Táim ag éisteacht leat. Táim ag éisteacht.
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
Tá Gaeilge fhlúirseach agam.
Táim ag cloisint.
Déanaim comhghairdeas le gach Ball as a gcuid óráidí ar an díospóireacht thábhachtach seo. I thank the Labour Party and Deputy Nash for bringing the motion before the House today. It is important, in the context of the debate we are having, to make three points. I know the Opposition has to play a certain role and I appreciate that. I have been a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas for 19 years, have dealt with ma…
Perhaps we did not communicate it properly or engage quicker. I accept that. I am not living in an ivory tower, as I said. I accept that point. We acted to insulate households and businesses from the worst impacts of rising costs. That is why we have two packages with a cumulative cost of €750 million. It is the second highest or highest package in Europe. That budget surplus was not conjured up out of magic money. T…
I thank Deputy Cummins for raising this very important matter. At the forefront of our thoughts this afternoon is Don O'Leary and the great work he did. This is a very important Cork educational establishment. The Deputy is right that it is held in high esteem across Cork and beyond. The care and love it shows is a wonderful example of how education can be. As a former director of adult education and a teacher of the…
It is important to recognise that the Department has been engaging. There was a piece going back to 2024 relating to primary school designation. Ultimately, what we all want to see is that the life centre in Sunday's Well is supported and that we keep students who would not be in mainstream education in education. The inspectorate carried out a bespoke evaluation model last year. As the Deputy can imagine, the evalua…
I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. He is correct that it is an important matter because more and more people are depending on connectivity by mobile phone. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary, who sends his apologies.
The telephone support allowance is €2.50 a week for people who are getting both the living alone increase and the fuel allowance, and one of a number of payments that I wi…
-----to increase it to €7.50. I will certainly feed that back to the Minister as part of the Government's deliberations on next year's budget.
The Government is committed to supporting older persons and persons with disability. Given the many competing demands for the limited funding available in the Department of Social Protection, there was no increase in the telephone support allowance in budget 2026. Other suppo…
A sum of €21.6 million or 164,000 customers are not small numbers.
I thank the Deputy again for raising the matter. I agree with her that in a world that is changing hugely, we cannot let older people be left behind and left out. They are feeling isolated and vulnerable in a digital world that is changing, and we cannot ignore that. The Government will not be found wanting in that regard.
The Department provides ta…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an ábhar seo a chur os ár gcomhair. I agree with him that it is an opportunity present, showcase, promulgate, inform and educate people as to what is available. We should be represented in the European institutions and I fully concur with him. I apologise that the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is not here to take this and I am taking it for him.
I welcome this opportunity to ad…
I again thank the Deputy. There is huge merit in what he is suggesting. The point he made on education, information and assistance is critical. He is right that we must continue to raise awareness.
We must continue to ensure that there are Irish people in good quality jobs in the European Union. The Deputy is 100% right that our influence in Europe has never been more needed in a global world where there is uncertai…
Hear, hear.
I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and acknowledge that this is an elongated process. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has been engaged with the process on behalf of the Department and twice met the people involved. The Deputy can take it from our side that we are not happy with progress, and I will come back on that further in the supplementary.
The national train control centre, NTCC, project aims to deliver a…
The Government has taken action. The Minister has been proactive and the Department has engaged. The payments under the contract are directly linked to the costs incurred by the contractor and are based on standard international engineering projects. The Deputy presents it as black and white. To be fair, it is not, and I respectfully challenge him. This is a complex matter and it takes time. It is going slower than w…
We share the Deputy's concern. The Minister has met Indra twice and it now has an office in Dublin. The Deputy is not correct about the buses he refers to. They will be used. Two per week are being unveiled as we speak. All I can say to the Deputy, and I think he will agree, is that there is an extensive safety process that must be gone through. With safety approval stages, you cannot just tick a box and hope it goes…
I thank Deputy Coppinger for raising the matter. In the overall context BusConnects is important. She makes a point about the listening piece. I know from my constituency in Cork there is an obligation and a real need to listen and engage. I will bring the Deputy's comments back as well.
As she has said, the 70 bus will be replaced by other bus services as part of the implementation of BusConnects Dublin. These new …
I think the Deputy is incorrect regarding the buses because there are many buses and the new ones will have more than one wheelchair access point.
The other point is we have almost 5,500 people working in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, which is a massive number.
Is that a positive or a negative for the area?
Would she prefer they were not working? In fairness, they are providing. The Deputy can shake her head at me but she is meant to represent-----
I will.
She raised the shopping centre. Does she want the people to work or not? Does she want them to be unemployed? Let us be fair now.
The fundamental point is BusConnects offers greater connectivity, higher frequency, better connection and a more direct route to the city. We can disagree on some things but I genuinely take the Deputy's point that if BusConnects is to succeed there must be meaningful engagement with residents and people in areas that are affected. The point she made there is right. I have it in my city, as I said. It is important pl…
That is why we are doing BusConnects.
I listen. I am a public representative and I represent people.
It is important to recognise that the new L64 network will run between Dunboyne and the Blanchardstown centre. The new peak-time route, the P64, will run between Dunboyne and the city centre and both will serve Littlepace. Both services will also lead to Dunboyne. Equally, detailed timetables will be issued and will be set near the time of implementation…