As the Minister of State knows well, County Wexford is experiencing a mental health crisis due to the lack of an acute mental health facility since the closure of St. Senan's psychiatric hospital in 2013. This facility served as the primary mental health institution in the region for over 150 years. There has been no replacement, meaning there is no acute mental health unit in Wexford. This is shocking in the context…
TDs / Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin
Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
315
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
37,670
words spoken in the chamber
Across 118 contributions
432
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
109
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 315 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 118 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 17 | 2 |
| March 2025 | 37 | 0 |
| April 2025 | 18 | 6 |
| May 2025 | 10 | 3 |
| June 2025 | 9 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 5 | 6 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 12 | 3 |
| October 2025 | 5 | 7 |
| November 2025 | 34 | 5 |
| December 2025 | 13 | 4 |
| January 2026 | 37 | 9 |
| February 2026 | 43 | 26 |
| March 2026 | 19 | 6 |
| April 2026 | 14 | 5 |
| May 2026 | 3 | 7 |
| June 2026 | 7 | 5 |
| July 2026 | 15 | 6 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 13 | 3 |
| October 2026 | 4 | 13 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 33 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-Wexford 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I acknowledge what the local teams are doing. They are doing brilliant work at Tara House, Arden House and lots of other places. I am glad to hear that the Minister of State accepts that there are no acute beds in County Wexford and that she will look at that this year. I am just reflecting what every politician in Wexford is saying and what the people coming to me are saying. They are saying that the facility in Wat…
On a similar note, ba mhaith liom uasdátú ar Ghaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir agus Gaelcholáiste na Mara. I would like an update on the commencement date for Gaelcholáiste na Mara and Ghaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir. When will there be shovels in the ground for their new campus at Kilbride? I appreciate the Taoiseach might not have the answers now but I ask that he get them for me. Pupils in the schools have been 27 years in pr…
The single-use, flashy and flavoured disposable vapes that are targeting our children definitely need to be banned. However, the Government Bill only targets products which are being phased out anyway. Sinn Féin has been raising this issue for years. Ireland is years behind the curve in comparison with many countries.
Vapes and nicotine pouches in particular pose a very serious health risk to children. My son is 13 …
The Government is very much out of step with the farmers in my constituency, Wicklow-Wexford, who marched in Athlone on Saturday. The Government could have stopped Mercosur but never made any effort to block it over the 25 years it was in the making. There was no real effort to reach out to other countries to form a blocking minority. Just before Christmas, Sinn Féin had a Private Members' Bill in the Chamber. Minist…
The EU has failed Ireland's fishing industry repeatedly and we are once more paying the price for the chronic overfishing of shared stocks by big boats from third countries. The recent EU fisheries deal from Brussels is a betrayal of the fishing industry and has been described as catastrophic. We are talking about 2,300 community jobs in coastal communities, including in Arklow and Courtown, being in immediate danger…
The CETA agreement is dangerous for Ireland and may even be worse than Mercosur. I do not believe it is in the interests of the Irish people. I urge the Government not to ratify it and, if necessary, to put it to the people to decide in a referendum. It undermines our sovereignty and, basically, our right to decide our own destiny. It risks entrenching the corporate power of billionaires over Irish democratic decisio…
This time last year I was still teaching special education, something I have done for many of my 34 years working as a primary school teacher. I have never seen the crisis of assessment of need as bad as it is at present, so much so that the inspirational 15-year-old Cara Darmody has felt forced to sleep outside the gates of this House once again on such a horrible winter's evening. In County Wicklow, which is in the…
The Courtown-Arklow Coast Guard unit does incredible work on the Wicklow-Wexford coast and put their lives at risk to protect others. The least they deserve is proper and safe working conditions in a modern workplace in the form of a new Coast Guard station. A total of 23 men and woman had been working out of a 10 ft by 20 ft room in Courtown using the same sink for making tea and coffee as they do to wash up after a…
Irish agriculture, public health and the environment cannot be sacrificed for the sake of Ursula von der Leyen selling more German cars in South America.
