I thank Deputy McGreehan and I share her ambition in terms of recognising volunteering and its importance. We are ambitious. The Deputy is right that volunteering is the cornerstone of our society. Volunteers play a critical role and we are the better for it. It is articulated and reflected in the programme for Government commitment in terms of the second national volunteering strategy being published. As the Ministe…
TDs / Jerry Buttimer
Jerry Buttimer
Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and at the Department of Transport
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
21
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
121,393
words spoken in the chamber
121,360 as a minister, 33 as a TD
395
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
17
topics asked about
Across 8 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 21 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 432 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 9 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 12 | 16 |
| March 2025 | 0 | 17 |
| April 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| May 2025 | 0 | 15 |
| June 2025 | 0 | 24 |
| July 2025 | 0 | 20 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 | 23 |
| October 2025 | 0 | 17 |
| November 2025 | 0 | 23 |
| December 2025 | 0 | 21 |
| January 2026 | 0 | 17 |
| February 2026 | 0 | 31 |
| March 2026 | 0 | 24 |
| April 2026 | 0 | 38 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 46 |
| June 2026 | 0 | 37 |
| July 2026 | 0 | 16 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 0 | 22 |
| October 2026 | 0 | 16 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 363 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Not enough questions on record to compare.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Cork South-Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and at the Department of Transport 29 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and at the Department of Transport 2 June 2025 to now
I thank Deputy Cummins for raising this very important matter. I hear her frustration. I am not particularly familiar with the area. The Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, sends his apologies but he could not be here today. As the Deputy knows, the Minister is responsible for policy and overall funding but is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services, for which the NTA is responsible.…
I thank Deputy Cummins for raising this matter and for her co-ordination and engagement with residents. I understand her frustration. The NTA has announced that it will fast-track delivery of a planned walkway and steps from Chapelizod to bypass the Chapelizod Hill Road. That will make it easier for residents of Chapelizod village to access bus services, including C spine services. As the Deputy will know, the walkwa…
As someone who has engaged on BusConnects in Cork, I genuinely appreciate where the Deputy is coming from. I will bring her views back to the NTA and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. The issue she raises is that commuters have genuine concerns. The NTA has a duty and obligation to listen and to continue to engage. I will certainly convey the points the Deputy has raised here this afternoon because the whole point of Bus…
I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this very important issue. We both share an ambition with regard to offshore renewable energy, investment in job creation and collaboration with the South East Technological University. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister. I apologise that he is not here.
At the beginning, I will reaffirm that the Government is committed to facilitating the development of all commer…
I thank Deputy Cullinane again. I reiterate that Government remains committed to supporting our commercial State ports, including the Port of Waterford, in their plans to build enabling infrastructure for ORE. It is my understanding that the Department of Transport has established the ORE ports co-ordination group to facilitate discussion with both the commercial State ports and other ports and updates in the ORE sec…
I thank Deputy O'Reilly for raising the matter. As a former teacher and director of adult education, I share a lot of what she says. Not everyone plays sport and some people need that safe space to be themselves and to be creative. As a citizen, I concur with the Deputy. As a Minister of State, I will certainly articulate the views she shared. I acknowledge the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is not here today.
I take th…
I thank the Deputy again for raising this important issue. I assure her that the Department officials will continue to actively engage with Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB, local youth services and young people themselves to ensure there is the appropriate provision for young people in Balbriggan. This commitment builds upon the significant work already undertaken through targeted funding, collaborative initiatives and …
I will not make it out before Christmas. We will go after Christmas.
The Ceann Comhairle has not lost the skills.
