I wish to raise a serious issue on the floor of the House. It is a complex issue, so I hope the Minister of State will be able to give it his attention, if possible. The case involves a seven-year-old child, who I am going to call "Patrick" for the purpose of this discussion. Patrick disclosed physical and sexual abuse by his father. These allegations were brought to the attention of Tusla by the child's mother in 20…
TDs / Peadar Tóibín
2,463
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
174,842
words spoken in the chamber
Across 959 contributions
356
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
341
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 2,463 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 959 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 17 | 4 |
| February 2025 | 141 | 56 |
| March 2025 | 96 | 68 |
| April 2025 | 126 | 60 |
| May 2025 | 82 | 37 |
| June 2025 | 112 | 42 |
| July 2025 | 136 | 61 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 123 | 35 |
| October 2025 | 90 | 77 |
| November 2025 | 99 | 68 |
| December 2025 | 76 | 51 |
| January 2026 | 125 | 51 |
| February 2026 | 177 | 68 |
| March 2026 | 161 | 38 |
| April 2026 | 159 | 43 |
| May 2026 | 242 | 47 |
| June 2026 | 208 | 59 |
| July 2026 | 95 | 28 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 112 | 29 |
| October 2026 | 86 | 35 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 681 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 West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Aontú 29 November 2024 to now
I have already written to the former Minister for children, Deputy O'Gorman, the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, the Minister for children, Deputy Foley, and Tusla in respect of this case. I understand that the Minister of State does not know the background to the case and, in many ways, I am throwing at him the details of a case that is hard to get one's head around in a short time.
It is impossible for t…
I will email my transcript to the Minister of State as well.
Ireland is the second-most expensive country in Europe. It is quite incredible we have a situation where parents are lying awake at night not knowing how they are going to pay certain bills. I know parents who, as soon as their monthly wages drop in, go into another overdraft to keep them going until the wages next come in. The Barnardos report yesterday was absolutely shocking. For some reason we have considered thi…
Where one lives in Ireland is a significant determinant of whether one will survive cancer or die from it. In Ireland today counties and postcodes should have Government health warnings. When a cancer diagnosis happens in a family, a dark cloud descends. While there obviously is hope in terms of treatment, there is no doubt that for serious cancers, every moment of the day is consumed with whether or not one is going…
We do not have centres of excellence in many places; we have centres of waiting lists. Today, the Irish Cancer Society said that we have centres of bare adequacy. Those are the words it used. The Taoiseach mentioned extra resources but these do not keep up with inflation, with population increases or with the ageing population of the country and, in many areas of the HSE, they are not getting to the front line. They …
People are dying as a result of that geographic difference.
So has the number of patients.
Some 13,000 nurses have left.
What about Letterkenny?
Less than a year ago the Government made a U-turn on hate speech. The Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, overruled the former Minister for justice and made a pragmatic decision. Unlike this House, the majority of Irish people oppose any censorship laws. There was some sniggering in the Chamber a little while ago when a speaker suggested that hate speech could be turned against political parties in this House. Many Members are …
It is really important that the Government gives a strong answer. The European Union has given the Government just until Monday to comply with European law when it comes to hate speech. That is only four or five days away.
What is the Government's answer to the European Union in terms of complying with that law?
What is the point of having the CSO provide figures and details regarding the population across the country if the Government keeps ignoring those figures when it comes to the delivery of key services? The CSO tells us how many older people we have, but we are not providing enough nursing home beds for them. The CSO tells us the number of younger people, but we are not providing enough school places for those childre…
The Government has had four years to produce a review of the 2004 Act, and God knows how much it has cost. Ultimately, it tells us what we already know. The problem is that the review of this Act is now telling us to review another Act, the Disability Act 2005. It is an incredible situation.
The Government talks about the need for a legal, rights-based, inclusive education system but we all know that when it comes t…
I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1:
To insert the following after "restoration and conservation of the National Monument at 14-17 Moore Street":
"; and
commits to:
— respecting the heritage and legacy of the leaders of 1916;
— ending the destruction of key National Monuments such as the O'Rahilly Home and Moore Street;
— implementing the Moore Street Preservation Trust plan for Moore Street;
— developin…
129. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department plans to expand the basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34053/25]
I was sorry to hear about the Minister's ill health recently and I wish him the best of luck with it in future too. The basic income for the arts scheme is an initiative we in Aontú have supported for many years. Many artists live in poverty and deprivation and have lives full of economic anxiety. The basic income for the arts scheme is designed to reduce that deprivation and to help artists to create. Will the schem…
First of all, it is interesting that we do not know the net cost. We know the cost but many of these recipients were on social welfare previously.
I ask the Minister to speak to the other aspect of this, namely, the impact it is having on the creative sector at present.
Much of the study, and the information, has been on the 2,000 recipients but there is a control group of 6,000 other individuals who applied for th…
One of the difficulties is that for many, in reality, being an artist is synonymous with poverty. While now and again on the news or in the newspapers we see people who do economically well from their art, they are a tiny minority of that group. Historically, we know of artists who died as paupers only to have their art appreciated after their deaths. It is important that there is an understanding of the value of the…
141. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department has undertaken any analysis of the effectiveness of the basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34056/25]
Aontú has supported the scheme from the outset. The reason we have done so is that, unfortunately, poverty and the arts are often synonymous. People who work in the arts probably have the most precarious work that exists in the country. Their lived experience is often the direct opposite of people's understanding of the glamour of the arts. The difficulty I have with this is that we have a project that has been going…
137. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department has conducted any value-for-money analysis of its spending on Galway 2020; if a breakdown is available on the way in which the €15 million spent by his Department on Galway 2020 was spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34052/25]
One of my biggest frustrations and that of Aontú, in this Dáil and the previous one, is the waste of taxpayers' money and the lack of proper investigations and accountability. The Galway 2020 situation is an example of that. The difficulty with regard to waste is that it often becomes a crisis for a couple of weeks until the media cycle moves on and people forget about it. In the context of Exchequer funding to Galwa…
I thank the Minister. The independent auditor and its outcomes are in direct contradiction to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The project had received more than €20 million in State funding by 2023. The Minister's Department provided approximately €15 million; Galway City Council provided €3.7 million; Galway County Council provided €2.6 million; and the EU provided €1.5 million. The outcome of that was a number…