The WALK peer model is the cornerstone of the Government's WALK peer ability programme for young people with special educational needs. The programme was developed as a supported transition model in 2013 with the aim of bridging the gap between leaving special school and successfully transitioning to further education, training or employment. This unique model has been supporting young people in my constituency of Lo…
TDs / Joanna Byrne
Joanna Byrne
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
473
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
55,881
words spoken in the chamber
Across 208 contributions
404
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
107
topics asked about
Across 15 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 473 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 208 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 4 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 29 | 25 |
| March 2025 | 38 | 14 |
| April 2025 | 29 | 11 |
| May 2025 | 20 | 10 |
| June 2025 | 11 | 10 |
| July 2025 | 34 | 6 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 12 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 6 | 6 |
| November 2025 | 25 | 4 |
| December 2025 | 2 | 4 |
| January 2026 | 43 | 15 |
| February 2026 | 36 | 13 |
| March 2026 | 23 | 12 |
| April 2026 | 17 | 7 |
| May 2026 | 32 | 13 |
| June 2026 | 42 | 22 |
| July 2026 | 18 | 3 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 40 | 5 |
| October 2026 | 12 | 22 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 121 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 Louth 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I note that the Minister of State spoke about giving people the best possible care and services they require. I hope it is not lost on the Minister of State that WALK peer has dramatically changed the lives of young people with special educational needs in my constituency and other counties. Countless young people have availed of the programme. In most cases, it has literally been a lifeline for young persons and the…
A couple of days before my tenth birthday, I came home from school to once again find my mother beaten to a pulp and our home smashed to pieces. The bravery of my mother that day changed the course of our lives forever. With the aid of a social care worker, we were brought to a bed and breakfast before we moved to the women's refugee in Galway for a number of weeks while waiting for a longer term placement as the fir…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion on protecting the copyright of Irish artists in the era of artificial intelligence. It is important to note this is a nuanced and targeted motion to protect Irish artists across the entire spectrum of the arts. It is not an attack on AI as a whole, which we know has its uses where appropriate.
The AI systems and databases are hungry beasts that have to be continuousl…
I welcome the advancement of this Bill. It aligns with Sinn Féin's policy of supporting the post office network and matches the critical investment of €15 million in funding we pledged in our alternative budget last year. For this reason, Sinn Féin will not be proposing any amendments. It is heartening to see collective agreement that the post office network needs to be supported everywhere, and in particular in rura…
Families in Louth have heard multiple announcements from local government representatives, but no meaningful action to deliver the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael election promises of €200 per month childcare in the first 100 days of Government has come. Childcare is not a luxury and it needs to be given priority in investment.
We have more than 29,000 families with children in Louth, and almost 7,000 of those families ha…
I received a letter from Louth County Council, which I did not expect, requesting urgent support in securing Government funding to assist the council in addressing the extensive damage caused to the county's road and drainage infrastructure following Storm Chandra. The scale of the damage across the county is significant in both urban and rural areas, with the council recording 69 road closures and 81-----
-----road locations, with an estimated overall reinstatement requirement of €3.61 million. In all my years dealing with Louth County Council, it has always gone through the proper channels, but for the council to call on TDs and Senators to publicise the need for additional Government funding highlights the dire situation.
Will the Taoiseach explore this with the relevant Departments and Ministers, if he can?
I welcome these statements on Pride and the chance to talk of where it began in Ireland and where we are now. Pride began in response to the darkest of crimes. It has now grown into a beacon of light, positivity, progressiveness and inclusivity. Pride, a banner that previously criminalised and marginalised, is now one that cohorts of people can stand behind together full of colour and hope. The first Pride parade in …
Week in and out, my constituency office is inundated with people trying to access dental and orthodontic services. The population in Drogheda and south Louth is growing faster now than it ever has before but vital services are not by any stretch keeping up with the population growth. In fact, they are getting worse under the Minister's watch. The number of dentists working under the dental treatment services scheme i…
I am immensely proud to have played an active part in campaigning to repeal the eighth amendment. I had so many people share their very private and personal experiences with me on the doorsteps in Drogheda and the wider parts of my county. Activists of all political hues joined together under the banner of Together For Yes. We asked voters to trust women and we asked them to support providing compassionate care at ho…
62. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in view of Ministers' comments that they will not attend the Ireland v Israel Nations League fixtures, if he will call for a boycott of these fixtures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43392/26]
The Minister of State will appreciate these questions were submitted before the recess and before the Government's shameful response to the two Private Members' motions on the Ireland and Israel fixtures this week. In spite of that, a response is warranted from the Minister of State to the Irish football community and Irish footballers as to why it is okay for him and the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, to publicly state…
I am delighted the Minister of State has learned a new word since Tuesday night-Wednesday morning. In the response which the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, gave to me on Tuesday night and which was carbon-copied by the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, on Wednesday morning, the word "genocide" never featured at all. It is great that he has learned that word in the past two days. Even though he has now acknowl…
You did not do so this week.
History, including his own party’s history, is lost on the Minister of State. There is a precedent in this State of us taking a stand when it comes to sport. It is wrong for him to stand there and tell me that it is unprecedented. That is factually incorrect. He is a Fianna Fáil Member and he should know this. He should talk to his previous Taoiseach. There is absolutely no justification for it. What he is saying thi…
The Minister of State is deflecting-----
----- from the stop-the-game question that I specifically put to him on Tuesday night.
It is taking a stand through sport.
What about harmony?
72. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will consider amending the Sport Ireland Act 2015 and expand the definition of competitive sport and recreational sport to include “all forms of sporting activity which through organised participation, aim at expressing or improving performance and at obtaining improved results in competition at all levels through organised partici…
I am asking this question because activities such as chess are not recognised as sports in Ireland. Chess is recognised as a sport in 24 of the 27 EU member states and in over 100 countries worldwide. It is recognised as a sport by the Olympic movement, which holds its own chess Olympiad. After football, chess is the most widely played sport in the world. It has been played for over 1,500 years. Chess has great healt…
The Minister of State’s response is positive. I cannot ask for more than that. I ask that he keep the matter on the radar as we begin the consultation for, and the implementation of, a new sports strategy. If he bears it in mind, I will be happy to work with him in that regard.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes:
— the findings of major international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Palestinian human rights organisations, that Israel operates a system of apartheid against the Palestinian people;
— the ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territories, the expansion of illegal settlements, restrictions on freedom of movement, collect…