I sincerely thank Deputy O'Donoghue for raising this timely and important issue. At the outset, and before I get into the specifics, I condemn any incidents of racially motivated abuse. I know the Deputy shares that view, as does everyone in this House. It is important to say that sometimes because we can tend gloss over it. Such behaviour is a scourge that we must all stay united in our opposition to.
The Deputy ri…
TDs / Neale Richmond
Neale Richmond
Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
100,288
words spoken in the chamber
97,626 as a minister, 2,662 as a TD
278
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 265 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 8 |
| March 2025 | 46 |
| April 2025 | 4 |
| May 2025 | 4 |
| June 2025 | 8 |
| July 2025 | 9 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 1 |
| October 2025 | 13 |
| November 2025 | 33 |
| December 2025 | 2 |
| January 2026 | 14 |
| February 2026 | 35 |
| March 2026 | 4 |
| April 2026 | 24 |
| May 2026 | 9 |
| June 2026 | 11 |
| July 2026 | 28 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 11 |
| October 2026 | 1 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 161 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin Rathdown 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs 29 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 26 March 2025 to now
I really appreciate the opportunity to come back in. I cannot stress enough how important it is that any of these issues that are brought to the attention of the House are solved by all of us. None of us can claim responsibility. None of us can shoulder all the blame. If we work together, however, we can alleviate the impact of what is happening.
Community gardaí play such an important part in addressing and resolvi…
I thank the cosponsors for bringing the Bill to Second Stage and all the Deputies for an engaging discussion on the issue. It is an important matter and, as previously stated, the Government fully supports transparency in the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals regarding transfers of value to healthcare professionals or organisations.
It is clear that we all agree on the nee…
Do Deputies opposite want an answer?
Preach.
I am delighted to take this question from Deputy Donnelly and I appreciate the constructive manner that it is placed and hopefully I will be able to reply in an equally constructive manner. I will skip over some of the introductory remarks, which he will receive to his place shortly - because the Deputy knows himself the Passport Office is working extremely hard on delivering overall, with 440,000 passports issued so…
I will reply on two issues. Where an Irish passport is tampered with, it tends not to be a forged or made-up document. It tends to be a stolen passport which someone uses to try to assume the identity of the owner and by trying to say they look like the person in the photo. That is how good the Irish passport is. The Deputy referred to an incident from ten or 12 years ago. I can assure him that things are greatly dif…
I thank Deputy Callaghan for a pertinent question. Needless to say, the Government in its entirety, and most of the House I expect, remain deeply concerned about the situation on the ground in Ukraine where we see Russia is demonstrating a clear desire to continue escalation and conflict. US proposals for a partial ceasefire on energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea, as well as plans for further negotiations, rep…
It is proposed that up to €20 million be provided to the two UDCG coalitions as outlined, both of which Ireland has joined and at which is represented by the Department of Defence. It is proposed €80 million will be allocated to procurement partnerships with other EU member states. As I said, examples of relevant non-lethal supports could include non-lethal elements of air defence such as radar systems and anti-drone…
This is a key issue when we come to the combined European effort in support of Ukraine. We are being asked to do more for Ukraine by other allies around the world, but not all 27 EU member states are prepared to do that or are pulling their weight. That is why the €250 million allocated to the European PEACE facility is what we want to see developed. It is part of a much wider package. That is why we are reverting to…
There are no Blueshirts left.
The Deputy is twisting his words.
The Deputy laughs at the Government every day.
There will be a vote in the Dáil.
It is parliamentary democracy.
I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. As I proceed to completely disagree with them, I say it is a good thing that we were able to have a frank and open debate in the Chamber. I agree with Deputy O'Donoghue's paying credit to the men and women of the Defence Forces and the service they give to the State currently and have given previously. It is with great pride that I see the Tánaiste and Mi…
I did not.
It was reflective of comments, not the motion.
It is not a fact check.
It is standing policy for the last 25 years Deputy. It has to be-----
Renewed.
Address the five that I laid out.
They is because they are not allowed speak. I wonder why.
They are not allowed speak because the Opposition prevents them.
Let them speak.