The Minister of State does hear the real voices, and she is implementing real change. She, her ministerial colleagues and support team and, most importantly, the front-line teams and volunteers are to be commended on their commitment to Sharing the Vision; the four tiers, the 100 recommendations and the 7% year-on-year budgetary increases, which will provide front-line and badly needed community-based services, in pa…
TDs / Gillian Toole
Gillian Toole
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
147
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
41,514
words spoken in the chamber
Across 115 contributions
407
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
61
topics asked about
Across 16 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 147 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 115 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 0 | 8 |
| March 2025 | 4 | 5 |
| April 2025 | 3 | 9 |
| May 2025 | 6 | 14 |
| June 2025 | 10 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 4 | 9 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 | 3 |
| October 2025 | 0 | 12 |
| November 2025 | 14 | 6 |
| December 2025 | 8 | 5 |
| January 2026 | 4 | 9 |
| February 2026 | 8 | 3 |
| March 2026 | 9 | 1 |
| April 2026 | 19 | 9 |
| May 2026 | 4 | 1 |
| June 2026 | 10 | 5 |
| July 2026 | 15 | 3 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 3 |
| September 2026 | 21 | 2 |
| October 2026 | 8 | 6 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 25 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 Meath East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
I would like to say a sincere thank you to every staff member in every single Department involved in carrying out all of the Trojan work to prepare for today. I welcome the expenditure measures in the budget for 2027. Do we get everything we ask for? No, we do not. Do we prioritise and compromise? Absolutely. Are sound foundations being built? Yes, they are.
Key areas I would like to highlight as a member of the Com…
98. Deputy Gillian Toole asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the housing assistance payment scheme will be extended to include the housing asset-owning parents of persons with additional needs and disabilities. [69734/26]
It is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 people with varying disabilities in need of planned living arrangements, yet only 2% are on social housing lists, which is a prerequisite for the provision of State-supported accommodation. There are older parents with prior Government-encouraged properties that could be shared by groups of adults with intellectual disabilities with appropriate wraparound services.…
I understand the rules of the HAP scheme and I understand the efforts that are being made and the reporting that local authorities will need to provide. The core problem here is that the majority of families are not aware that they should place their loved one on the social housing list. We have six different methods and metrics for recording, according to HSE officials speaking at a committee yesterday. It will be f…
I will press the Minister on this. I appreciate the great efforts that he, the Minister, Deputy Foley, and their support teams are making in this regard but we have a serious time lag here. We are talking about probably 30 or 40 years in which there has been a complete lack of forward planning. Given the five-year lead-in time for the amalgamation of six different data sets into one health identifier, which will then…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Murnane O’Connor agus an tAire, an Teachta, Carroll MacNeill atá imithe anois.
This is indeed a wonderful day. We are empowering pharmacists for healthier futures. There is a massive opportunity, as others have said, to capitalise on that. I thank the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, their teams in the Department, the task force, the Health …
I will start echoing the sentiment Forest E. Witcraft, who said, 100 years from now it will not matter what his bank account was, the car he drove or what house he lived in, but what will matter is the difference that he made in the life of a child. That is integral to what we are discussing here, namely, meeting the needs and embedding rights into our legislation. I will try to confine my comments to this amendment …
Comhghairdeas Senan agus a Aire. I support the actions today. They are necessary in these uncertain times and they must be kept under review, as has been said previously. "Waste not, want not" are wise words from our treasured older people.
On the issue of vision, or lack thereof, Deputy Heneghan has been persistent in pursuing plug-in solar, which is not too far away. I say this in case there is any doubt about the…
This country must be run like a family home, a community group or a small business.
Múineann gá seift.
