The EU studies have shown harm to reproductive health of people working in medical settings caused by nitrous oxide. These studies showed there is a decreased level of fertility in these workers. My fear is that people who are misusing nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, are taking much more concentrated doses than those who took part in these studies. There has also been a 175% increase in the number of young…
TDs / Mark Ward
Mark Ward
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
635
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
86,854
words spoken in the chamber
Across 347 contributions
429
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
148
topics asked about
Across 19 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 635 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 347 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 21 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 40 | 10 |
| March 2025 | 26 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 29 | 13 |
| May 2025 | 43 | 13 |
| June 2025 | 38 | 27 |
| July 2025 | 37 | 17 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 28 | 10 |
| October 2025 | 30 | 21 |
| November 2025 | 49 | 20 |
| December 2025 | 5 | 9 |
| January 2026 | 24 | 23 |
| February 2026 | 40 | 28 |
| March 2026 | 40 | 9 |
| April 2026 | 44 | 39 |
| May 2026 | 25 | 38 |
| June 2026 | 46 | 25 |
| July 2026 | 32 | 15 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 25 | 10 |
| October 2026 | 13 | 10 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 142 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 Mid-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
Migration must be managed in the context of Ireland. We should not simply allow it to be determined by global and domestic market forces. The Government must manage migration in a fair, efficient and enforced manner that has the best interests of the people of Ireland front and centre. The Government must consider Ireland's needs in terms of workers for key sectors such as health. I visited Galway hospital last year.…
I thank Deputy Paul Gogarty for bringing forward this motion and giving us an opportunity to discuss antisocial behaviour. I may not agree with everything in the motion but I do agree with its sentiments. Basically, something needs to be done to address antisocial behaviour.
I agree with the Minister when he said that a lot of the stuff Deputy Gogarty spoke about was not antisocial behaviour but actually criminal ac…
9. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [48902/25]
I do not know how the Taoiseach has done it but he has pulled off an amazing feat of illusion. Somehow the Taoiseach has normalised the housing crisis. I want to be clear that it is not normal for people to be still living in the back bedrooms of their parents' homes. It is not normal that rents have skyrocketed and that most young people feel they will not be able to buy their own home. It is not normal to have 16,0…
Dropping the 40,000-----
It is the first day back in the Dáil and it is important that we talk about Harvey Morrison Sherratt. Harvey was born with complex health conditions, including spina bifida and scoliosis. Harvey spent years on waiting lists for life-changing spinal surgery. Harvey died on 29 July this year. Harvey was just nine years of age. Harvey lived in my area of Clondalkin and, over the last couple of years, I have got to know …
I join the Minister in commending the work of CAB over the years in seizing assets from organised crime gangs. I also join in his comments concerning An Garda Síochána taking drugs off our streets, which is very much needed. Sinn Féin supports the aims of this Bill, but as the Minister mentioned, there will be a Committee Stage and we may seek to table amendments to further strengthen it then. I will speak to some of…
As the Minister of State said, this is the last Bill to be taken prior to the recess so I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the Oireachtas staff for all their work over the year, and let them know I will not be taking my full ten minutes and they might get out a little bit earlier. I am happy to speak on this important Bill. I thank my colleagues, Deputies Quinlivan and Daly, for the work that has gone in…
He would not have minded.
What the hell?
The Bill before us is a Bill of optics to create an illusion that the Government is dealing with a health crisis that it created. It is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic or an old-fashioned three-card trick that moves people from list to list without getting them the necessary treatment at the end of it. I will give the Minister some examples. In 2015, there was an agreement to place a much-needed primar…
-----but rests solely and squarely on the shoulders of Government for not providing public health nurses in Dublin Mid-West. I am calling for action now so that no more children fall through the cracks.
The parents are dead.
I am going to read out some statistics from last year. There were over 45,000 reports of domestic abuse to Women's Aid, over 22,000 contacts to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, over 49,000 domestic abuse incidents recorded by gardaí and over 65,000 domestic abuse calls recorded by gardaí. Behind every single one of these statistics is a person and they are mainly women, like the women who are here in the Gallery and th…
I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Act of 1962, to provide for a verdict of Iatrogenic Suicide and related matters.
Today Sinn Féin is introducing “Jake’s amendment” to amend the Coroners Act. This Bill will introduce the term “iatrogenic suicide” into the Act, allowing the coroner to return it as a verdict.
Iatrogenic suicide refers to the ending of one’s own life where…
I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."
We have had this conversation many times about admitting children into adult psychiatric facilities. The Government had four years to get this right and it has failed. It is draconian. The practice is wrong. Every human rights organisation has said it is absolutely wrong. The Government also had four years to get the regulation of CAMHS in place. It is not in this Bill. It is literally not good enough. We will be vot…
4. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration for an update on the criminal justice disregard of certain convictions related to consensual sexual activity Bill; when it will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36639/25]
While most of the world celebrated Pride last week and this week, in Ireland there are still men who have criminal convictions for just being gay before 1993. Can I have an update on the Disregard of Historic Offences for Consensual Sexual Activity Between Men Bill 2025? When will it be completed and when will these men have their criminal convictions quashed?
I thank the Minister. It is hard to believe that only 32 years ago it was illegal to be gay in Ireland. In 1993, when the law was changed, I was only 18. I was not aware of this rule when I was 18 but you can bet your life if I had been a young gay man, I would have been. Gay men at the time would have been driven underground. They suffered trauma and abuse. Ireland has come a long way since 1993, mostly for the bett…
I welcome the Minister's comments on the Bill that was introduced this week by Deputy Ó Snodaigh and several other Opposition Deputies, the Disregard of Historic Offences for Consensual Sexual Activity Between Men Bill 2025. The timing was to coincide with Pride last week and this week. We still have people around the world who are subjected to tyranny and abuse just for being gay. In its essence, this Bill aims to e…
That is a crime.
Absolutely.
No more so than you.