The time has come for Government TDs from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents to stand with farmers instead of speaking out of both sides of their mouths, running with the hare and pulling with the hound. We have a large farming community in south Wicklow a…
People in rural Ireland, such as in my own area of Wicklow-Wexford, need to use a car. They are particularly impacted by the rising cost of motoring. They are getting fleeced with fuel costs, rip-off insurance, which was just mentioned, parking charges and maintenance for service repairs including NCT, especially for those using rural back roads, which are in dire condition where I live. There are financing charges i…
I want to raise the 16-year-long injustice that has been inflicted on the Arklow fisherman, CJ Gaffney, and his family. They have lost everything. It is has been described as a life sentence. They have been 16 years campaigning for justice, compensation and improved safety standards for fishing vessels but mainly compensation. They have taken their battle to the Netherlands, Germany and Brussels, as the Tánaiste know…
The Government's policy to date in the area of IPAS processing and enforcement has been reckless, farcical and absurd. The State simply could not be bothered applying its own rules. The structures of Tusla have been a sham, which was something I highlighted at an Oireachtas committee meeting just weeks ago. Sadly, just a few days after that, we saw the end result of this reckless policy when a ten-year-old girl was r…
The Government caused the problem. The people need to direct their anger at that Government.
There is certainly a crisis in men's health and it is great that we are having this discussion today. It is quite an historic occasion. A recent report for the South East Technological University, SETU, revealed that 40% of male deaths that occurred before the age of 75 were premature and many were preventable.
County Wexford ranks second in this State in terms of premature male mortality rates per county. This coul…
I wish to raise the issue of school funding, specifically regarding schools that have gained a new teaching post this year. Could the Tánaiste look into the specific case of Tinahely National School? I know he knows the area. Such schools were targeted for the new mainstream teacher grant of €9,200. The new school principal, Pádraig O'Connor, has been in regular contact with the Department but he cannot get an update…
As the Minister and Ministers of State know, farmers are in intense crisis at the moment following two absolutely terrible years. Will the Government introduce a proper area-based payment tillage incentive scheme? Currently, the Government is giving €40 per acre whereas it needs to be at least €100 per acre or €250 per ha, as requested by the farming organisations that I have met with on a number of occasions. That n…
I received a lot of budget feedback in the Wicklow-Wexford constituency over the weekend. The general feeling was that ordinary working people had been left behind once again. They spoke of the proverbial squeezed middle or the new working poor. A common line from people was along the lines of how they had thought before the election that the Government would look after the working people but, sadly, they would now b…
Tillage farmers, as the Minister of State knows, are in deep crisis. The question I want to ask is whether the Government will introduce a proper area-based payment tillage incentive scheme. Currently, the Government is giving just €40 per acre while it needs to be at least €100 per acre or €250 per hectare, as requested by the farming organisations. It really needs to be done as a matter of urgency in this crisis.
…
I am not convinced by the Government's response. The fact of the matter is that we are in the middle of a crisis and farmers have no increase this year. It is still €40 per acre. In her response, the Minister of State mentioned the drinks industry. We have such opportunities but it is incredible to believe that our famous Irish whiskey does not have a requirement to have Irish grain in it. This is absolutely incredib…
Those on board the humanitarian aid flotilla are under clear and present danger as it approaches the coast of Gaza today. Our own Senator Chris Andrews and Barry Heneghan, TD, are on board. We know that Israel has no bottom line - anything goes, basically - and that, previously, it killed nine people on board a humanitarian aid flotilla, so we must act immediately.
Over 20 years ago, I experienced the hospitality of…
The insurance rip-off, which is what it is, affects every single household, every motorist, every business, every community and every group across this land. We are all getting fleeced by a cartel of insurance companies that are making two to three times more profit here in Ireland than they are in other countries. It is a gangster's paradise basically. That is not speculation; it is fact. It hiked up motor insurance…
I will also highlight the growing concern about vaping and nicotine use among young people. While vapes are often marketed as safer alternatives to smoking, the reality is far more troubling. Vapes and similar products, such as nicotine pouches, pose a very serious health risk, particularly for young people whose brains are still developing.
This scourge of modern society, as we could call it, is nearly everywhere. …
In my 34 years as a primary school teacher, and having been on three secondary school boards, this is probably the worst year I can recall in terms of school transport chaos. My office is inundated with messages and calls, mostly in relation to transport for children with special needs. I could give numerous examples such as the 15 children who are today without a school bus place for Castletown National School near …
Cuirim fáilte roimh mhná na hÉireann atá thuas san Áiléar Poiblí anocht. Tá céad míle fáilte rompu. Like most men, I knew very little about the silent problem of endometriosis until we held a meeting in Arklow recently for the Wicklow-Wexford constituency. It certainly was an eye-opener for me. I am sure it would be for most men, and for many women as well. We heard so many heartbreaking stories one after the other o…