This week, a harrowing documentary about the medical gaslighting of women was broadcast by Virgin Media. It featured women who spent years in excruciating pain before eventually being diagnosed with conditions like endometriosis and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, PMDD. It featured women whose incredibly serious and debilitating healthcare concerns were repeatedly dismissed or minimised by doctors and women who had …
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
I thank the Minister for her response. It is clear she is passionate about this area, but I am afraid we are not moving quickly enough with this. Last October, the Minister announced €16 million in funding for endometriosis care and 65.5 new staff. As of September, only one of those staff was in place, according to a parliamentary question response I got in September, with one more being onboarded. There is still a h…
1. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the economy, trade and competitiveness will next meet. [71954/26]
Every single time we raise concerns on this side of the House in relation to data centres and the enormous amount of electricity they are using, the Government and its Ministers just talk about jobs, the tech jobs that Ireland has. Of course, that is very important but let us look at other countries in Europe. In Ireland we are using 23% of our electricity at the moment for data centres.
Seriously?
Sweden has 9% of its workforce in the tech sector and only uses 3% of its electricity for data centres. In Finland, 8% of its workers are in the tech sector but it uses 2% of its electricity for data centres. In Ireland, 6% of our workforce is in the tech sector-----
-----and we are using 23%. Can the Taoiseach explain the discrepancies there?
The Government does not take any other factors into account.
Data centres do not create jobs.
There are hundreds of thousands of households listening in today to hear about the budget, hoping against hope that they will finally get some relief from the suffocating cost of living they are experiencing, and from the extortionate energy costs they are being crushed by. This budget has ignored them. Their cries for support with energy costs have fallen on deaf ears. The Minister and I know that those houses despe…
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— Irish households continue to face severe financial strain in the face of high and rising electricity prices;
— the average monthly wholesale electricity prices in Ireland have increased by 9.6 per cent in August, 2026 alone, and are up by 77 per cent year-on-year;
— retail electricity prices in Ireland were already the highest in Europe, with households paying an average …
We are entering into a winter of discontent. Life has never been so expensive, whether it is electricity, gas, home heating oil, fuel or groceries. People are struggling to keep their heads above water.
I am particularly supportive of the solar measures that are being brought in but they are clearly not enough. More has to be done.
This is not just about energy. I think this is what the Minister of State is missing…
Tommy is an elderly gentleman in my constituency. He is in arrears on his electricity bills like 328,000 other people. He is currently really scared because despite being on the vulnerable customer register, and making lump sum payments to try to pay off the bill and get on top of it, he is still receiving letters from his supplier, Electric Ireland, telling him things like his account is now at a critical stage and …
Yes.
I welcome everyone to the Public Gallery, and give a special welcome to the fifth and sixth class students.
There are now more than 500,000 households in arrears on their gas and electricity bills. That number has never been higher and it is continuing to soar. Thousands of people all over the country are facing a cold and bleak winter and feel a rising sense of dread every single time a bill comes through their doo…
Will the Government introduce a €400 energy credit for low- and middle-income families and radically ramp up solar?
I thank the Tánaiste and I welcomed hearing the Minister talking about battery storage. It would have been better if the Government had not removed the battery storage grant in 2022 when Ukraine was invaded. That would have assisted.
A lot of people have put in solar, but there are many hundreds of thousands of people who cannot afford to do it. It is those people who are really struggling. It is the low-to-middle-i…
They do not work. We need to insulate homes. That entails a long-term strategy and long-term investment.
I want to raise with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, Kilcoole Primary School in County Wicklow. Kilcoole Primary School covers two schools that have amalgamated, St. Anthony's and St. Brigid's. It was a really good news story. It got approval for a new build and an extension for the new school. The entire community was very excited about it. It is a really positive story. I was there on the day the th…
I thank the Minister of State. I have seen some fantastic modular buildings but what they are not is the same as the permanent traditional building. The children who will be in those classrooms will know that they are in a different type of build. Those modular buildings will not look like the traditional build and the existing school and they will not feel like it. Those children will feel different. That should not…
As a country, Ireland has never been as wealthy. We have never had so many resources available to us to support people and to make this country even better than it is, yet we still have so many people who feel completely left behind by this Government and the previous Government. They are struggling to keep their heads above water and really cannot see a future for themselves. We saw a report yesterday about the numb…
2. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he will commission a report into the number of data centres the Irish energy grid and water networks can handle. [65223/26]
My question is very simple. Will the Minister commission a report into the number of data centres the Irish energy grid and water networks can handle? It is incredible we are in 2026 still asking for a simple report on the capacity of the energy and water systems to handle the huge increase in data centres over the past ten years.
We have seen incredible growth in data centres. In 2015, 5% of our electricity use was by data centres. It is now 23%, is projected to grow to 30% in the coming years and will continue to grow even further than that. I know the Minister's and Government's argument for the red carpet being rolled out for data centres relates to the economic benefits they bring. However, the report the Government came out with in relat…
The LEAP would enable, potentially, 50% of our electricity to go to data centres in the coming years. While the Minister said 80% has to come from renewables, there is a six-year path to that happening. In those six years, they can be based on gas. Data centres are pushing up our energy prices, they are making our grid unstable and they will make it impossible to meet our climate targets, which should be a concern to…