I am thankful for the opportunity to discuss this important matter. I acknowledge the massive improvements that have been made. The national broadband plan is almost complete. Massive inroads have been made in my home county of Meath, including in the roll-out and the access it provides. That is most welcome, particularly in the area of assistive technologies for young people and older people with intellectual disabi…
I thank Deputy Carrigy for instigating this session this afternoon. I also welcome our visitors in the Gallery. The contribution of family carers, home support workers, volunteers, community cafés such as Dunshaughlin Pastoral Centre, Yvonne here in the restaurant and Friday club, while not specifically an Alzheimer's service, does fantastic work along with Ratoath Community Centre and advocacy groups such as ASI. Th…
I thank Deputy Quaide and his team for bringing this motion forward. Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities refers to the equal right of disabled persons to live independently in their communities - not miles away and not in another county - to choose their residence, to have access to personal assistants and community services and to use public facilities on an equal b…
I hope I have the correct question because I submitted two. There are four issues that are separate and significant but share a common thread. Last November in Kells, County Meath, there was an important Samhain festival and food symposium. It was an excellent symposium attended by Darina Allen, where a lot of topics around food security, food safety, biosecurity, health and soil health were discussed, including the …
I welcome those tentative updates. Could we firm up timelines for the publication of the land use study and particularly the timelines for the issuing of solar farm guidelines? Land use in general is particularly important because a lot of local authorities are currently preparing county development plans or variations on county development plans. If we are to really have a macro-consideration of all the elements of …
I had not expected to speak yet but I will take the opportunity. Things have moved very quickly. The benefit of Dublin Airport to Meath East is unquestionable. The opportunities for employment, the increase in the number of residents or constituents in the area and the opportunities for travel are all to our advantage. However, in recent times, the residents of Meath East have, without consultation, been affected by …
I thank Deputy Quinlivan for chairing our committee so ably and for tolerating a lot of toing and froing and time overruns, but the purpose and spirit committee members brought to the task at hand is manifest in the report. I urge all Members of both Houses and officials in all Departments to pay special attention to it.
The report runs to 42 pages. Pages 9 to 11 are the key pages because they contain the 33 recomme…
I am looking at you.
I preface my remarks about public transport in Meath East and my reservations about the extension of the remit of the National Transport Authority by commending the individual staff members across all ranks within the National Transport Authority, Bus Éireann and Irish Rail, as applicable to County Meath. However, I will list off the following reservations. I could probably echo everything that Deputies Gogarty and L…
I thank Deputy Gogarty for the opportunity to address this most serious issue. I thank the Minister for the pending reforms of the family court system. It is overdue and most welcome. I commend Anna Kavanagh and Dr. Finbar Markey who have done tremendous work, both supporting and documenting the plight of parents trying to navigate a complex and oftentimes inhumane system. I am sorry I missed the other contributions …
Meath is a rural county under very strong urban influence to that end and juggling those parameters, I commend the great work of the LEO, Meath Partnership, the council and the community and voluntary groups. We are very grateful for RSS, LEADER and RRDF funding to date and would welcome much more in future, if possible. At this important time of Our Rural Future II policy formation, I note the recent OECD rural poli…
I will give a little context in advance. It is in the same vein as Deputy Daly’s Topical Issue in relation to the cost of living. The current electricity pricing is between 28 cent and 37 cent per kilowatt hour, including VAT, and the night time rate is 14 cent. If we take an average annual consumption of 4,200 kilowatt hour, that works out at about an average of €1,700 per annum, equating to €142 per month. However,…
I thank the Minister of State. I always say here that every day is a school day. The €11 million PSO levy being returned is most welcome. I do not wish to be cheeky but I would welcome a response from the Minister of State on whether the transfer of leases has or does not have an impact on price? I appreciate that the Minister of State is deputising. I highlighted the average price versus the real price and the gap i…
The highest priority within the programme for Government is the whole area of special education, and the work that has been done to date by special needs assistants, special education teachers, the whole school community and indeed the parents and guardians supporting children throughout. It is fair to say that listening did need to improve and that is happening. It is of the utmost priority to find a way for SNA alt…