I thank the Deputy for his very important question and ongoing commitment to this particular area. When we were in the Seanad together, he raised this on many occasions. As he knows, our Department is responsible for the seniors alert scheme, which encourages community support for older people through the provision of personal monitored alarms to enable them to live securely in their homes with confidence, independen…
The Deputy raises a pertinent point. The Department and its officials, in the review, are very conscious of new technological advances. However, the review will provide an opportunity to consider not just technological advancements but how to broaden the reach of the scheme to more vulnerable and older people. I will give the Deputy a flavour of it. The review has seen engagement with Pobal, telecoms operators, techn…
I will take the Deputy’s point back, including the example he raised. What we envisage is that the scheme will take into account the use of modern technology to ensure that people who are vulnerable or older and require the alarm are not left isolated on regular days, or on extreme weather days where power and communications are down. An extensive consultative process is ongoing with the representative groups.
There…
I thank the Deputy for this very important question. He is right that the work of men's sheds has been tremendous. Every community has benefited and equally women's sheds are emerging. The emergence of women’s sheds has been a very positive development for communities across Ireland. They provide a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where women of all ages can share skills, work on meaningful projects and co…
We all share the aspiration to fund and support because it is a programme for Government commitment to continue to form both men's sheds and women's sheds. The women's sheds do not have the current umbrella body like men's sheds do and there needs to be a mechanism to channel the funding that is needed. Our Department has a number of schemes through which women's sheds can avail of support, such as LEP, SICAP and LEA…
I thank both Deputies for raising the matter. There has been significant engagement. Progress has been made and the most important point is that if we did not have engagement both Deputies would be coming in with a different set of questions in terms of governance and in terms of structures and the appropriateness of that. We have seen record investment in community by Government over the past decade. There are defic…
How about yourself, Deputy?
The important part we should look at is this debate is about people, first, second and third. It is not about anything else. A decade on from the passing of the Gender Recognition Act, we have a lot of road to keep going as a country. As a member of the LGBTIQ+ community, I respect everybody. Deputy O'Donoghue is right that fear is driving some of the narrative. That fear is caused by some and they have to reflect on…
I thank the Deputy for his question. I have no doubt he will join me in welcoming this initiative, which was launched in September and extends free travel on all public service obligation, PSO, services to children between five and eight years of age. This initiative was announced as part of the budget 2025 package of measures and delivers on a key programme for Government commitment to make public transport more aff…
I will bring the Deputy's concerns back. As he knows quite well, the whole piece of the individual cards and the validators on Luas and rail is about ensuring there is not accidental double charging. I disagree with him on the uptake - 25,000 since 1 September is quite a significant uptake. Equally, it is important to recognise that since the launch over 9 million Leap cards have been issued, accounting for €2.7 bill…
The budget of this year has provided for the continuation of the free child fares on PSO services. The Deputy raised commercial bus operators. The previous Government decision did not include provisions for extending free travel for children reliant on commercial bus operators. While the NTA is responsible for licensing commercial bus services, any decisions regarding fares charged by these services are managed by co…
I thank Deputy Mac Lochlainn for the question. I am taking it for the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, who cannot be here tonight. The programme for Government includes a clear commitment to engage with relevant stakeholders to establish air connectivity between Dublin and City of Derry airports. The Department of Transport is progressing the preparatory work necessary to establish a Dublin-Derry public service obligation a…
I understand Deputy Mac Lochlainn's need to get this expedited. He makes a good point about there being no rail and no motorway, and the A5 delay. We should compliment the wonderful Local Link service in Donegal. The Deputy right. I will bring his comments back to the Department officials. I assure him that the current timeline proposed is the optimum one to ensure that important stakeholder engagement and the prepar…
From a policy perspective, the Government announced the national human rights strategy for disabled people on 3 September 2025. Pillar 5 of the strategy, "Transport and Mobility”, contains a number of transport priority actions, which I am proud to say will be led by our Department. The strategy puts great importance on engagement with disabled people.
The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, met with members of the disability…
The Deputy’s points are relevant, and I will take them back to the NTA and Dublin Bus. It is not about making it difficult for people. It is about ensuring they can have accessibility. The work we are doing to make public transport accessible for older or disabled people must not count for nothing. It is about that reliability piece, but it is also about accessibility and not creating a barrier. I will bring that bac…