The Government is committed to delivering a successful Presidency. We continue to engage closely with EU partners and An Garda Síochána as the preparations accelerate. The scale and significance of Presidency events that are planned to take place in Ireland mean that unprecedented security considerations arise, certainly for the European political community meeting. That will be the largest ever meeting of its type i…
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
The Deputy is certainly not wrong. I agree with him. There is huge potential for people to be influenced in an unwitting way in most cases. The test that I always try and put forward is what is in the best interest of this country, not what is in the best interest of a particular ideology.
Counter-drone capability will be very important for events during the Presidency. As the Deputy said, the airport was closed in …
As set out by the Minister earlier in this session, the purpose of the defence (amendment) Bill is to consolidate the existing provisions of the Defence Acts concerning the despatch of members of the Defence Forces for service outside the State. In effect, the requirement for a UN mandate will be removed. It will modify the existing requirement regarding the so-called triple lock mechanism in relation to the despatch…
The Deputy is correct that under Article 29 of the Constitution, Ireland's international relations are founded upon international justice and morality. Our Constitution affirms our "devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly co-operation amongst nations". That is not changing. That is in our Constitution. That is the entire basis on which the Government exercises its foreign policy. The removal of the triple lock in…
All deployments of Irish troops abroad under this legislation have to be consistent with the principles of the UN Charter and international law. I have already said that I agree with the Deputy in relation to the Constitution. However, I suggest that nobody in this House agrees with the decision of the UN Security Council to end peacekeeping duties in Lebanon.
The General Assembly has not put forward any proposal in relation to that and it is not practical for us to-----
There have been no proposals in the General Assembly to continue a mission in Lebanon. At the end of the day the Security Council is the authoritative body on international security. That is just the reality of the situation. We have an incredibly proud track record of peacekeeping under our Constitution and consistent with UN principles. We would like that to continue. In the current environment it literally cannot …
Is mór an onóir dom labhairt sa Dáil inniu ar ócáid Lá na hEorpa. As Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I am proud to speak today to mark Europe Day. In less than eight weeks' time, on 1 July 2026, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the eighth time. The European project was not built for easy times. It was built precisely for moments like this, and it is deliveri…
I do so because these are scare stories the Deputy is putting out there. They are totally false.
It is misinformation and it scares people.
It is total misinformation.
I have to stop this misinformation about the militarisation of the EU from Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats.
It is wrong to be frightening the people of Ireland in that way.
It is wrong.
Today, as we pursue a constitutional obligation to ratify an international agreement, we have an opportunity to say "No" by saying "Yes" and voting "Tá". We have an opportunity to say "No" to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression, to death and destruction with impunity, to rewarding Russia for stealing Ukrainian land and the forcible removal of Ukrainian children and to inflicting unspeakable sufferin…
Deputy Kenny should tell him that she does not have an army.
We got them this morning. It is all happening.
Regarding Sudan, it is not that Kaja Kallas made comments yesterday. It is that the foreign Ministers discussed the issue of Sudan yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council, and Kaja Kallas, as the high representative, spoke on behalf of all the governments. While it was discussed at the European Council recently, although not directly at the last one, it has been on the agenda of foreign Ministers on a regular basis.…
The digital omnibus is something the Government supports. What members of the European Parliament do is a matter for them. Just because they might not support an initial proposal does not mean they will not try to amend it and agree to it at the end. We will leave the European parliamentarians to do that job. They do an excellent job. That is one side of the democratic process, and the governments are on the other si…
What we are doing was announced by the Minister yesterday. We were pushing to have this agreement suspended, but it was not possible to reach an agreement.
With regard to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe, that matter is a separate from the European Council. We are strong supporters and strong activists in the Council of Europe, as a government. I am meeting the General Secretary, Mr.…
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of Hungary. A new government has been elected, but it has not actually been appointed by the parliament yet. The party has been elected with a massive vote, but even before that, the outgoing government this morning dropped the veto on the €90 billion loan to Ukraine, and dropped the veto together with Slovakia on the 20th sanctions package. We very much welcome this. The appr…
The issue with regard to the European Council and the Foreign Affairs Council on the EU-Israel association agreement is as I said it was, namely, that the Irish Government has engaged with member states to try to bring forward a proposal which is sitting there but needs to be supported by a sufficient number of member states. However, we are not able to do that. That is a fact. I would encourage - we are doing this a…
Is this on the Mercosur agreement?
The case has been brought by the European Parliament against the Commission. The practice, and this is a decision for the Commission and the member states which supported it, is to implement the trade provisions of the Mercosur agreement, whenever that happens in the coming period of time, notwithstanding the fact that we voted against it. There are measures to protect farmers, particularly beef farmers in the case o…
The case is between the European Parliament and the European Commission.