The vacant property grant was introduced quite some time ago but changes were made in September 2025 where a charge is now required to be registered by the local authority. As a result, there is now a huge number of people for whom the grant will not be paid before 31 December. In particular, I am talking about property in the Cork City Council area. A mortgage and deed of charge have to be submitted to the council, …
TDs / Colm Burke
Colm Burke
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,291
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
49,488
words spoken in the chamber
3,972 as a minister, 45,516 as a TD
430
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
239
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 1,291 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 266 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 7 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 23 | 7 |
| March 2025 | 73 | 4 |
| April 2025 | 62 | 18 |
| May 2025 | 64 | 38 |
| June 2025 | 72 | 11 |
| July 2025 | 89 | 16 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 96 | 12 |
| October 2025 | 53 | 18 |
| November 2025 | 105 | 33 |
| December 2025 | 74 | 9 |
| January 2026 | 57 | 4 |
| February 2026 | 62 | 7 |
| March 2026 | 91 | 17 |
| April 2026 | 67 | 17 |
| May 2026 | 61 | 3 |
| June 2026 | 72 | 16 |
| July 2026 | 72 | 18 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 64 | 0 |
| October 2026 | 27 | 18 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 247 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 Cork North-Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
210. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the action that will be taken to increase the percentage of places available on the dental training course in UCC given that less than half are currently occupied by Irish students given the need for more dentists to reduce public waiting list in the south-west region; and if he will make a statement on the ma…
I have raised this matter on a few occasions previously. Will the Minister outline what action is being taken to increase the percentage of places available on the dental training course in UCC, given that less than half the places on the current programme are occupied by Irish students, and that we need to increase the number of qualified dentists in this country?
I appreciate the work that is being done. I was in the dental college in the past two weeks, and it was acknowledged that money is being provided to purchase equipment and upgrade the facilities. That is much appreciated by the dental college. The make-up in Cork is 25 Irish students and 31 non-European students. Part of the reason for that is that the college needs to get the funding in to support the system. I also…
We have a problem, not in the Minister's Department but in the Department of Health. We previously had over 1,250 dentists working privately and providing care for people who had medical cards. The number of dentists in that area is down to 600. Likewise, the number of dentists employed directly by the HSE has dropped from over 300 in 2014 to 250. That is in the context of a huge growth in population. We have huge ch…
This is an extremely important programme, and I welcome it. To take a slightly different angle, I am disappointed by the lack of joined-up thinking in our universities about offering joint courses at universities in Northern Ireland and in the South.
For instance, I remember when I was Lord Mayor of Cork I travelled to Shanghai to set up a link between UCC and two universities in Shanghai, but we do not seem to have…
As the Minister of State is well aware, a very small number of staff who worked within the HSE and the medical services during a very difficult time, when Covid was there - 159, I understand - have long Covid. They are getting support from the HSE, but from 31 December of this year, that support will stop. I ask that serious consideration be given to putting in place a mechanism to give these people the support they …
For clarification, is the Minister of State saying that in respect of the 159 people getting supports, from 31 December they will be entitled to get pay for a further three months and half pay thereafter? She is. The issue still arises whereby there are occupational illnesses but we have not put long Covid under those criteria. We need to do so because it is something new and we always need to amend definitions as ch…
Currently, approximately 600 dentists are providing care dental care for medical card patients. The number was over 1,200 when dentists were operating more privately. I have found out that Cork university dental hospital cannot take in medical card patients. It can do so if they are referred in by accident and emergency or by another dental practice, but it cannot take them in directly because the hospital does not h…
103. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on his recent meeting at the European Agriculture and Fisheries Council, AGRIFISH, in Brussels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67158/25]
Where are we with the Mercosur issue? The Minister outlined that the same level of regulations do not apply. We in Ireland have strict protocols and regulations in place, yet we are allowing products to come on the market that will not necessarily have the same level of scrutiny. If this goes ahead, we will be in a situation where there is an unfair set of regulations for Irish and EU producers compared to producers …
The Minister referred to the period post-CAP 2027 and the challenges there. CAP has given support to farmers in Ireland and across the EU. The question now is what will happen post 2027. There is also a scenario arising with those involved in farming. We have an older age profile. What is being done to try to keep people in the sector across Europe? This is not just an Irish problem but one right across Europe. The i…
I am still to come back in. To come back to the issue of the age profile of the people in farming, I am not sure at European level we are doing enough on that. From an Irish point of view, this is a huge challenge. I was talking to someone recently who lives in an area where there are four major dairy farms within a mile of one another and all of them will be gone within the next five years. I am not sure we are doin…
146. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on his recent meeting at the European Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH) in Brussels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66669/25]
I want to raise the issue of building childcare facilities, which are conditional on a lot of planning permissions, especially in major developments. We are finding that facilities are not being built. Even if they are, the rent being demanded for them is too high for people to go in and for it to be viable. It is time now that we looked at this as a Government to see what can be done to make sure we have adequate ch…
I am concerned about the whole dental service. There used to be over 1,200 dentists working privately who offered to provide a public service to medical card holders, but that figure has dropped to under 600. Since 2012 or 2013, the number of dentists employed within the HSE has dropped from over 300 to slightly over 250. Even though there has been a huge increase in our population, the number of dentists publicly em…
84. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Transport the action his Department is taking to progress the Mallow relief road project; the current status of this project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63270/25]
What action is the Department taking to progress the Mallow relief road project? What is the current status of the project, and will the Minister of State make a statement on the matter?
I thank the Minister of State. As he knows, Mallow is quite close to Cork city. There is a huge volume of traffic now passing through Mallow because it is coming from either the Killarney side, the Fermoy-Mitchelstown side or the Limerick side. It is all coming into Mallow town. We need to prioritise this project because it is really having an adverse effect on the town as regards the volume of traffic.
On the bypas…
It also ties in with the Cork-Limerick road and the importance of that development. We are 20 years on and we need to make sure that project moves on in the same way as this bypass road for Mallow. With regard to the volume of traffic travelling on that road, some mornings at 5.30, as I am driving to the station to take the train from Mallow to Dublin, there is a volume of traffic coming against me, even at 5.30 in t…
7. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if his Department and Enterprise Ireland plan to introduce a growth equity fund to help scale and co-invest in large privately owned Irish companies with a view to expansion in other jurisdictions; if his Department has researched similar programmes which are operational in other European countries, such as Denmark, Finland and Germany; an…
Do the Department and Enterprise Ireland plan to introduce a growth equity fund to help scale and co-invest in large privately owned companies with a view to expansion in other jurisdictions? Has the Department researched similar programmes which are operational in other European countries, such as Denmark, Finland and Germany?
Ireland has a significant number of indigenous companies that have successfully scaled €100 million in revenue and turnover and 250 employees, creating essential local employment and economic prosperity across the country, especially in rural areas. Despite the efforts of many, the majority of the current State supports treats such companies as too large to be SMEs and too small to be public limited companies, PLCs. …
This is an important matter, because these companies create a huge amount of employment locally, especially in rural areas. It is important that we help them to expand further, particularly where they already have access to markets but are restricted because they need access to finance in order to expand. One of the companies I know has more than 800 employees, is operating outside Ireland and is bringing finance bac…
11. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if his Department and Enterprise Ireland are reviewing current policies with a view to expanding opportunities in areas outside of the Dublin region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62265/25]