Before I begin, I acknowledge the presence of Mr. David Ryan in the Public Gallery. Mr. Ryan and his brother Mark participated in an RTÉ radio documentary, which precipitated all of what we are speaking about today.
The establishment of this commission of investigation is welcome. It is not before time. The scourge of child sexual violence in our schools and the abject failure of authority figures and institutions t…
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
Yesterday, Uisce Éireann announced that areas in 12 counties, from Donegal to Wexford, are officially suffering a water drought. This is at a time when we have seen tragic flash floods in Texas, wildfires outside Marseilles and an extended heatwave in many countries across Europe that is about to hit Ireland. Before I came in here, I got an alert on my phone from Met Éireann that it has issued a hot weather warning. …
I am glad to hear about the Government's focus on accelerating what we are doing. However, the fact remains that we are not meeting our climate targets. While there was a 6% reduction in emissions in 2023, there was only a 2% reduction in 2024. The EPA is saying we are going backwards. This is because we are seeing significantly slower progress than needed on many fronts, like onshore wind, offshore wind, electric ve…
I am conscious we are discussing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence on the day we learned George Gibney will be extradited from Florida to Ireland to face 79 charges of sexual offences against children. Gibney was a high-profile Irish Olympic swimming team coach in the eighties and nineties who abused his position of power and trust. He was previously charged with, but not tried for, numerous sexual offences.…
All too often the State approaches litigation against it in the same way any private corporate entity would. It is a war of attrition against each individual plaintiff who dares to sue it. That approach must change, not least because it is hugely discriminatory against those who do not have the time, resources or mental fortitude to fight a case like that. We must also consider the appropriateness of the State pursui…
I commend my colleagues, Deputies Sherlock and Wall, for tabling the motion. All of us in the House were outraged by the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, which showed the appalling levels of abuse and malpractice in older people's care settings. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. They depend on the help of others to meet their basic needs, as any one of us here might well need some day.
To see…
I am delighted to speak on the all-island rail review. We need to see a major modal shift in how we get ourselves from one place to another on this island so that we are not so dependent on our cars. Rail will obviously play a huge role in that. We have a somewhat sorry history in this country when it comes to rail infrastructure. What was once a fairly comprehensive rail network in the early parts of the 20th centur…
Hear, hear.
In response to a question I put to him a number of months ago regarding autism supports and services for children in my constituency, the Taoiseach said he was of the view that many of these services should be provided through schools, and I agree. That being the case, why are so many schools in Dublin South-West being denied additional special needs assistants, SNAs, despite a clearly identified need? I have been co…
I am addressing these motions on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Kelly, who is chairing a committee at this time. As we debate these motions we cannot be blind to their history, and our thoughts are with the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing and all those who are victims of organised crime and terrorism. It is important to stress the motions are not about the Special Criminal Court or renewing or confirming…
I think it is the first time I have addressed the Minister of State in the Chamber. I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him the best of luck with it. The Labour Party has long supported the extension of the voting franchise. We feel it goes to the heart of our democracy. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion, which we will support. Many proposals on voting rights, especially for our diaspora, have come…
88. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the steps he has taken to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers of Dublin Bus in the aftermath of an incident at Mountjoy Square; his plans for a dedicated transport police; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34557/25]
What steps has the Minister taken to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers on Dublin Bus in the aftermath of the very serious incident at Mountjoy Square in April in which a man threatened a bus driver with a gun? Will he outline his plans for a dedicated transport police force?
It is good to hear that work is under way. We would like to see a separate division of An Garda Síochána rather than a separate policing force. I would like to understand the Minister's thoughts on that. Antisocial behaviour and violence on public transport happens in all of our constituencies, not least in my own constituency of Dublin South-West. It does not often get too much public attention. I am thankful that o…
I will press the Minister again to provide a more defined timeline for this. When does he think it is going to be done? Has the Minister looked at the Travel Safe policy document prepared by SIPTU? Has he met SIPTU or any other interested parties yet? I suggest that he do. There is one proposal from SIPTU I was particularly taken with. It related to public transport assistance units. These would be social care interv…
I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing this motion before us. The Labour Party will gladly support it. I do not think there is a word in it that I would fault. The Green Party, to be fair, kick-started much-needed investment in our public transport during its time in government, following decades of neglect and underinvestment. It achieved fare reductions on public transport and enhanced Local Link services, investing …
102. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason, according to analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland will only deliver a 23% reduction in emissions by 2030, not the 51% target in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, or the 42% target in the EU effort sharing regulation; how the State plans to finance the potential fines …
My question is the same. I am happy for the Minister to answer about how the gap is widening.
The Minister referred to moving faster and we agree with him. He mentioned 1990, 1995 and 2005 figures, but these are irrelevant. The only figures that we are concerned with in this House anymore are the 2018 base levels. We need a 51% reduction from them by 2030. We are miles away from it and we are getting further. Is the Minister worried about the gap between promise and delivery? Can he tell us once and for all w…
Not only is the Government failing in this regard, it is also regrettably going backwards. Only last year, it was predicted that the State could reach 29% emission reductions. This year, it was reduced to 23% by the EPA. Our target for 2030 is that 80% of our energy will be renewable. The EPA is telling us that now only approximately 68% will be able to be renewable by 2030. When it comes to transport, the Minister r…
The most senior official in the Department of environment and energy said today that we will have to decide between building more homes or expanding our data centre capacity because our energy infrastructure cannot handle both. This is an extraordinary intervention. The Labour Party has long been sounding alarm bells about the scale of data centre construction. We have serious concerns about their energy consumption,…
I will put Labour Party environment spokesperson hat on and raise a specific issue with the Whitechurch flood relief scheme in Rathfarnham in my constituency of Dublin South-West. I do not think any of us would deny that some flood relief interventions were required for the Whitechurch stream. There was a serious incident of flooding on Whitechurch Road a number of years ago now. While it may have been partially due …
I wish to raise water infrastructure and, in particular, issues that have been experienced by residents in Dargle Wood, Knocklyon. There has been a marked increase in water outages over the last few months. The residents have had eight separate outages since the beginning of this year alone, but such outages have been a persistent issue for years now. There have been 23 water outages in this estate since 2022, some l…
I appreciate the acknowledgment from Uisce Éireann that the service over the Easter weekend was not up to scratch and not acceptable. It is really just not fair to be asking people to put up with these inevitable outages again and again between now and whenever the planned works take place. I appreciate that carrying out an upgrade on the pipes themselves is a more significant body of work, but the residents are conc…
Last month, my wife and I welcomed a new baby into our lives. It has been just so joyous, spending the first few weeks of a child's life together as a family, getting to know our new baby and seeing them grow and develop a little personality. It was a precious time. I returned to work here after a few weeks of parental leave. Last week I attended a briefing by the Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine, which outline…