97. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide an update on the situation in Sudan; her engagement with allies on the conflict; if Ireland will be providing increased levels of aid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66301/25]
TDs / Duncan Smith
Duncan Smith
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
547
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
93,576
words spoken in the chamber
Across 293 contributions
361
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
162
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 547 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 293 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 12 | 2 |
| February 2025 | 40 | 11 |
| March 2025 | 46 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 34 | 16 |
| May 2025 | 27 | 14 |
| June 2025 | 31 | 19 |
| July 2025 | 19 | 13 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 34 | 8 |
| October 2025 | 31 | 23 |
| November 2025 | 24 | 31 |
| December 2025 | 17 | 18 |
| January 2026 | 16 | 16 |
| February 2026 | 34 | 18 |
| March 2026 | 19 | 14 |
| April 2026 | 25 | 9 |
| May 2026 | 41 | 30 |
| June 2026 | 51 | 12 |
| July 2026 | 15 | 11 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 | 9 |
| October 2026 | 19 | 9 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 187 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 Dublin Fingal East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Labour Party 29 November 2024 to now
I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I am very thankful we are having statements on Sudan this afternoon. This question was submitted in advance of knowing that. I am looking for any update or information to the Minister can provide the House with in regard to what we are doing as a State in humanitarian terms to help alleviate, tackle, better understand or deal with the genocide, travesty and violence that is taking…
I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is clear to me that Ireland is taking this very seriously and is acting in our capacity, as much as we can, to support what is a very complex situation. I read one article that said the history of war in Sudan has both a long history and a short history, and both are very complicated. The numbers the Minister of State articulated in his response are absolutely astron…
That is a really good assessment. It is unfathomable and difficult. As complex as any conflict is, sometimes such as in relation to Russia and Ukraine, it is clear who the aggressor is. It is clear who we are supporting and what side we are on. It is far more complex in Sudan with the nature of the belligerents, both the short and long history of conflict there and the nature of the type of violence itself. There are…
I thank the Minister of State for his detailed and very clear response in relation to this. As he articulated, the storms caused unprecedented damage, felling tens of thousands of hectares, wiping out years of growth and inflicting huge economic losses. There is encouragement in the Minister of State's response. An estimated 26,000 ha of forest has been felled or destroyed, impacting the long-term investment income r…
I have no more to add. I brought this up on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Robert O'Donoghue. I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response.
The Tánaiste has a pensions double-header coming up from the Labour Party here.
I will be returning to the issue of the An Post pensioners. The Tánaiste will be aware that, in September of this year, An Post management agreed with the Communications Workers' Union, CWU, an increase of pensionable pay by 7%, with 6% backdated to 1 January and 1% to 1 June. The current code of practice for the governance of State bodi…
The Labour Party was calling for this debate for the last few weeks through the Business Committee, along with others. I am happy we are having it today. I also commend the majority of the Minister's statement on this. It was detailed and contained more additional policy coherence in relation to Sudan than we have seen to this point. In that regard, it is interesting to note that the European Parliament today adopted…
I move amendment No.1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
notes that:
— while it is acknowledged that the horse and greyhound racing sectors do not qualify for sports capital funding, they are unique in Irish sport in that they are supported by the State through their own ring-fenced statutory fund;
— payments into the Fund have increased from €68 million in 2015, up to the €99…
How much do we give to that?
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, that was an outrageous thing for that Deputy to say and he should withdraw it.
Wow.
On the motion to opt into the regulation establishing the asylum, migration and integration fund, we should be clear about what we are discussing. This is a motion to give our assent to a package of nearly €12 billion to underpin the implementation of the EU migration pact. Along with others, we in the Labour Party have significant difficulties with that pact. Measures will be funded with this money. One of the objec…
Four weeks ago, the previous Minister for foreign affairs gave an indication that the occupied territories Bill would be brought back to this House before the end of November. The November schedule will be agreed without that being included. Can the Chief Whip now give an assurance that the Bill will be brought before the House before Christmas and the end of December?
We will support the Bill, as we do with related legislation every year, but that endorsement is not an endorsement of the two-tier system that exists in our health service. Why do 46% of the population, or 2.5 million people, feel they must have private health insurance? It is because our public health system is buckling at the seams. As of 31 October 2025, there were 626,000 people on outpatient waiting lists. So fa…
I thank Deputies Boyd Barrett and Murphy and their colleagues for bringing this motion to the House today, which we are happy to support in a cross-party manner.
With all due respect to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, I am absolutely disgusted, for want of a better word, that the Minister is not here on her first full day, at least even for the start of the debate. Along with Ukraine, this is the only show in t…
Sit down.
Notwithstanding the situation the Government has found itself in again, there is no excuse for us not to have Leaders' Questions and not to have Questions on Policy or Legislation. The accountability deficit the Government is committed to is continuing yet again. We are utterly against this change to the Order of Business.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on these statements today. Some may believe the situation in Ukraine has gone away, calmed down or settled. Nothing could be further from the truth. This war is becoming more fraught by the day. Despite the invasion and aggression by Russia, the Ukrainian people continue to display immense bravery and dedication to their nation. We are now nearly four years into this war, a war that…
11. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the current levels of staffing in the naval force as of October 2025; the operational capacity of current staffing levels in regard to naval vessels; the timeframe for recruitment to ensure operation of all existing vessels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60493/25]
I continue to be deeply concerned about the level of staffing in the Naval Service. I ask for an update on the operational capacity of the current staffing levels of our naval vessels and the timeframe for recruitment to ensure the operation of all existing vessels.
I thank the Tánaiste for the detail in his reply. He mentioned the difficulty in hiring specialists. A total of €250,000 has been spent this year for external contractors to service naval vessels due to the lack of trained personnel. In August, we read a report that the €300 million project to purchase Ireland's biggest ever naval ship is in the doldrums, as senior Defence Forces personnel seek a more combat-orientat…
I appreciate the Tánaiste's candour in terms of the numbers going up, but we may not be able to meet the establishment figure. I hope that we will and we really need to strive for it. The Russian shadow fleet as a huge threat and our undersea cables are very vulnerable. Our neutrality is best served by being able to stand on our own two feet and to engage with our allies on our terms rather than having to rely on the…
While the world is watching on, Sudan is, in the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres, spiralling out of control. The Yale humanitarian research lab has described the genocide and killings as happening at a velocity and ferocity not seen since the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s. Since the civil war began, 15 million people have been displaced. More than 150,000 have been killed in the conflict, at an estim…
We are asking the Government to listen to this Chamber, the people's Chamber. It should listen to its own senior backbenchers if it will not listen to the Opposition, follow the data and change its drug policy. We know it is listening to tech bros running op eds about trying to rebrand itself as a government that can deliver on infrastructure. It needs to deliver on people suffering with drug addiction. The data is t…