I have very deep concerns about the operation of the Special Criminal Court. The right to a fair trial is a fundamental human right. The lack of juries and the operating provisions of this court are undermining that right to a fair trial. The Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, and her Government are undermining people's human rights here. The Special Criminal Court was set up in 1972 as an emergency provision. Over 50…
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 welcome this debate and thank Sinn Féin for putting forward the motion. It is a really welcome debate and it follows on from the work done by the joint Oireachtas committee and the report we published on this matter.
I sometimes wonder if I live in a different country when I hear some speeches from Ministers talking about the money they have invested and that their ongoing investment shows their commitment to deli…
It is welcome that the issue of rare diseases is on the political agenda. It has been neglected for far too long. In a large part, it is thanks to the advocacy of parents and families as well as political allies within the system here. Members of the health committee, including Deputy O'Sullivan and Senator Teresa Costello, have raised this issue consistently. One of the things I find quite difficult as a health spok…
If I picked the Minister up right, I understand the HSE leadership has signed off on that. We want to know when drugs will be in the hands of patients. For those boys, every day without treatment means further loss of muscle functions. Some boys who were able to walk a year ago have since lost that ability. It is heartbreaking for parents to watch as their children's symptoms progress, losing their independence and m…
On behalf of the Social Democrats, I am delighted to welcome this Bill and say we will be supporting it. We support access to free, safe and legal abortion. We need to trust women, listen to them, provide care with compassion and remove barriers to access. There are currently too many barriers to accessing terminations in Ireland, and the three-day wait is a core part of that and needs to be removed. We are strongly …
I will speak for two minutes. I welcome the disregard amendments. I was delighted, on behalf of the Social Democrats, to sign the cross-party Opposition Bill, with Deputy Ó Snodaigh and others, to advance this issue. It is also an issue I campaigned on before my election to the Dáil. I welcome these amendments and thank the Minister for bringing them forward.
It should not have taken the State 33 years to get to thi…
At yesterday's health committee we learned something very concerning. Consultants on public-only contracts are continuing to do private work in the Rotunda Hospital. This is despite the fact that treating private patients in public hospitals is a breach of their contracts. It is worth mentioning that these consultants are very well paid for giving up private work, with salaries of up to €260,000, and that is just the…
I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”
I am delighted to bring this Bill to Second Stage. It is pretty straightforward legislation, which would amend the Public Health (Alcohol) Act to ensure that the restrictions on alcohol advertising were fully enforced to the letter and spirit of the law, as intended. Members will remember that, back in 2018, the Oireachtas passed the Public Health (Alcohol) Act. It …
Deputy Cummins in her speech said she was disappointed; I am frankly furious. No disrespect to the Minister of State with responsibility for AI, but we have a senior Minister and three junior Ministers in the Department of Health and not one of them could stay for the debate. It shows the lack of interest the Government has in this issue. It shows a complete disrespect for the House and for the issues before us that …
It is three months since the Social Democrats' GP plan was unanimously passed by the Dáil, yet we are still waiting on the Government to progress any real reform of GP services. The strategic review of general practice was to conclude within nine months but it has now taken over three years. The minimal changes introduced in recent years fall far short. Take for example the social deprivation practice grant, which wa…
The social deprivation issue, Taoiseach.
The strategic review of GP-----
It has been happening for years.
I welcome this Bill and the debate we are having because we urgently need reform when it comes to public transport. Cork needs better public transport. We currently have no Luas, too many ghost buses, and towns that are not connected. This is having a huge impact on people's day-to-day lives and their ability to get around the city and county.
It is leading to an increased car dependency and increased reliance on fo…
I move amendment No. 2:
In page 9, to delete line 21 and substitute the following:
“(a) the person provides a home support service to fewer than 2 persons,
(ab) the person has been granted an exemption by the chief inspector from the requirements or conditions imposed by or under this Act,”.
On Committee Stage we discussed the piece in relation to the number of clients. The current Bill exempts home support provi…
I ask the Minister that this issue be given due consideration in the review because it is important. We need to ensure there are no loopholes, no operators are getting around the regulations and that they are enforced in full. We have a concern about that, so I ask for a commitment that it will be included in the review.
I thank my colleague Deputy Cairns for her leadership on this issue and for bringing forward the Bill. There are three things I would like to discuss which I think will come up during the course of our debate in the House this morning. The first is what the referendum was or was not about. For those of us on the progressive left who campaigned on this issue day after day, month after month and year after year, we are…
On this International Nurses Day, I want to commend our nurses and midwives and thank them for their work and service. Nurses and midwives need more than thanks on the floor of the Dáil. They need better working conditions, they need more staff and they need more resources. That is what would make their jobs easier.
We know April was the worst April on record for overcrowding, with 11,000 patients treated on trolley…
I want to ask about drugs policy. On-street drug use is a significant issue in Cork city. Local residents feel unsafe and intimidated. Needles have been found at bus stops, at playgrounds and outside schools. Problem drug users have been pushed from one part of Cork city to another. They were in the city centre and now, as the Taoiseach will know, they have been in Turner's Cross and Ballyphehane in recent weeks. We …
I welcome this long overdue legislation to further regulate vapes and to finally regulate nicotine pouches. As has repeatedly been the case with these new nicotine pouches, regulation arrives too late. The use of vapes and nicotine pouches has surged with a new generation increasingly dependent on nicotine.
The Minister of Health and her predecessors have not shown the level of urgency required with a piecemeal appr…
118. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the timeline for the full commencement of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024; to provide an update on the drafting of supplementary assisted human reproduction legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28695/26]
I begin by welcoming the commencement of section 232 of the assisted human reproduction Act which took place yesterday, and the changes to the Children and Family Relationships Act that resulted. This provides a pathway to parentage for some donor-conceived children. I know there were celebrations in many households across the country who benefit from those changes, which are welcome. When does the Minister intend to…
I thank the Minister. I welcome the commitment to advance it because the pace of change has been far too slow. It is now 26 years since the commission on AHR, four years since the Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy, and seven months since the health committee published our report providing pre-legislative scrutiny of the legislation. There is real frustration about the delays here. We need to see urgent …
I do think it is a situation of the Government's making. People absolutely have the right to take cases but people do not want to go before the courts. These families do not want to have the legal costs and the stress imposed on them by going before the courts. I think the Minister would agree with me that we need to expand personal freedoms generally in this republic. We need to vindicate the right to procreation, t…
125. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health if she has considered the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health's Report on Dental Services in the Healthcare System; if she will commit to implementing its recommendations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28361/26]