3. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister. [28399/26]
TDs / Malcolm Byrne
Malcolm Byrne
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1,895
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
92,967
words spoken in the chamber
Across 348 contributions
416
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
356
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.
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Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 1,895 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 348 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 81 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 42 | 16 |
| March 2025 | 71 | 12 |
| April 2025 | 50 | 21 |
| May 2025 | 72 | 28 |
| June 2025 | 46 | 22 |
| July 2025 | 94 | 15 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 68 | 15 |
| October 2025 | 95 | 13 |
| November 2025 | 179 | 22 |
| December 2025 | 111 | 12 |
| January 2026 | 143 | 28 |
| February 2026 | 183 | 31 |
| March 2026 | 136 | 16 |
| April 2026 | 94 | 22 |
| May 2026 | 121 | 18 |
| June 2026 | 102 | 19 |
| July 2026 | 128 | 16 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 45 | 13 |
| October 2026 | 34 | 9 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 258 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 Wicklow-Wexford 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
The Taoiseach is right that the bilateral relationship between Ireland and Spain is very important, as is our partnership in the EU. Following on from that point, my sister lives in Seville and every summer she travels back. She takes the ferry from Bilbao to Rosslare with my two young nieces. The challenge is because of heat. It is becoming increasingly difficult to live in parts of Spain where temperatures regularl…
While we have a very strong economy and, in overall terms, full employment, I am concerned about the fact that youth unemployment has now hit a rate of 10.8%. That is in the region of 37,000 young people. We are also seeing a situation now where graduate unemployment is higher than the national unemployment rate. Some of this is obviously because there is reduced hiring in consumer-facing sectors. There is a concern …
9. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on measures to support farm succession. [51677/26]
Given that one of the greatest challenges for Irish farming continues to be the ageing demographic and the low percentage of young people who are involved, will the Minister provide an update on measures to support farm succession and generational renewal?
I welcome the Minister's personal commitment to succession and generational renewal. He is right to say it is not just an Irish issue. He will know about the commission on generational renewal. He has been very strong on its recommendations. Some of them apply to the next round of CAP. The Minister will have to work with his fellow Ministers and with Commissioner Hansen to achieve some of those goals. Others are dome…
I welcome that commitment. I certainly agree with the Minister. It is interesting that the European Commission's proposal aims for 24% of farmers to be new or young farmers by 2040. That is very ambitious. With regard to the strategies, we need to ensure that agriculture is sustainable. That is the kind of goal we need. I praise the work of Macra na Feirme. The Minister will be aware of how Macra operates in his own …
I am sure the Minister of State will be struck that while often in these Houses when we have debates there is disagreement, this is an issue about which there is cross-party agreement and even unity. It has had an impact on every family and every community. The Minister of State is personally deeply committed to working in this area. Having these kinds of debates or discussions shows there is a lot more that unites u…
I, too, welcome this debate. It is an important discussion to have in this House around what possible future constitutional arrangements we can have on this island. It is important that we set out the vision for all of the people on this island and the opportunities that may present.
I sometimes think this debate can be couched in very simplistic language. A new Irish arrangement is not simply going to be a case of …
I welcome and support the views expressed by Deputy Boland and I welcome the Minister's commentary. The experience has been that across Departments, the level of engagement with AI differs. Specifically when we are talking here about public sector procurement, which was mentioned, we need to explore the use of agentic AI. I want to be clear there should always be human oversight in this space but I mean the use of ag…
I ask the Minister for Public Expenditure; Infrastructure; Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the criteria applied in assessing projects under the digital public service transformation fund, including the way in which service improvement, efficiency gains and potential for wider roll-out are considered.
I welcome in particular the moves towards the digitalisation of life events. I commend the work of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer on everything that is being done there. It is also very important not just to have the business case but that there is also the technological know-how around what it is we are hoping to achieve. One of the most critical things the Minister's Department will be overs…
I welcome that commitment. It will be transformational. It is my own view, and I do not think it is underestimating it to say, that our records not being digitalised is probably costing our health service up to a billion euro a year in terms of delays and in the failure to be able to use some of that data towards clinical research. We need to start to talk about a campaign for when we move to that situation to encour…
24. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his St. Patrick’s Day visit to the US. [22423/26]
As part of his visit, the Taoiseach visited Villanova University, a critical university in terms of Irish athletics. For the past number of years, I have had an intern from Villanova working with me. Part of the success has been around the exchanges that have happened over many years.
There had been a threat to the Fulbright programme. I am glad to say it is back on schedule. Recently, as the Taoiseach knows, the de…
I commend the Minister of State on bringing the Bill to this Stage. Before I speak to the specific amendments, which are around the governance and the board structure, it is important that there has been general collaboration, both at the AI committee and, even more generally, around what we want to achieve with this transformational technology, because what we are debating and talking about here does not impact on m…
It is unfair to say that the Minister of State has not been listening because I think she has. What I would say to Deputy Gibney is that the legislation provides for the formal appointment by the Minister following a process, which is pretty standard. In fairness, I recall this role being advertised on publicjobs.ie. LinkedIn actually recommended it to me at one stage. The closing date for this was at the end of Marc…
I am proposing amendment No. 6 but it speaks to the broader set of amendments. It is about what the purpose of the artificial intelligence office is. I might thread the contentions of Deputy Murphy and Deputy Geoghegan. I agree somewhat with Deputy Murphy that if the role of this office and the ecosystem we are creating is a distributive regulatory model, our critical point is about ensuring that the existing regulat…
I agree with Deputy Geoghegan on that question. I appreciate the point the Minister of State made in response to my amendment but it is important to clarify what the role will be of the AI office when something falls between the designated competent authorities.
I am conscious that the clock is running down, and my next point speaks to the fact that we did not get to talk to a lot of the other amendments, but I did …
I often wonder why are we having these statements on Pride? I reflect in many ways on my own political journey and I remember that, as a student and young person, I saw Máire Geoghegan-Quinn decriminalise homosexuality. As someone who was very closeted at the time, that had a big impact on me in terms of challenging my own thinking.
My experience, even though I never hid my sexuality, was that I ended up being outed…
I welcome this Bill and I thank the Minister of State and her officials for the work on it. I note that there was a fairly tight timeframe for amendments so I hope, on Committee Stage, there will be consideration of some of the issues here. While I commend the Minister of State on her understanding of the implications of AI right across society, I am concerned that there are certain Departments that have not yet got …
9. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide an update on the wage subsidy scheme, and any incentives to support employers taking on employees with intellectual disabilities. [46367/26]
1. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the most recent EU leaders’ meeting or Council. [12965/26]
I wish the Taoiseach well during the time of the Presidency of the EU Council. When I submitted a parliamentary question to the Department of enterprise on a domestic issue, where I did not get a satisfactory response, the Department said that was due to competing work priorities, including the upcoming Presidency of the European Union. Given that in response to other parliamentary questions, 300 additional staff hav…
24. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the revised national digital and AI strategy. [16306/26]