The last time we discussed driving test wait times was in February as part of a Sinn Féin motion. At that time, the wait time in Wicklow was 26 weeks. It is now 33 weeks so the situation has got unusually worse.
In Meath, the wait time is now a staggering 43 weeks. According to CSO data, wait times have grown in nearly every county. The situation is going backwards, unfortunately. It is clear there is a systemic pro…
TDs / Jennifer Whitmore
Jennifer Whitmore
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
872
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
114,259
words spoken in the chamber
Across 502 contributions. Plus 13 contributions from the chair, not counted
385
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
185
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 872 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 502 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 11 | 3 |
| February 2025 | 38 | 27 |
| March 2025 | 34 | 8 |
| April 2025 | 37 | 6 |
| May 2025 | 66 | 32 |
| June 2025 | 42 | 22 |
| July 2025 | 58 | 54 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 78 | 14 |
| October 2025 | 57 | 14 |
| November 2025 | 34 | 60 |
| December 2025 | 30 | 22 |
| January 2026 | 21 | 18 |
| February 2026 | 64 | 33 |
| March 2026 | 21 | 24 |
| April 2026 | 65 | 33 |
| May 2026 | 23 | 27 |
| June 2026 | 67 | 39 |
| July 2026 | 68 | 39 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 31 | 17 |
| October 2026 | 27 | 10 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 339 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 Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
That is in the past and going forward, they will be full-time jobs. I welcome that.
I was not aware that these staff can be moved. One could be living in Dublin and be required to go to a centre that is a long commute away. I imagine that lack of certainty makes it difficult to recruit when people are required to travel considerable distances.
I acknowledge the current staff, who have been put in a difficult positi…
4. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Transport if he will introduce a policy to ensure that there is no increase in public transport fares until we are on track to meet our transport-related carbon emissions targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23026/25]
I ask the Minister to introduce a policy to ensure there is no increase in public transport fares until we are at least on track to meet our transport-related carbon emissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I find it interesting that, literally, the only mention of affordability came in the last sentence of a two-minute contribution, and my question was about fare pricing.
I know we have seen an increase in the number of people using public transport, which is fantastic, but we need to see more of it. Our emissions are stubbornly high in the area of transport and while we have seen a slight reduction, it is nothing lik…
If the Minister of State were to talk to my constituents in Greystones and Kilcoole, they would not be particularly in agreement with him about public transport being a good news story. They have seen an increase of 30% in their fares and children have seen an increase of 200%. It is very hard to sell that as a good news story to people in those towns, particularly when the train service for areas like Greystones, Ki…
Tens of thousands of women will be travelling in.
This week we saw a new train fare structure rolled out around the Dublin area. While I welcome the simplification of fares, because I believe it was necessary, and also the reduction in fares for some towns, towns such as Greystones and Kilcoole have seen significant increases. This is really difficult to understand considering our transport emissions, the fact that we have to reduce emissions, the fact that we are n…
I looked through the document. When you read it, it all sounds very worthy as did the document before it and many other documents this Government and previous governments have produced. These are all nice, shiny, glossy documents that have very good sounding objectives and visions in place. Take, for example, national policy objective 12. It reads: “Ensure the creation of attractive, liveable, well designed, high qua…
We do not have sufficient, affordable and proper public transport. We do not have investment in the infrastructure we need. Unfortunately, I do not have much faith that the Minister will be able to deliver the communities we need.
It was quite noisy. My understanding, and this has been reported in the media, is the CEPA report offers an alternative view to the previous analysis done on energy security. It really is important because I understand the CEPA report says that by the time we get any emergency or transition measure in place, it will be very costly, but also there will not be a need for it at that stage. We could spend ten years and I…
On the terminology of this being emergency infrastructure, I understand that every two months, because of the very nature of LNG, the gas will have to be distributed through the pipeline-----
-----so we are essentially just replacing the majority of the gas we are using at the moment with this system even though we are calling it temporary and saying it will only be used in case of disruption. To compare it to the oil reserve is incorrect because that does not have to be used every two months. We do not have to get rid of it out of the system and ensure everyone uses it as it just sits there. That is wher…
And put it online.
4. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will release the report on liquefied natural gas commissioned by his predecessor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17600/25]
I welcome the students as well. It is always very interesting to visit here. I came into Leinster House when I was maybe eight or nine with Brendan Howlin and it was fascinating and has stuck with me.
It looks like LNG is the topic of the day. My question is about the release of that report. I welcome the fact that the Minister has said it will be released within a matter of weeks, but will he also refer to the GNI …
I thank the Minister. I may have misheard but I do not think he referred to the CEPA report.
It was quite noisy. My understanding, and this has been reported in the media, is the CEPA report offers an alternative view to the previous analysis done on energy security. It really is important because I understand the CEPA report says that by the time we get any emergency or transition measure in place, it will be very costly, but also there will not be a need for it at that stage. We could spend ten years and I…
On the terminology of this being emergency infrastructure, I understand that every two months, because of the very nature of LNG, the gas will have to be distributed through the pipeline-----
-----so we are essentially just replacing the majority of the gas we are using at the moment with this system even though we are calling it temporary and saying it will only be used in case of disruption. To compare it to the oil reserve is incorrect because that does not have to be used every two months. We do not have to get rid of it out of the system and ensure everyone uses it as it just sits there. That is wher…
And put it online.
Parents are trying to protect their children from an online world and becoming increasingly overwhelmed and anxious about it because their children are carrying around in their pockets probably the biggest threat they will face for many years, and that is just their phones. The Netflix show "Adolescence" brought this danger into stark relief. It showed an extreme case of the tragic consequences of toxic online conten…
Will she work with us across the floor to change this and make sure online spaces are safer for our children?
I agree there is a role for everybody in this. Parents are playing their part. Schools are playing their part. I know incredible teachers who are doing everything they can to address this issue. We need the Government to play its part.
I acknowledge the work the Minister did on Coco's Law. She spoke about making sure it is illegal to share graphic or toxic content. We are allowing the social media companies not only…
The Minister's printed statement was not circulated earlier. We seem to be getting into the habit of this. Printed statements are very useful if we cannot be in the Chamber at the start of a debate. Therefore, I ask that they be made available in future.
Listening to the debate, it has been interesting to note that many of the issues talked about are very small local ones – individual constituents’ cases in some ins…