I will just speak generally. There are various issues concerning that conflict that I am not working on directly, so I do not have the detail. However, the Minister will raise all concerns at the Foreign Affairs Council. I am sure our ambassadors are also doing so at UN level. The Tánaiste was at the previous Foreign Affairs Council, where the matter was on the agenda. It is on the agenda again tomorrow. These issues…
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
We have been strongly pushing for those types of sanctions. As the Deputy knows, we have been seen as one of the strongest at EU level. We have sought for some time the suspension of the trade agreement, which President von der Leyen proposed, and sanctions on violent settlers. These proposals and all the others put forward require Council decisions. Some, such as that to suspend the trade agreement, require a qualif…
I have discussed this in the past couple of weeks with the Minister for justice, Deputy O’Callaghan. Work is ongoing in the Department of Justice on travel bans for certain individuals. That is happening at national level. We are also pushing at EU level. It is more relevant to the Schengen zone but we can proceed nationally. That is a matter that the Minister for justice is working on.
I have been saying for some months that the EU has leverage and should use it. We call for the measures President von der Leyen put forward in September and certainly support them. We do not believe they should be taken off the table while illegal occupations and annexations continue. There is an embryonic peace process that we want to support to bring genuine peace to the people of Palestine and Israel.
We want to keep these measures on the table. Some other member states do also. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy wants to keep them on the table too. They require more than our support, however. The EU–Israel association agreement is an agreement between the EU and Israel and I do not believe there is any possibility for groups of member states to start veering out of it. It would have t…
The detail of the matters Deputy Healy-Rae brought up are under the Department of justice. There was a discussion on Ukraine at the European Council where President Zelenskyy spoke. European leaders spoke pretty directly to him as well. The war against Ukraine is costing us all a lot of money. We need it to end for our financial and economic security, as well as our own security in general. We want that war to end. T…
I just do not accept that we are asking anyone to gut the AI Act or GDPR. The whole simplification agenda is designed to cut red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy that are costing companies a lot of money and, quite frankly, jobs in all of our constituencies. At the same time, however, it will protect basic rights that we and the European Union have fought hard for and developed, such as the areas of workers’ rights, …
First, Ireland is one of the champions of overseas development aid.
We are known for that around the world. I am very proud of it. It is a consistent policy of my party to be as generous as possible because we know it is necessary in many of these countries. I am very proud of the work that our Department does, working with both Irish and local people on the ground in foreign countries. The very issues Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised will be on the agenda of the G20 in South Africa, where …
I wish to go back to the exact wording of the European Council because it is very important. Paragraph 30, which relates to all of the defence conclusions, states: "The above is without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States, and takes into account the security and defence interests of all Member States, in accordance with the Treaties". That is a specific ment…
We need to go to the defence industry------
-----regarding radar, sonar, equipment and material that we need for our Defence Forces. We absolutely will be spending that money. Our neutrality is well known and well noted but during our Presidency, we will be the independent arbitrator in the Presidency chair for the needs and necessities of all the member states. Defence still remains a member state competency. It is absolutely a member state competency. There …
I will remind the Minister.
Mercosur has been raised and it will continue to be raised. There was a vote in the European Parliament on safeguarding measures yesterday and one at the Council of Ministers today. I met my French counterpart yesterday about a number of issues but, obviously, Mercosur was on the agenda.
I met the French foreign minister the week before last. It is quite a topic of discussion. Clearly, France is one of the key count…
I will say this. We had all sorts of scare stories before about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement a number of years ago. People went to the High Court and everything else. Trade with Canada has massively increased and more people are employed in all our constituencies because of that trade agreement.
We have dealt with many of the issues that were raised. The October European Council adopted certain conclusions on strengthening and protecting the digital ecosystem, including through reinforced international partnerships and close collaboration with trusted partner countries and international organisations on digital innovation and governance. Leaders stressed the need to address the risks related to hybrid threat…
Ba mhaith liom mo thacaíocht a thabhairt don Tánaiste, don Aire gnóthaí eachtracha agus Aire Cosanta, an Teachta Simon Harris, inniu. Ba mhaith liom vótáil ar son agus tacú le rún an Rialtais.
There is a bit of a misnomer going around that the Government has manufactured this debate today. In fact, this has been standard practice for quite some time that the Government would table motions of confidence in itself. Th…
For any Government to continue in office, any motion of confidence must be dealt with very quickly. Ireland and Europe stand at a very critical juncture. War is taking place on our Continent. As Minister of State in the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade, I am proud to work with the Tánaiste in making Ireland more secure and in securing our European future in delivering record budgets for our defenc…
I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— the Government is acutely aware of the recent energy price increases and the impact it has on households and businesses;
— the Government acknowledges the latest data for June shows that 13 per cent of households are in arrears on their electricity bills and 25 per cent on their gas bills, and supporting …
I thank Deputy Currie for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Burke. As the Deputy is aware, there has been a significant long-term shift in attitudes to remote and flexible working among both employers and workers throughout the country since the pandemic in particular. Acceptance of remote and flexible working is high and the evidence suggests that they are here to stay…
The Minister has mentioned the upcoming Working in Ireland survey, which the Department has funded. About 5,000 people, north and south of the Border, have been surveyed. The Minister understands the survey has been completed and we can expect the research output in the coming months. We anticipate that there will be a lot of information on a range of labour market issues in this area, and this will be a useful input…
The Government does support Waterford Airport. I assure the Deputies that the Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to see the Waterford Airport project to lengthen and widen the runway progress. In line with this commitment and the requirements under the Government’s infrastructure guidelines, Waterford Airport was invited earlier this summer to submit a preliminary business case to the Department…
If the Government broke the public spending code, or the infrastructure guidelines in this case, or decided to spend money without doing a proper analysis and proper business case, you guys would rightly be down at the public accounts committee castigating the Government. The Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to progress this project when the business case is received and reviewed.
We recognis…
Today.
On 25 June, I met the EU Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, Piotr Serafin, in Brussels. The meeting was an important opportunity to set out Ireland’s preliminary views on the post-2027 multi-annual financial framework, MFF, in advance of the proposal of the Commission being published next Wednesday. During this meeting, I called on the Commissioner to ensure a robustly funded and separate,…