I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. It is long past time we passed the occupied territories Bill. We have a moral and legal duty to do so. There can be no half measures. Even if we are being bullied or leaned on by the richest people in the USA, we still have to go ahead and do so. We passed sanctions against Russia, quite correctly, and we need to stop the pussyfooting on the occupied territories Bill - no h…
TDs / Brian Stanley
Brian Stanley
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
532
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
141,603
words spoken in the chamber
Across 449 contributions
403
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
156
topics asked about
Across 18 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 532 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 449 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 4 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 24 | 11 |
| March 2025 | 27 | 27 |
| April 2025 | 51 | 16 |
| May 2025 | 50 | 32 |
| June 2025 | 36 | 32 |
| July 2025 | 35 | 21 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 24 | 28 |
| October 2025 | 24 | 19 |
| November 2025 | 23 | 23 |
| December 2025 | 21 | 15 |
| January 2026 | 43 | 24 |
| February 2026 | 31 | 25 |
| March 2026 | 22 | 26 |
| April 2026 | 17 | 24 |
| May 2026 | 35 | 41 |
| June 2026 | 26 | 18 |
| July 2026 | 15 | 19 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 | 25 |
| October 2026 | 12 | 21 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 282 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 Laois 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
At the weekend, the towns of Portarlington and Mountmellick were flooded again for the umpteenth time. There are flood relief schemes planned in both towns. These were decided on after the serious flooding in both towns in 2017, which was eight years ago. Work is ongoing, and Laois County Council is playing its part in trying to advance those schemes as quickly as possible. However, because of all the different hoops…
That is a crazy situation. A huge amount of study needs to be done.
The studies need to be done in parallel. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to move on these schemes.
I am asking the Taoiseach to take this up with the Department of public expenditure and the OPW to try to get these schemes under way. I was with two pensioners last night.
Their house was flooded again at the weekend-----
-----and again last Friday.
I raise the issue of the Fastway workers. There is a large section in the programme for Government regarding enterprise and employment. The Fastway workers have been caught in an awful mess and treated disgracefully. One of the main depots is in Portarlington. Hundreds of workers and contract drivers are affected. Some workers who are owed wages got no warning whatsoever and cannot apply for a job because they are no…
Fastway had tangible assets of €5.2 million at the end of 2024 and €28 million, also at the end of 2024, in intangible assets.
It had €10.6 million in cash.
Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
This Bill keeps those who are on low pay and those who are compelled to live on social welfare in further poverty for another year. I will first deal with the auto-enrolment system, which leaves out those earning below €20,000. It may be the case that they will not accumulate a huge pension over their working life, but people earning below €20,000 are entitled to have the same rights as those who are earning €100,000…
I wish to raise the many problems in the National Ambulance Service. Staff are doing their best but there are problems beyond their control. I will outline some of those problems. There are not enough staff or ambulances. We have approximately 1,500 staff. Scotland, which has a similar population, has more than double that number. We have 675 operational ambulances in the service. Scotland has more than double that n…
The Taoiseach is correct about the investment, but we will not get the benefit of it because of the way the system is configured. The Taoiseach used the word "evidence". I will tell him what the evidence is. A county has no cover because the ambulance that is on call has to go to an emergency two or three counties away. That cannot be allowed to continue. That is the way Laois has been left on two nights each week. I…
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate. It has been 27 years since the Good Friday Agreement was endorsed, north and south, and over 100 years since partition. A lot of us at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, if we are being honest, were reluctant supporters of it. I will read out one line in it. "The Government [meaning the British Government] of Ireland Act 1920 is repealed; and this Act s…
Minister-----
Could we stop any heckling, please?
Micheál Martin says the time is not right.
The Deputy will get an opportunity, I will use my opportunity.
Micheál Martin says the time is not now. Full reconciliation has to a precondition but that will mean it will never happen. Yes, we need to advance reconciliation and we should promote it. Of course we should. I have met people from the unionist community in the past, including some loyalists. We should reach o…
There is a commitment in the programme for Government to prioritise new wind farm guidelines. Wind is important and it is important we are able to utilise it as part of the solution to moving to cleaner energy. Last week I got a reply to a parliamentary question on it. The reply from the Minister stated that the 2006 guidelines remain in force and that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is curre…
-----no proper set-back distances from homes and no protection from shadow flicker and noise. Residents feel powerless and very frustrated by this-----
-----and it is disgraceful. I will conclude on this. Every one of the past four Governments promised to do this. Who is putting the brakes on it? I have a Bill before the House, if the Tánaiste wants to support that-----
-----or if he wants to bring in his own guidelines, that is fine. When will we finally have up-to-date wind guidelines that are fit for purpose with these huge, almost 600 ft. turbines?
It would be great if it was before Christmas.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important motion. The issue of defective concrete was a huge problem in Leinster but what we are seeing in Donegal and down along the north west and western seaboard is catastrophic in both its scale and the effect it is having on families.
The motion is very reasonable. It calls on the Government to "cease all partial remediation", to "reinstate the original determina…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I note that the two Ministers are here. Sometimes at debates here the senior Minister or the Minister of State do not attend but for most of this debate there were three Ministers present, comprising the Minister and two Ministers of State. While we might disagree on a lot of issues, it shows there is a seriousness about the changes that need to be made in t…
It would be hard to oppose the Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill. It is increasing the finance available, which is needed. The key issue is that it is at low interest rates. I do not know if a portion of it is coming from the European Investment Bank, the private markets or a mixture of both.
The Minister of State might outline that in his reply.
We are in the middle of a housing crisis like we have never see…