I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."
TDs / Holly Cairns
Holly Cairns
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
460
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
49,875
words spoken in the chamber
Across 276 contributions
106
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
124
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.
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 460 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 276 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 48 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 83 | 0 |
| March 2025 | 8 | 0 |
| April 2025 | 106 | 0 |
| May 2025 | 10 | 0 |
| June 2025 | 28 | 0 |
| July 2025 | 14 | 0 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 7 | 17 |
| October 2025 | 23 | 29 |
| November 2025 | 6 | 37 |
| December 2025 | 4 | 26 |
| January 2026 | 10 | 8 |
| February 2026 | 18 | 32 |
| March 2026 | 30 | 15 |
| April 2026 | 9 | 21 |
| May 2026 | 5 | 27 |
| June 2026 | 11 | 25 |
| July 2026 | 11 | 38 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 19 | 0 |
| October 2026 | 10 | 0 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 249 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 Cork South-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
Today, we have another damning report from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, on Ireland's declining water quality. Nearly half of our rivers are ecologically unhealthy. They are dying, as is all the wildlife and biodiversity in them. Our high status water bodies are deteriorating. These rivers are hugely important ecologically. They are refuges for some of our protected species, such as kingfisher and salmon.…
In the 1980s, we had over 500 pristine rivers. Now, we have just 20 - actually, it is probably less than that because that is a 2018 figure - so for the Taoiseach to say this is a priority for the Government simply is not credible. Agricultural run-off was responsible for pollution in approximately 1,000 water bodies and the Government consistently fights for a derogation for Ireland to be able to apply more chemical…
I did not say it was.
I have many times.
I thank Deputy Gibney for all her hard work on this motion. Moving the match to a neutral venue is not a solution; it is cowardice. The issue has never been where the game would be played. The issue is whether it should be played at all against an opponent actively committing genocide. A neutral venue will not make the game neutral.
Across Ireland, there has been overwhelming public support for strong action in resp…
I condemn the horrific attack in Belfast on Monday. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family. I also condemn the racist attacks last night and join others in calling for an end to the violence.
I will talk to the Taoiseach today about the extreme pressure family carers are under. Some 71% are now struggling to make ends meet, according to the recent Family Carers Ireland report. Nearly half are experiencing e…
The Taoiseach says he acknowledges the role of carers and acknowledges the need to abolish the means test ultimately over the lifetime of this Government. I assume he acknowledges, then, that the changes in the threshold do not abolish it but, rather, slowly work towards that. I appreciate that the Government is doing that but if I am right, I can take it from the Taoiseach's reply that the Government does not plan t…
There have been a lot of questions raised about our-----
A lot of questions have been raised about our maternity services in recent weeks and there appears to be confusion about a hugely important issue. Which category of patient deserves continuity of care in our maternity services? Can I be absolutely clear about what I thought was obvious? Every woman accessing maternity services should be entitled to the highest quality care. It should not be an optional extra reserved…
Can the Taoiseach answer the questions?
Like I said, I am glad that the Minister and Government held the line. The reason many people were surprised to see the Government coming out to bat so strongly for public health is that we do not see that with regard to all aspects of Sláintecare. I hope that we see more of that now. For example, 80% of home care is private now. That is just going up and up. There is no money behind the 2025 plans for Sláintecare. T…
Are the eight current patients aware?
I am asking about a different answer.
I congratulate our new Social Democrats TD, Daniel Ennis, and Fine Gael’s new Deputy, Seán Kyne. I warmly welcome them to this Chamber. Dan is going to be a fantastic addition to our parliamentary party team. We are all so excited to work with him. This is a huge day for Dan, Seán and their families. I welcome their families and supporters to the Gallery. I especially welcome Dan’s mother, Jacqueline, his brother Geo…
The Taoiseach needs to stop and listen to himself when he comes into this Chamber week after week and tries to spin a positive message on housing when there are 17,000 people homeless, including more than 5,000 children. This is at a time when there are record budget surpluses. The only thing the Taoiseach has changed in his approach is to start blaming migrants for that failure.
It is shameful. The Taoiseach talks about every metric and fails to mention the most important metric, which is the increase, month on month, and the records being broken in the number of people becoming homeless. Instead of acknowledging that the approach has failed and changing it, the Government introduced legislation that we all knew would increase evictions and rents, which is exactly what happened. Will the Tao…
Today we got news that we all knew was coming. The Government's new rent rules have already driven rents to a record high. They are rising at the highest rate in a quarter of a century. Year on year, rents are up 7% in Dublin, 13% in Cork and a whopping 18% in Galway. We told the Taoiseach this would happen and these measures would undermine renters and he said it was "a ridiculous assertion". Now it is renters who a…
The confidence with which the Taoiseach tries to slate the Social Democrats' policies on housing is honestly astounding, when we consider that he is coming in here on a day when there is news that rents have gone up more than they ever have since records began. That is in the context of a housing crisis that has turned into a housing disaster and then into a catastrophe, where there are record levels of homelessness,…
How long has the Government been standing over housing policy? It will be a decade of the housing needs review.
Why did the Government not do it four or five years ago? Better late than never. It is not too late.
I express my condolences to the family and friends of Yves Sakila. A video circulating online of an incident before his death is deeply disturbing. There must be a full, comprehensive and transparent investigation into what happened.
Yesterday, Israel committed yet another blatant breach of international law. The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, boarded a flotilla in international waters and again kidnapped humanitarian …
Asking the Taoiseach to live up to his election promises is not attacking him. That should be the bare minimum. He said that he would enact the occupied territories Bill and all this Government has done for 16 months is find excuses to delay it. Back and forth to the Attorney General, over and over again, looking for advice that we know is the same as that from the Attorney General to the previous Government. We know…
There have been no sanctions.
I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”
Eight years ago, Ireland voted overwhelmingly to repeal the eighth amendment. People voted for compassion and to end the cruelty of forcing women onto planes and ferries. They voted because we believe women should be able to access abortion here at home, with their families, doctors and support systems around them. While enormous progress has been made since then, t…