Deputy Ward makes a very good point about legislation more generally. A citizen should be able to pick up a Bill, read it, understand it and see what is an offence and what is not an offence. It is a basic tenet of the rule of law that people should be to understand the laws they are expected to abide by. Even if it is the case that we have to go belt and braces, put these definitions in and spell things out in each …
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
Amendments that I or other Opposition Deputies have table have not been accepted.
Okay, but every single amendment tabled in respect of this Bill has been refused. In the context of previous legislation, all the amendment that I and others have tabled have been rejected out of hand. We need to work together on this to ensure that we get the best legislation possible. We all support the Bill, and we are trying to get the best legislation possible. If there was greater willingness to engage on amend…
I welcome the announcement of the second vaping Bill, in particular the piece around prohibiting the sale of nicotine-consumption products such as pouches to under-18s and the piece around advertising. It is targeted at children. The bubblegum flavours and advertising target children in an aggressive way. I support limiting the flavours as well.
As I said earlier, I was talking to some teenagers and they spoke of th…
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
recognises that:
— access to timely General Practitioner (GP) care is a fundamental pillar of a safe, effective and equitable health service;
— GPs play a vital role in our health service, managing the majority of people's medical care needs, and acting as the first point of medical contact for most patients;
— GPs provide a core leadership role in delivering care outside of the hospit…
I thank Deputies from across the House for their support for the motion. GP services need more than a quick fix; they need an overhaul. This morning's debate makes that clear. I also thank those we engaged with on this motion: Deep End Ireland, the IMO, the Irish General Practice Nurses Educational Association and Doctors for Universal Healthcare, all of whom we met to discuss these proposals. I also thank the Rural,…
Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have been talking about reforming GP services for years but have failed to deliver. The Government's strategic review of GP services, first promised in 2019, still has not been completed. During that time GP fees have risen to as high as €90 in some areas, and that is just to get in the door. Price, however, is not the only barrier. An increasing number of GP practices…
To under-eights.
Last night's "RTÉ Investigates" made for harrowing viewing. We saw people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties being subjected to degrading treatment and even dying in custody. Such was the tragic case of Ivan Rosney. These vulnerable people require care and compassion, not cold prison cells. Last October, I visited Cork Prison. As a result of what I saw, I started asking questions. At the end of Janua…
Fifty beds.
This weekend the Social Democrats will hold our party conference in Cork, which is a city starved of Government investment. The people of Cork have been long promised light rail but not a single penny has been provided under the new transport plan. However, that is not the only broken promise. We have no BusConnects; no new dental school; no business school; no safe injection facility; no new homeless hub; and no new…
It was not used.
This week the Minister for education announced extra time will be granted to secondary school students with dyslexia and other and other visual and physical disabilities in their junior and leaving certificate exams but it comes with a catch - it is only ten minutes per exam. I accept ten minutes is better than nothing but it falls far short of what these students require and deserve. It is nowhere near what third le…
It is deeply disappointing that the Government is opposing this motion and I think there are people with disabilities across the country who are going to be very disappointed as well. Our contributions are not alarmist; they are grounded in evidence and research. We know that the annual cost of living with disability is estimated at between €10,000 and €15,000. According to the ESRI, there is a weekly cost of between…
6. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Taoiseach when the Cork city task force will be established. [68413/25]
7. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Taoiseach when the Cork city task force will be established. [70179/25]
3. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [68414/25]
6. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [70180/25]
Around the world, LGBT+ people remain under continuous attack. In December alone, Kazakhstan's senate approved a ban on so-called gay propaganda, which basically amounts to blocking any information on the LGBT community. In Türkiye, a court shut down an LGBT youth organisation for supposedly encouraging people to be lesbian, gay or bisexual, while in Budapest the police have recommended pressing charges against the m…
I move:
That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Health entitled "Report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) (Amendment) Bill", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 9th October, 2025.
Tonight we are debating a report published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health. This was a report we worked on last summer across the committee a…
I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Minister of State. I really welcome the remark that many of the recommendations will be included and reflected in the legislation when it is finally published. That is very welcome. I will be glad to report back to the rest of the committee on that. That is great to see. What is missing, and I think the Minister of State would agree, is clarity on the timeline here. When we engaged…
I said "nearly". It has been quite a low output-----
How many Bills were passed?
Absolutely, and we had an argument about that because we thought it should have been dealt with at the health committee and that it did not need the floor of the Dáil to do it. All of the legislation could have been progressed. I had a look back over the historical span of the number of Bills passed. In some years in this Oireachtas we had 45, 50, or 60 Bills passed.
There is a low level of legislative output and it is frustrating that we have not seen this Bill passed, and other areas. Law reform is needed in lots of other areas. We were talking yesterday about vapes and other areas. There is a need for law reform and we would like to see some of that progressed, including this Bill. As I said, it is crucially important. As Deputy Sherlock said, there is a diversity of families …