I move:
That the Ceann Comhairle direct the Clerk of the Dáil to issue her Writ for the election of a Member to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the membership of the present Dáil consequent on the election as President of Deputy Catherine Connolly, a Member for the constituency of Galway West.
Get the posters up.
TDs / Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,583
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
153,844
words spoken in the chamber
Across 941 contributions
216
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
278
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 1,583 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 941 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 12 | 11 |
| February 2025 | 65 | 141 |
| March 2025 | 31 | 67 |
| April 2025 | 100 | 31 |
| May 2025 | 109 | 2 |
| June 2025 | 97 | 0 |
| July 2025 | 127 | 0 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 56 | 0 |
| October 2025 | 50 | 0 |
| November 2025 | 82 | 62 |
| December 2025 | 71 | 54 |
| January 2026 | 107 | 95 |
| February 2026 | 125 | 83 |
| March 2026 | 98 | 48 |
| April 2026 | 57 | 62 |
| May 2026 | 58 | 114 |
| June 2026 | 73 | 53 |
| July 2026 | 131 | 12 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 97 | 62 |
| October 2026 | 37 | 41 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 666 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 Dún Laoghaire 29 November 2024 to now
- party People Before Profit-Solidarity 29 November 2024 to now
We need urgent explanations and statements from the Ministers on the use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace by the United States military while it is conducting with Israel its brutal and illegal wars against Iran and Lebanon and the ongoing genocide of the people of Gaza. This is particularly needed given that the number of US overflights has increased by 56% since the Iran war started and that, incredibly, the D…
I ask the Taoiseach to make a public statement directed at the German Government in support of Daniel Tatlow-Devally who is an Irish citizen who has been incarcerated along with four other fellow activists in a German high security prison for 11 months. He is going on trial next Monday because he was involved in a direct action against Elbit Systems that produces weapons in Germany for the Israeli regime and its geno…
The Irish Government should speak up in support of these activists, including our Irish citizens.
They are not.
At a meeting of the budget scrutiny committee today, we were informed by the Department of public expenditure that there will be an extra €640 million for the education sector. Officials explained that was largely to do with special needs. To me, what that says is that were it not for the protests of school communities, including parents, teachers, principals and SNAs, the Government would, at a minimum, have given €…
People do not protest because they like protesting. They protest because they feel they have no choice and because their backs are against the wall. That is clearly why the hauliers, contractors and small farmers came out and protested. Their backs are against the wall because they have faced absolutely gigantic hikes in the cost of being able to earn and maintain an income. Because they protested, and only because t…
1. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach to report on his recent visit to China. [1549/26]
The Chinese regime has condemned Trump and Israel's bloody war against Iran as irresponsible, reckless and dangerous. That is something coming from that regime. Deputy Geoghegan was talking about zero tolerance against blockades. China has that. For example, in 1989, when students blockaded and demanded democracy, it sent the tanks in. It sent the army in and mowed students down with tanks. It persecutes people in Ho…
20. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs will next meet. [18700/26]
I welcome the Northside Home Care Services workers in the Gallery. Deputy Murphy will be raising issues on their behalf, and I absolutely hope the Taoiseach will listen to them.
I want to raise another issue. The Taoiseach probably will not know about it but I ask him to raise it with the Minister for justice. Four years ago, Ned Connors died in prison. He died of alcohol poisoning. How the alcohol got into the pris…
Something has stalled the report.
Yes.
First, I wish to say that I am personally very grateful to grassroots football and youth football in my area and to all the people - the managers, coaches and officials - who put in their time, as is the case in area after area in town, city and county across the country. These amazing people put their time and energy into me and my teammates on a voluntary basis. I played for nearly every club. Cabinteely Football C…
If it was not for football, it could have been a lot worse, let us put it that way. It is true that the team ethic, the discipline and all that kind of stuff people are taught by football really stands to them for the rest of their lives. It creates friendships and networks and does things for the community. We cannot measure the value of these things. They are so important. However, we need to put the resources into…
In 1913, Ireland's greatest revolutionary, James Connolly, whose statue is behind us in this building, led the Dublin working class out for a year of disruptive strike action that shut the city down. That is how the trade union movement in this country was formed. It was done in a fight against deprivation, poverty and economic inequality and because of the refusal of the rich and powerful to understand the pain, har…
They were right to protest. Protest works, and we need more protests.
The protesters who were on the streets were there, by their own explanation, because their backs were up to the wall to the extent that they simply could not sustain the fuel price hikes they were enduring. That is on top of a cost-of-living crisis that is absolutely crushing people in terms of the cost of accommodation, energy price hikes, the cost of childcare and so on. It should be obvious to the Tánaiste that th…
There are 320,000 people in this country who are in arrears with their energy bills because they just cannot pay them. We have about 700,000 people who are living in poverty, and we have hundreds of thousands of people - and this is what was expressed in the streets - who are absolutely crucified by a cost-of-living crisis that started before Trump's and Israel's disastrous war commenced. It was already crushing peop…
Hear, hear.
In principle, the idea of getting State bodies to co-ordinate to accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure and removing unnecessary obstacles to its development is a good one. I have concerns about the legislation but I would love to know whether it might be helpful in dealing with an issue in my constituency. This gets to the heart of my anxieties and concerns about what the Government's real motives and ob…
I pay tribute to Carmel Cantwell, Noelle Brown who I see in the Gallery, and other survivors and those affected by the crimes committed at Bessborough Mother and Baby Institution. I called it a "home" at the protest last week and I was rightly rounded upon and told it should be called an institution because these were institutions of brutality and oppression that traumatised, stigmatised and brutalised women, and of …
Hundreds of thousands of people in this country are being impoverished and having hardship imposed on them because of the deranged lunatic in the White House, Donald Trump, and the psychopaths who run the Israeli regime and their bloodlust and warmongering. People in this country cannot pay their bills, cannot turn on their heating and, in some cases, cannot travel when they have disabilities because of the mad dog, …
It is clear that Donald Trump and the Israeli regime are criminal warmongers that could do anything. If they start to bomb more energy infrastructure in Iran, and there are reports suggesting that they are already doing this having said that they would not, the miserable concessions the Government has made to address the spikes in the cost of living could be wiped away overnight. We need serious time to discuss how t…
Over the past week I had parents of children with intellectual disabilities from the Before We Die campaign in with me. They pointed out that about 2,000 adults with intellectual disabilities are living with parents who are over 70, and about 500 of those people are living with parents over 80. Their parents are extremely worried about what will happen to their children when they pass away and are asking, "Where is t…