I thank the Deputy for his comments. We will work together on this. He is right that building public trust is a big challenge. Awareness will be central to that. I work closely with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who has responsibility for the public service piece. We can work hand in glove on the private sector piece, protecting employees, giving skills as best we can to respond to this opportunity and also working …
TDs / Peter Burke
Peter Burke
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
99,195
words spoken in the chamber
99,195 as a minister, 0 as a TD
306
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 403 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 20 |
| March 2025 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 16 |
| May 2025 | 26 |
| June 2025 | 15 |
| July 2025 | 3 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 27 |
| October 2025 | 4 |
| November 2025 | 22 |
| December 2025 | 0 |
| January 2026 | 61 |
| February 2026 | 25 |
| March 2026 | 1 |
| April 2026 | 26 |
| May 2026 | 1 |
| June 2026 | 62 |
| July 2026 | 29 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 |
| October 2026 | 52 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 360 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Longford-Westmeath 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment 2 June 2025 to now
My Department operates the emergency humanitarian flooding scheme for small businesses and voluntary, community and sports organisations affected by flooding as a result of extreme weather and unable to obtain flood insurance through no fault of their own. The scheme is administered by the Irish Red Cross on behalf of the Department.
The Department has activated the enhanced emergency humanitarian flooding scheme fo…
We are making the scheme as accessible as possible. I am prepared to work with Deputies in any areas that they wish to raise. It is also important to point out that the minor works scheme has gone up to €2 million from €750,000, which also is a big asset to businesses in the sector. As I said, we want to progress. That is why we have increased €20,000 up to €100,000 to reflect the seriousness of it. I am happy to wor…
I hear what the Deputy is saying. We have made progress across 52 schemes over the past four years. Huge work was done in Athlone in my own constituency. Work was done in Bandon, County Cork, as well. A number of these schemes have been very complex and there have been very different challenges in respect of each, either through the planning code or the complexity of delivery of them. CFRAM is very clear. There are 1…
I thank all Deputies for bringing forward this Bill and for their contributions. As outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, the Government opposes the Bill. The position is grounded in balance to support flexibility for workers and competitiveness for business. Remote working is now well-established and is a feature of our modern labour market, improving work-life balance and shaping how we are as a people …
I thank the Deputies for the passage of the Bill and the discussions on Committee Stage, which I took and which were robust. The Bill aims to further support workers in the event of employer insolvency, which is an important aspect, and to expand the insolvency payment scheme to include employees of employers who cease trading without formally winding up the business, which is the critical point. The technical nature…
I have addressed the Bill.
I have addressed the Bill.
I thank the Deputy for his question. I want to clearly point out that the underpayments and overpayments in question have come about through a series of administrative errors in the National Shared Services Office, NSSO. Critically, the cohort of people who are affected include, first, retired civil servants who previously work-shared and whose pensions were undercalculated and, second, current and former Ministers a…
There are limits on the gross threshold that is deducted every single week, bearing in mind the vulnerable situations that families find themselves in. I have worked with the Department in representing people who, sometimes through no fault of their own, have an overpayment to the Department of Social Protection.
The second point I want to robustly challenge is that there is nothing in this budget for workers or those who are most vulnerable in society. We have put forward a €300 million package for people who are vulnerable and to ensure that those who are working on lower incomes are rewarded. We have increased the minimum wage by 40% over the last four years. Deputies will see from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, retur…
I robustly challenge that Ministers are not engaging with the NSSO and are not going to pay this money back.
This has a huge net in terms of the number of people affected. I listed the three cohorts that were affected by the NSSO, through no fault of any public representative or anyone who was in-----
-----or anyone who was in receipt and was overpaid or underpaid in relation to a pension deduction for the NSSO. I am making quite clear that all Ministers are engaging with the NSSO, all Ministers will bring this to a conclusion and will ensure-----
When they get the clarification.
People are fully correct and entitled to seek clarifications from the NSSO, which has made a series of errors in this regard over a number of years. People are entitled to seek clarifications right across the public service, and people are doing that. I can absolutely assure the House this will be brought to a conclusion.
I can also say that in terms of our budget, we have protected the most vulnerable with a €300 m…
I thank the Deputy for his question on a very important area which is very much to the fore in the mindset of the Government, namely, the cost of living and how vulnerable families grapple with the weekly shop and the price of groceries. In the context of budget 2026, I want to outline how we as a Government are supporting people who are the most vulnerable. We came forward in budget 2026 with a €9.4 billion package.…
I have pointed out a series of actions that the Government has taken to protect the lowest-paid workers in our economy, those who are on disability and those who are caring for the most vulnerable in our society. There is a €300 million package aimed at child poverty, for which we have a unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, trying to ensure that families are protected through what we see is a significant challeng…
Over the negotiation of our capital plan, the Government took a view that we have clear priorities. Critically, we know that if everything in an economy is a priority, nothing is a priority. In the €19.1 billion that we are going to spend this year, there are four clear priorities. Housing is number one, along with the enablers of housing in water, wastewater, energy costs and transportation, which are key to unlocki…
The Government has taken a number of actions across 2025 and into 2026 to try to speed up construction while ensuring that we are getting high quality housing into the marketplace. We have revised the national planning framework which ensures that we have the infrastructure matched with the zoned land to ensure that we are getting those high-quality houses. We have increased the amount of funding for the purchase of …
I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter. It is a priority of the Government to get as many rentals as possible, cost rental and indeed in the private rental market, particularly those mom and pop landlords who have one and two houses, of whom there are about 85% in terms of those who have the market share. It is critical for a functioning economy that we bring in further supply into rental accommoda…
The fair deal scheme has its own primary legislation that underpins it. Any unintended consequences can be looked at through that prism. We absolutely do not want any policy that would go against the Government's incentivisation with regard to dereliction and vacancy. One can see the very significant moves we have made by bringing 20,000 homes back into use, supported by the vacant property refurbishment grant. We ca…
I thank Deputy Timmins for raising this very important matter. Like him, I served many years as a local authority member and I was also privileged to be cathaoirleach of my county in Westmeath. I got a huge amount of experience through the process. I am always very much aware that local government is the closest arm of government to the citizen, with the more than 1,100 services it provides in many sectors of society…
I thank Deputy Timmins for his response. I am very much at one with him and the vision he is setting out. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, along with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, has brought in a number of local authorities and continues to do so with regard to housing and zoning. This is setting the trend that we need to be more ambitious to ensure we underwrite the infrastructure for the growth of the grow…
This is questions on promised legislation but I will respond directly to Deputy Doherty, as I have been very clear in relation to the NSSO. This is an error by the NSSO and Ministers are engaging with the NSSO. I do not know, nor should I know, the identity of anyone's payroll matters in the State. I do know from dealing with the NSSO because, as I said, between underpayment and overpayment everyone who served and ga…