 | 8 |
| March 2026 | 112 | 23 |
| April 2026 | 68 | 13 |
| May 2026 | 85 | 12 |
| June 2026 | 99 | 15 |
| July 2026 | 72 | 7 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 41 | 9 |
| October 2026 | 36 | 25 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 123 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 Cork South-Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
I am deeply concerned about the rise of homophobia both at home and abroad. The decision of the Hungarian Government to ban Pride events is the latest example of the full-frontal attack on LGBT human rights and fundamental freedoms. Banning Pride is a violation of the right to self-expression, peaceful assembly and freedom from discrimination. It is also stands in sharp contrast to our European values of human dignit…
67. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the reason the new national sexual health strategy has still not been published; her plans to address rising rates of sexually transmitted infections and increase capacity in sexual health services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10514/25]
There is currently no active sexual health strategy for Ireland. The previous strategy was launched a decade ago by Leo Varadkar when he was Minister for Health. We have long been promised a new strategy but it has not been delivered. For the third year we are lacking a comprehensive strategy or vision for sexual health. The sexual health services are thin on the ground and starved of resources. Will the Minister of …
It is welcome to hear that this strategy is to be launched but this is not the first time it has been promised. As the Minister of State knows, there was a review in 2023. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, promised a strategy in 2024 and the then the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, followed up by promising a strategy in Q1 of 2025. I welcome that progress has been made but it is urgently needed.
As the M…
In her opening response the Minister of State mentioned PrEP, which could be a game-changer for HIV. The same is true for PEP and rapid testing. It can take 18 months for someone to be seen in a PrEP clinic in this country. In Dublin, over 1,000 people are waiting for an appointment at one of the PrEP clinics. It took a year and a half to replace the nurse specialist in the South Infirmary in Cork. At the same time, …
At the outset, we need to acknowledge that we still live in a very unequal society. There is lots to be done to deliver true equality for women in Ireland. From Cabinet to boards, women are still underrepresented in positions of power. This needs to change. In particular, we need to address the inequality faced by women from minority and disadvantaged communities such as Traveller, disabled, migrant, black, lesbian, …
It has come to light, thanks to The Ditch, that an audit has taken place into the hip surgeries on children in three hospitals. This follows serious concerns from a whistleblower that needless surgeries were taking place. The report, published by The Ditch, shows that, in the leaked report, in Cappagh, 79% of the surgeries did not meet the required threshold, in Temple Street, it was 60%, and in Crumlin, it was 2%. W…
I too congratulate the Ministers on their appointments. I welcome this debate on the Housing Commission report. I read through the recommendations in the report and I welcome some of them. The overview at the start of the report, in particular, jumped out at me where the Commission states:
Arising from its wide-ranging enquiry, the Housing Commission has identified over several decades, there has been a range of int…
I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their new roles. I will begin by flagging a general concern I have. This is the second week in a row we have had general statements on healthcare. Last week we spent two and a half hours on statements on mental health. As a new TD I found it a very frustrating experience. Not a single question posed during the session was addressed in the closing statement by the M…
It is concerning that children are currently excluded from the draft regulations of home care support services. This is despite the fact that more than 650 children with complex needs are receiving these services. In the case of baby Luke, as highlighted in a report from the Ombudsman for Children today, multiple serious issues with home care services were documented. These include routine cover being cancelled at sh…
I find it really hard to listen to the Government's rhetoric on housing. The Minister comes in here and talks about the progress the Government has made but homelessness has hit an all-time high. How is that in any sense progress? Rents and house prices are soaring, and schemes such as the help-to-buy scheme are just driving up house prices. The Government is failing people in this country every single day, yet its m…
Branding the houses as affordable increases the level of hopelessness among young people. They feel the houses are just more out of reach for them. I believe we should rename the Act the Unaffordable Housing Act because unaffordable housing is genuinely what it is delivering.
We need a radical reset of housing policy. The answers to this crisis are not found in the failed policies of the past. We need the State to b…
We learned today that the potential cost of the national children's hospital has soared by €100 million in just a matter of months. It now stands at nearly €2.5 billion, although no one believes this will be the final cost. It is outrageous that after all this time, nobody in this House knows for sure how much this project will ultimately cost or when it will start treating patients. There is a completion date for Ju…
The latest estimate is that it will be at least another year. This is the biggest capital investment in the health service in the history of the State and it has been a botched project.
We need time set aside to have a discussion on this fiasco. We need an update on this from the Minister.
I too congratulate the Minister of State on her reappointment as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and also her appointment as Government Chief Whip.
I will talk about funding, policy and the law. On funding, for far too long mental health services have been the Cinderella of our health services. Decades of underinvestment have left us with understaffed and underresourced services. The system n…
Like my colleagues, I thank the Labour Party for this debate. I have spent the past couple of years listening to the debates in this House on housing. As a younger person, I find it really hard to stomach the Government's rhetoric on housing. Rarely does it acknowledge how bad the situation is, with unaffordable rents, soaring house prices and record homelessness. There is a real catastrophe for people in their daily…
The chronic shortage of public health nurses needs urgent attention. Not for the first time, developmental checks for those aged under five have been suspended in some parts of the country. These checks are vital to ensure milestones are being met and to identify medical issues and developmental delays. At the moment, the best the HSE can offer to some parents is a QR code to a guidance book. This is not right and no…
I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the new programme for Government. Having read the document from start to finish, it is my firm view that it fails to provide for transformative change. Over the 162 pages, most of the commitments are vague, notional or regurgitated. There are very few new ideas and it is completely devoid of the promised new energy. Instead, what we get is more of the same.
However…
I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her election. As I rise to make my maiden speech in the Dáil, I begin by expressing my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of people in Cork South-Central who voted for me. I am incredibly grateful for their support and I will work hard every day to uphold the trust they have placed in me. On this special occasion, I also thank my family, friends and campaign volunteers who helped …