I echo Deputy O'Callaghan's concerns about this. We obviously want to see infrastructure delivered quickly in this country. Our biggest concern with the Bill in general is the disapplication of the climate action Acts. Given that is a power that will be given to the Minister, it is important that the Dáil and Seanad have a say in any project that is designated. Our amendment would essentially flip the burden. Rather …
TDs / Ciarán Ahern
Ciarán Ahern
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
860
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
128,105
words spoken in the chamber
Across 238 contributions
355
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
204
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 860 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 238 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 17 | 8 |
| March 2025 | 74 | 7 |
| April 2025 | 25 | 9 |
| May 2025 | 29 | 18 |
| June 2025 | 16 | 11 |
| July 2025 | 79 | 9 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 52 | 9 |
| October 2025 | 18 | 6 |
| November 2025 | 45 | 16 |
| December 2025 | 54 | 11 |
| January 2026 | 95 | 15 |
| February 2026 | 82 | 13 |
| March 2026 | 48 | 6 |
| April 2026 | 75 | 20 |
| May 2026 | 26 | 19 |
| June 2026 | 52 | 28 |
| July 2026 | 24 | 6 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 34 | 22 |
| October 2026 | 15 | 4 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 109 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 South-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Labour Party 29 November 2024 to now
We are all agreed that there are delays and problems in delivering infrastructure in this country. The problem is that the Government and the Minister have come to the wrong conclusion about why this is a problem and why this is happening. He is determined to blame judicial reviews and environmental laws and to dump on environmentalists. These are people who are just trying to ensure that the law is upheld as it is a…
I thank Deputy Daly and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this legislation. I am disappointed that the Government will not be supporting it. The Labour Party and I have long called for enhanced powers for the CRU. Indeed, I have my own electricity regulation Bill, which seeks to give the CRU the ability to issue specific emissions reduction or offsetting obligations on large energy users, like data centres. I hope we ge…
I pay tribute to Deputy Nash for his immense work in preparing this mini-budget, which I commend to the House. After Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the energy crisis that followed, the Labour Party was the first party to call for a windfall tax on the gross and excessive profits that were being made by energy companies. It took the Government a year and a half to do it but a temporary solid…
97. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport to report on the zero-emissions heavy duty vehicle purchase grant and zero-emissions heavy duty vehicle infrastructure grant schemes, including the number of applications received and funding drawn down since their inception; the steps he will take to encourage and increase uptake among those in the haulage and farming sectors; and if he will make a statement o…
I would like to ask the Minister about the electrification of our heavy goods vehicles fleet and for a report on the zero-emissions heavy duty vehicle purchase grant and zero-emissions heavy duty vehicle infrastructure grant schemes, including the number of applications received and funding drawn down since their inception; the steps he will take to encourage and increase uptake among those in the haulage and farming…
I ask this question in the context of the €500 million package with no strings attached announced for the haulage and farming sectors. While we recognise the need for these packages, we also have to recognise this exists because of fossil fuel dependence in those sectors and it is in many ways a subsidy to the fossil fuel industry. As part of a just transition, we must make this choice easy for hauliers in particular…
No country is doing particularly well in this area but even across Europe 4.5% of HGVs are zero emission and we are only at just over 1%. In China, it is up to 25%. It is leading the world in this regard. The charging infrastructure grant is important because hauliers say to us they cannot avail of this not only because of the cost of the vehicles but also the lack of infrastructure. My understanding of that grant is…
As the Minister knows, family law remains one of the most overlooked and under-resourced areas of our justice system. The attitude to family law is epitomised by the huge site earmarked for the headquarters of the new family law courts back in 2014 that has been lying vacant and waterlogged on Hammond Lane in Smithfield for years. Planning permission was granted in 2024 and it might be completed by 2029, if we are lu…
As my colleagues have said, there are three of us here from the constituency but it is fair to say the five TDs in our constituency support the school in this regard. There is a short-term and long-term need in the school. The short-term need is to get an emergency grant to fix this roof, which is badly leaking. Almost daily water is dripping into classrooms and leaving pools. When we were there one of the classrooms…
The principal and staff of the school are doing a brilliant job and it is a fabulous school. It is a big school in Old Bawn. There are about 700 or 800 students in it. It is lucky the school has a big site where it will be possible to build the new school at the same time as keeping the existing building going and doing it in phases without the need for additional funding for modular or temporary accommodation for th…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta O'Gorman agus an Comhaontas Glas as an rún den scoth seo a chur chun cinn. Tá sé tráthúil agus Lá Domhanda na Cruinne á cheiliúradh againn inniu. Tacóidh Páirtí an Lucht Oibre leis an rún.
