Thar ceann an Aire Leanaí, Míchumais agus Comhionannais, an Teachta Foley, is mian liom mo buíochas a ghabhail leis an Teachta as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú agus as deis a thabhairt don Aire – is mé atá ag labhairt ar a son – freagra a thabhairt.
This Government acknowledges that demand for respite services across the country remains high and is working together with the HSE and service providers to increase pr…
TDs / Thomas Byrne
Thomas Byrne
Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and at the Department of Defence
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
12
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
76,972
words spoken in the chamber
68,043 as a minister, 8,929 as a TD
268
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
11
topics asked about
Across 6 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 12 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 314 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 4 | 7 |
| March 2025 | 3 | 15 |
| April 2025 | 0 | 6 |
| May 2025 | 4 | 27 |
| June 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| July 2025 | 1 | 36 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| November 2025 | 0 | 20 |
| December 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2026 | 0 | 53 |
| February 2026 | 0 | 12 |
| March 2026 | 0 | 4 |
| April 2026 | 0 | 37 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 19 |
| June 2026 | 0 | 20 |
| July 2026 | 0 | 11 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| October 2026 | 0 | 40 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 113 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 Meath East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and at the Department of Defence 29 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and at the Department of Defence 26 March 2025 to now
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú inniu. We hear the passion Deputy Cahill brings to this issue. The future use of the site is currently under consideration by a working group. The Minister, Deputy Foley, wants to assure Deputy Cahill that this Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities, which will empower them to live their lives, …
The Government is committed to the provision of additional special school places for children with more complex educational needs. Over 300 new special school places are being provided for the coming 2025-26 school year. Five new special schools are being established in addition to the 11 new special schools that opened over the past few years. Of these 16 new schools, six have been established in Dublin, bringing th…
The Deputy took what I said as bad news. I think I gave constructive news, if she heard what I said, which is that there are 300 new special school places, which it is acknowledged are needed for those who need them, and that the Department and the NCSE in particular have proceeded to decide where they are going. I have no doubt the Department will listen to what the Deputy said in the Dáil tonight. It will look at t…
On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank Deputy Hearne for raising this issue. It gives the Minister the opportunity to update the Dáil on this important issue. What the Deputy has set out is not acceptable.
Primary care services, including primary care psychology, play a central role in providing care and treatment to both children and adults in the community. Per the implementation of the national policy on a…
We fully recognise the frustration of people in the Deputy's constituency with long waiting times for certain services. Much more needs to be done, particularly to fill vacancies, as he has said, to address waiting lists and to ensure consistent, equitable and timely access. As I said, we have a child psychology waiting list initiative alongside a joint Department and HSE programmatic approach. We are committed to bu…
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil thar ceann an Aire leanaí, an Teachta Norma Foley, leis an Teachta McGuinness as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú ar maidin inniu. Is sprioc tábhachtach don Rialtas é rochtain a chur ar fáil do luathoideachas agus cúram leanaí. Tá maoiniú caipitil curtha ar fáil ag an Roinn faoin bplean forbartha náisiúnta chun spásanna nua lánaimseartha a chruthú sna háiteanna ina bhfuil an t-éi…
I dtosach báire, aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil tábhacht faoi leith ag baint leis an nGaeilge agus leis na naíonraí trí mheán na Gaeilge. D’fhreastail mé ar naíonra in 1980 agus tá mé fós anseo ag labhairt Gaeilge. Tá suirbhé foilsithe ag an Roinn, the annual early years sector profile. I gcomhthéacs Chontae Phort Láirge, taispeánann an suirbhé go bhfuil líon na bpáistí ar an rolla tar éis méadú agus go bhfuil lag…
A number of my constituents will benefit from this Bill. I pay tribute to John O'Meara for going to the Supreme Court and acknowledge the circumstances in which he went to it. I know the Minister, Deputy Calleary, will take on board what the Members have said today. I sympathise with Deputy Coppinger as well. It is awful. I acknowledge the officials in the Department under the Minister who brought this Bill forward. …
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As he will understand, the supply of public water and the provision of water services are matters for Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level.
The scope, prioritisation and progression of individual projects are matters for Uisce Éireann and a…
Our water and wastewater infrastructure requires substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring the systems up to the standards required of a modern service that provides for population growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change. Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery for water services and infrastructure and we as an Oireachtas and a Government provided €300 …
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta os rud é gur chuir sé an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo os comhair na Dála. Tá mise ag tógaint an ábhair seo thar ceann an Aire Iompair. I am aware of the Department’s recent report, The Economic Cost of Congestion in the Regional Cities 2022-2040, and the results pertaining to Galway. The report builds on an earlier study about Dublin published in 2023, which the Deputy mentioned. The same …
I thank the Deputy for bringing the focus to Galway and congestion and for being a strong voice for the city, for the wider constituency of Galway West and for Connemara. It is good he has raised the report in the Dáil because it outlines what congestion costs every man, woman and child in Galway. Galway citizens are likely to experience a much higher cost per capita than citizens of other regional cities.
The ring …
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and appreciate his concerns regarding this process. The water framework directive establishes the general objective that water bodies be restored to at least good ecological status by 2027. It also makes provision that a more realistic objective for water bodies that have been heavily modified may be set. This applies where restoration would not be technically feasible or woul…
The Deputy says it is in breach of the citizens' assembly, but it is in compliance with EU law and guidance. This is not an exemption. It is defined in the EU guidance as an alternative target that is designed to get the best possible environmental outcome while continuing to provide societal benefits. This is a cyclical process. Water bodies currently proposed for designation are unable to meet the good ecological s…
I thank the Labour Party and Deputies Nash and Bacik for bringing forward this Bill. Before I was ever a politician, competition law was my thing when I qualified as a solicitor so I am very interested in it and generally support what the Deputies are trying to do. The Government is not opposing this.
The purpose of the Bill is to confer additional powers on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to help…
I think they are totally separate functions but we are all responsible for that. We may have proposed it, and it may have happened then after 2011. I cannot quite remember but consumer protection law is one thing. Competition law, of course, is related to it but they are very different roles. I would love to hear more on the competition law side, to be honest.
The mandate of the CCPC has been extended, to be fair. I…
As much as anybody, I appreciate the need for really strong competition law, policy and legislation. The Deputy brought me back to my college days when he spoke about defining the market because that was one of the big questions we got in the exam every year. It is also one of the big challenges the competition authority has.
No, she was on the criminal law side, although it is criminal law - it is as simple as that - because you can be jailed or fined and the EU has very significant powers as well for bigger businesses. We all want to see, because if prices go up, and I know tariffs were mentioned being used as an excuse and all of that and some of these are issues, but the reality is, as Deputy Donnelly said, that prices go up but we ne…
-----of abuse of market dominance. We support this Bill in the sense of letting it pass to the next Stage and wish it success for the future.
I thank everybody for contributing today. All of their contributions have been genuinely heartfelt and reflect the established opinion in Ireland for quite some time, which is the opinion of the Irish Government, too.
It is a year ago to the day that the Government took a very important decision to recognise the State of Palestine. The decision was taken in the spirit of peace, in the spirit of keeping hope alive an…
He said it was a war crime.
No, no.
That is exactly what the Israeli Government accuses us of.
I thank everyone for their contributions. I will be clear from the outset, the attacks by Israel, which have all been detailed in this debate, are a further erosion of the principles of international humanitarian law that Israel is bound to comply with. People have been clear, as I am, in our condemnation of Hamas for its terror attack, for keeping people in captivity today and for the death and destruction it has br…