-----and our response to that to make sure this does not happen again.
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
The 15% average increase that has been proposed is over the top and defies logic. It is a retrograde step. We are supposed to be getting people onto public transport to reduce our carbon emissions and reduce congestion but this is putting our transport system in reverse. Inflation is only running at a fraction of that. This could not come at a worse time when there is cost-of-living crisis due to the sky-high cost of…
122. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Transport to rebalance the overall funding for roads in Laois (details supplied). [67753/26]
I am interested in the proportion of funding given for active travel versus the proportion given for rural and local roads. I am in favour of funding active travel but the specifications being given to councils are completely off the wall and are making it more expensive to deliver infrastructure projects of short duration. I have raised this issue previously and the officials have come back with standard answers. Th…
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He is correct regarding the allocation to the council but my point is that €3.5 million was given for active travel. I do not have a problem with that allocation; the problem is how it is being spent. He mentioned the departmental guidelines, which is where the issue arises. The specifications and stipulations set out in those guidelines are completely off the wall.
To gi…
On the overall funding, if the Minister of State has more millions of euro, he should send them down to Laois, because they are needed. The cost of repairing roads has been increasing by 15% per annum. I do not have a problem with the €3.5 million for active travel; if he has another €3.5 million, I would welcome it. The problem is the specifications and what we are getting for the money. That is the point I am makin…
While there have been some moves in regard to e-bikes in the context people being obliged to wear high-vis vests and helmets and a bans for under-18s, all of which are welcome, the number of serious injuries and fatalities continues to increase. In 2021, there were 173 hospital presentations and 309 in 2025. The signs are that it will be worse this year. Existing laws, including the new ones, are not being enforced. …
They have to be able to pursue them.
The current situation regarding assessments of need cannot be allowed to continue. It is a national scandal. Children with special needs who are vulnerable cannot even get assessed to get proper services. Some 23,000 assessments of need are overdue, having exceeded the statutory timeline. The average duration it takes to get an assessment of need is 27 months. That is the average. Some people wait up to three years. …
Households were never under pressure like this before. Middle and low-income households that coped in the past are under increasing pressure. Domestic home heating oil's sky-high cost is a huge contributory factor. In Laois, 41% of households are totally dependent on kerosene home heating oil and do not have an option. We have tracked prices, which have skyrocketed by 79% or more since last autumn. One political part…
11. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the impact of electricity demand for data centres on the public network; and the studies that have been carried out to determine the impact on the householder in terms of additional costs and so on. [65585/26]
My question relates to the impact of electricity demand from data centres on the public network. What studies have been carried out by the Department to determine the impact on householders and any additional costs to the public in general? It is not a case of arguing against all data centres. There will be data centres, but the proliferation of them in this country is high and they are having a significant impact on…
Significant work is going on to upgrade the network and it is badly needed, but there is a cost to it. The Minister outlined the 190,000 jobs, but very few of them are in data centres. The point I am making is that almost a quarter of the available supply is being used by data centres and there are reports it could grow to more than one third and more. That puts huge pressure on the network. It puts a huge amount of …
There are a number of issues. We are trying to construct 50,000 homes per year and there were reports again this week that the supply of housing is being hampered by the supply of water and electricity connections. There is clearly a pull factor and the Government has to take into consideration that there have to be jobs in other sectors and homes have to be built. There is pressure here every day with people talking…
The debate we are having here is a very important one. It is probably the most important one that is in the Dáil this week for the simple fact that energy, how it is charged for, how it is priced, who has access to it and who generates it will be a key issue as we move forward. By any standard, we are in an extraordinary situation because of the extraordinary number of data centres we have compared with other EU coun…
The Deputy is okay. I refer to the fact that we are here having to put down motions like this to try to counter the moves being taken by the Government. It is a sad day that this has to happen. As a member of the defence and national security committee, we have been around this and it is clear what is being mooted here by the Government.
Neutrality was never more important, given the instability in the world, the le…
The TDs on the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael benches will be whipped to vote by the decision of the 15 members of the Cabinet and that is democracy out the window. If the Government is going to do away with neutrality, it needs to bring it before the people.
The issue that I am raising relates to back yard dwellings and the new regulations that were announced over the summer. Regarding the regulations, back yard dwellings may work in a certain number of limited cases. I am not going to come in here and knock them, but it is only a certain limited number. There are already issues arising regarding the size of a dwelling, with the main one being that they are counted as cl…
It can work for a limited number of dwellings but there are problems there. I raise these sincerely and I am appealing to the Minister of State and to the senior Minister to resolve this.
To summarise it, the key issue is fairly straightforward. If you take any county outside the Pale, very few houses would not have some structure there already, such as a garage, greenhouse, store or whatever. That is the problem. It is going to be a shed or it will be the cabin or modular development. I know they do not have to be modular and can be a different type of self-contained structure. They will work in cert…
With regard to housing estates, there is the proximity to existing dwellings on tight housing estates with small backyards. Those are the three things I ask the Minister of State to bring back for me.
We are going through an epidemic of domestic abuse and violence. In 2025, the Garda had over 67,000 calls in relation to domestic abuse. Seven women were murdered last year, and in many of those cases, it was by a family member, a partner or somebody known closely to the victim. This year, in the first six months, matters have got even worse. Eight women have been murdered to date. Two were killed within a few short …
I will finish on this point. The council bought a site nearly three years ago for an eight-unit refuge. There was a lack of progress, but an approved housing body, AHB, Tuath Housing, has been secured to put that in place.
I ask the Minister for justice, the wider Government and Cuan to treat this with a sense of urgency, allocate the capital assistance scheme, CAS, money for it and get the scheme up and running as quickly as possible. I think the Tánaiste will agree it is an important issue.
The debate today is hugely important. It is 29 years since the Good Friday Agreement and this is my 16th year in this House. I have been waiting each year patiently, hoping this debate would happen. I particularly welcome the constructive approach. I listened to every word the Tánaiste said. While I would disagree with him on many things here at different times, I believe he approached the matter very constructively.…