This motion provides a stark picture of just how far we have slipped and continue to slip in terms of our climate goals. I have been really struck by how little emphasis the Government has placed o…
I have serious concerns about a proposal by An Post to relocate a sorting office from Edmondstown in Rathfarnham to Lucan later this year. This facility has served people in Knocklyon, Whitechurch, Firhouse and Rathfarnham for decades. Closing it would be a particularly bad blow, given the recent closure of the much-valued and much-used post office in Rathfarnham village. It will impact postal services in our area. I…
Also for data centres.
84. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment in light of the recently announced suspension of the carbon tax increase, the way in which he plans to make up the shortfall in funding allocated in budget 2026 to the SEAI for home energy upgrade schemes, and to just transition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27884/26]
There were any number of interventions that we felt that the Government could have made to alleviate and reduce the cost of fuel for hauliers, farmers and everyone else. It is very disappointing that the one climate-friendly measure here has been undermined, and that the Government has chosen to jettison this over other subsidies, direct payments and excise cuts. These are all measures that we want to support. Our fe…
It is a central plank of addressing climate change in this country. It is a crucial funding source if we are ever going to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels. I take the point that it is for the Department of Social Protection but the Minister was not able to give me any figures for how much this deferral will cost. I would appreciate if the Minister's Department or the Department of Social Protection coul…
For the last 10 years, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments have been lucky enough to preside over very healthy public finances. How they have spent – or misspent - our great wealth is another matter, though clearly the anger and frustration that we saw on our streets last week means that, even with the vast resources at the Government’s disposal, it clearly is not getting it right.
It has been in its gift to splas…
I thank the Tánaiste. We welcome the LEEF meeting next week and the Labour Party will be supporting our trade unions here when they are looking for pay rises, when they are looking for remote and flexible working rights.
We are calling for free and cheap public transport and an expansion of those types of schemes. The Tánaiste did not indicate that the Government will continue to abide by the climate Act when it com…
We in the Labour Party welcome this Bill. It can be a small step towards an important aim, which is tackling air pollution and improving the quality of the air we all breathe in every city, village or rural area across our country. We all have a right to clean air. I pay tribute to groups like Irish Doctors for the Environment, which play an important role in fighting for this right across our country and educating u…
Gabhaim buíochas leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta as an tairiscint seo a chur chun cinn. Tacóidh Páirtí an Lucht Oibre leis.
One of the greatest risks we face as a country is our overdependence on fossil fuels. The climate crisis is existential. Even if we leave the fact of our dying planet to the side, the surge in prices over the past number of weeks due to Trump and Netanyahu's illegal wars has illustrated in no u…
The events of the last week have betrayed this Government's inability to grasp the level of desperation and frustration that is out there among people who feel they cannot keep their heads above water. The impetus behind these protests and blockades had been fermenting long before last week and long before Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran, which is just the latest thing to give rise to a fuel shock and price…
-----but was done so under the assumption that an increase would be happening next month.
We need clarity from the Government now on whether this delay will amount to a cut in the budget for climate measures or whether the funding gap will be made up by general Exchequer funding. I am pleading with the Government to ensure this move on carbon tax does not adversely impact on our already meagre just transition funding. Anything less would be a final nail in the coffin of this Government's commitment to mea…
I express my solidarity with the survivors of the Bessborough mother and baby home and of all mother and baby homes as we broach this issue. We are talking about a matter of great sensitivity relating to the disappearance of hundreds of women and babies. This is a matter of basic human dignity for survivors and for the babies and mothers who did not survive. We are also talking about what exactly it means when the St…