Get them on tax.
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
61. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the immediate actions that will be taken by his Department to accelerate delivery of critical infrastructure outlined in the accelerating infrastructure action plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10694/26]
83. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the reforms that will be introduced in his Department to deliver on infrastructure promises made in the accelerating infrastructure action plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10693/26]
Despite the opposition of People Before Profit and most of the rest of the Opposition and protests last night, the Government insisted on ramming through a Bill relating to the RTB that is going to mean further hikes in rents which are already unaffordable, worsening an already dire housing crisis. The Government rejected amendments which proposed that rents be kept at affordable levels and that no-fault evictions sh…
Factually, the number of landlords has increased in the past two years. They are not leaving the market.
There was 103,000 landlords two years ago and now there are 105,000. There are 2,000 more landlords than there were and more tenancies. So, the Government does not need to enrich them even more at the expense of tenants.
What are Michael, Shannon and their two kids supposed to do? Does the Tánaiste think it is acceptable that their two vulnerable children with special needs go into a hostel, which will damage and tr…
We do not object to houses; we object to profiteering.
We object to profiteering, not homes.
We certainly are. They have been told to go to a hostel.
I think you can.
I thank Deputy Gibney for bringing forward this important Bill and Seanadóir Higgins for originally instigating it. I am very happy to support the objectives behind the Bill.
As has been said, it is very straightforward that price should not be the only consideration when awarding State contracts. That is a no-brainer, not least because I am dealing with major problems, as I am sure others are. The national children…
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council received hundreds of calls because of flooding in Newtownsmith, along the DART lines and so on. I thank the council workers, both the indoor council workers and the outdoor teams, who had to go out and respond to this. It highlights the chronic underfunding of our local authorities. Ireland is at the lowest level of funding in the European league table by a mile due to the underfunding …
To my mind, there is a direct line between the complicity and collusion of the British state and the British Empire with the genocide we have witnessed in Gaza over the past two years and the atrocities that were carried out by its agents, like Freddie Scappaticci committing murder, abducting people and so on while he was a British agent, through to Bloody Sunday and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and, if we want …
One of the disadvantages of being a small party is that it is not possible to follow every piece of legislation. However, I did speak against this Bill earlier. I am taking time to speak against it again because it strikes at the heart of a basic principle of justice, which is the right of people to have serious matters that impinge on them judged by a jury of their peers. That is a fundamental basic principle of law…
-----mean that some guidance has being given in that area. In any event, I just do not see how replacing juries in the context of making these decisions, even when it comes to the awards people might get if their good name and reputation have been taken, with a single individual, namely a judge, can be a good thing. The only plausible explanation - it would be interesting to know if this is the case - is that those w…
I move amendment No. 2:
In page 5, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:
"(2) Within three months of the coming into operation of this act the Minister shall produce a report into the affordability of current rents and establish a board to reset rents to affordable levels, where the guideline for establishing affordability will be rents that are, in general, no more than 20 per cent of a tenant’s income…
Yes.
I could name a few Ministers before him.
I really am furious at the Minister's comments that this debate is about social media clips. It diminishes the seriousness of what is at stake here. I have been a Member of this House since 2011. I was here two or three months when a circular was produced by the then Department of the environment, within which responsibility for housing was a matter for a Minister of State rather than having a Ministry in its own rig…
The Minister said, "We do not want rents for long-term tenancies to fall behind market rents".
That means low rents are intolerable; we have to have them higher.
That is in plain English. Just in case there was any doubt about the motive, at the beginning of this year, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, when discussing the Government's thinking, said:
... housing is about international markets. It is actually a spreadsheet in Zurich, New York or Antwerp, more so than a builder looking at a site in Longford or Roscommon, that is actually deciding what happens here.
The point is, …
Most of the points have been made about these amendments. I want the Minister to try to explain at what point he seriously believes the supply he is talking about is going to lead to a reduction in rents. Will he give us some indication? I think it is total fantasy. In the explanatory memorandum to the Bill and in his speech introducing the Bill, the Minister said that rents for long-standing tenancies should not fal…
Roughly.
It is worthwhile at times, when we are discussing these things, which can seem quite dry and technical, to just remind ourselves of the human reality. Literally every week, I have somebody coming in to me who is facing a date for eviction. This week, given the particular week that is in it, I had a lovely young couple come in to me. Both of them have been working. They are probably about their mid-20s. They are a lov…