I fully accept what the Taoiseach is saying with regard to the lots of progress that has been made. However, I dealt with the issue of a day centre for Cork when I was a Minister of State and it is only in the past four weeks that tenders have been invited for its creation. This centre will be extremely important for people who are homeless and have accommodation at night but have nowhere to go during the day. It is …
TDs / Colm Brophy
Colm Brophy
Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
69,320
words spoken in the chamber
68,175 as a minister, 1,145 as a TD
397
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 206 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 0 |
| March 2025 | 2 |
| April 2025 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 34 |
| June 2025 | 8 |
| July 2025 | 12 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 1 |
| October 2025 | 14 |
| November 2025 | 12 |
| December 2025 | 10 |
| January 2026 | 14 |
| February 2026 | 30 |
| March 2026 | 11 |
| April 2026 | 3 |
| May 2026 | 0 |
| June 2026 | 0 |
| July 2026 | 3 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 |
| October 2026 | 28 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 124 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin South-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Justice 25 February 2025 to 4 June 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration 5 June 2025 to now
I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure:
Proposal for a Counci…
I again thank the House for facilitating the motion and thank all the TDs who contributed. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, this proposal will enhance the ability of member and partner states to tackle crime more effectively in a rapidly evolving political, social and technological landscape. That was very clearly also mentioned by the last speaker. The third additional protocol, though itself introduced as seve…
I thank the Deputy for his question and his remarks. Earlier this week I was delighted to attend the citizenship ceremonies held in Killarney along with the Ministers of State, Deputies Collins and Buttimer. It is a wonderful ceremony to go to. We had 5,200 new Irish citizens there.
Last year the number of naturalisation applications received by the Department was 27,032. Separately, the number of people who receive…
The Department is always planning ahead and looking at that. We have put, as I said, additional resources in place. I do not believe additional backlogs will come in. Every effort is made. As I know people will listen to this, I reiterate that no two applications are the same. Some individual applications that come in take considerably longer, particularly in relation to checks that have to be done by An Garda Síochá…
As I indicated in my initial response, we have seen very significant reductions in processing times. The objective is to try to provide that service within as tight a 12-month timeframe as we can. We will continue to do that. As I mentioned, there will always be individual cases where that is not the case. In the context of a significant increase in the number making applications in recent years, we have seen the pro…
I appreciate the comments in relation to the language and tone that must be used at all times in having conversations around this issue. It is very important, and important in this House.
During the period from 2022 to 2024, over 45,000 additional international protection applicants arrived in Ireland. Prior to this, a typical three-year period would have seen between 8,000 and 9,000 arrivals. IPAS was accommodating…
I assure the Deputy, as I did in my initial reply, that this is what we are doing. We fully recognise that we went through a period where we had an effective emergency. We had a massive surge in numbers and we had to respond to those on a humanitarian basis and to provide emergency accommodation as necessary. The operation that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have been working on, literally day and night sinc…
There is very little of that I would disagree with. To be absolutely clear, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have announced a contribution model which we will implement. We believe absolutely in a system based on fairness, which means that people who are working and bring provided with accommodation through the IPAS system should make a contribution to the cost of that provision. On the actual cost of providin…
It is almost Christmas.
It is not being opposed.
Tairgim:
Go scriosfar na focail go léir i ndiaidh "Go" agus go gcuirfear an méid seo a leanas ina n-ionad:
"mbeartaíonn Dáil Éireann go measfar an Bille um an Aonú Leasú is Daichead ar an mBunreacht (An Aois Vótála a Laghdú go Sé Bliana Déag), 2025 a bheith léite an Dara hUair 12 mhí ó inniu, le tuilleadh breithniú ar an mBille a cheadú.".
I move:
To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:
"D…
I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this matter today on behalf of the relevant Minister, Deputy O’Donovan. An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions in relation to the size, distribution and future of the network, are matters for the board and the management of the company and not ones in which the Minis…
As I indicated earlier to the Deputy, and I will repeat again, decisions in relation to post offices and operational matters are a matter for An Post and not a matter in which the Minister has any statutory function. The Deputy will appreciate the Minister cannot intervene in such matters which we, as the Oireachtas, have given An Post the statutory responsibility to manage. An Post has an independent board. It has a…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, was launched in 2018 as one of the flagship elements of Project Ireland 2040. URDF is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. It provides up to 75% funding for applicant-led projects to support a programme of significant transformational capital projects th…
I will state part of my original answer again, in that the URDF support for the Cork city library project demonstrates this Government's understanding and the critical important part of it in the regeneration of the Grand Parade quarter. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will continue to engage with Cork City Council on delivery in that context. The Department looks forward to the receipt of th…
I thank the Deputy very much for raising this matter. I join him in expressing my sympathies.
This project is included in the Department of Education and Youth’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of the Project Ireland 2040 framework. The Divine Mercy Junior National School and the Divine Mercy Senior National School are co-educational, Catholic schools under…
I thank the Deputy. I know this is something he has been very much involved in and is very passionate on. I appreciate his remarks. I reiterate that since 2020, the Department of Education and Youth has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. In addition, over 200 SEN repurposing projects have …
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in respect of wandering and malnourished horses in urban areas of Limerick. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is responsible for all policy and legislation in relation to the Control of Horses Act 1996. Operation of the Act comes under the remit of the local authorities though. Any reports of welfare issues received by the Department, including breaches of t…
I will start by acknowledging and thanking the Deputy for the amount of work he has done and his dedication on this particular topic. I agree the issues merit the attention and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, is fully committed to building on the work already being undertaken to tackle the issue.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has lead responsibility within Government for animal welfare and takes it…
Along with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, I will start by addressing the terrible arson attack that took place in Drogheda over the weekend. Our thoughts are with the families impacted by this. It was an attack on an IPAS centre but it was actually an attack on their home. It is truly awful to see something like that happen to someone's home. My thoughts are also with the victim of the alleged sexual assault in Sa…
The Deputy should listen to what the Tánaiste said afterwards, which is never quoted.
It was a very interesting debate and I acknowledge the range of views expressed across the House. When I was making notes for my closing remarks, I wrote that I would like to thank all of the Deputies who contributed to this important discussion. I said at the start that I hoped we would have a discussion that was balanced, fair and done in the right way. Most of the contributions were. We need to call a spade a spad…
I express my full support for the Tánaiste, who is the leader of my party, Fine Gael. He entered politics to do nothing but good, to deliver and to help those he sees around him. He is motivated for all the right reasons to be involved in politics. Unfortunately, far too many politicians on the Opposition benches today entered politics to posture, shout out and exploit situations. They have been exposed completely fo…
-----is putting our country first, representing us proudly and delivering for the people of this country.