I thank Deputy Timmins for his question. Our Rural Future is the whole-of-government policy for sustainable rural development in Ireland. More than 170 measures are outlined to support sustainable economic and social development and environmental and cultural well-being across all our rural areas. The delivery of these measures is clearly based on a cross-governmental approach, with a range of Departments contributin…
TDs / Dara Calleary
Dara Calleary
Minister for Rural and Community Development and the GaeltachtMinister for Social Protection
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
234,885
words spoken in the chamber
234,882 as a minister, 3 as a TD
406
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 896 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 42 |
| March 2025 | 66 |
| April 2025 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 140 |
| June 2025 | 43 |
| July 2025 | 32 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 46 |
| October 2025 | 40 |
| November 2025 | 42 |
| December 2025 | 42 |
| January 2026 | 43 |
| February 2026 | 74 |
| March 2026 | 31 |
| April 2026 | 45 |
| May 2026 | 46 |
| June 2026 | 40 |
| July 2026 | 37 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 45 |
| October 2026 | 30 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 735 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Mayo 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Rural and Community Development 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Social Protection 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht 2 June 2025 to now
- office Minister for Social Protection 2 June 2025 to now
I cannot speak specifically to the Airbnb question. As I said, however, my Department has invested significantly in remote work and remote working facilities. We will be publishing a new national hub strategy, which will include measures to underpin ongoing sustainable development. As we discussed here previously, hubs in 2025 are different from what they were in 2020, and we need to make sure we keep up to date with…
Absolutely, I agree. The cost base of every business is of concern to the Government. With regard to the small rural regionally based builders, we made it very clear that they need to be given support from the banking system to allow them to make the kinds of developments in rural areas the Deputy has spoken about and that we all want to see.
The Minister, Deputy Browne, will be writing to every local authority in t…
The community centre investment fund, CCIF, is my Department's primary funding vehicle for new and existing community centres. It was first introduced in 2022 in recognition of the need for a dedicated funding stream to support investment in the hundreds of community facilities that are at the heart of both rural and urban communities.
In Cork, my Department has provided more than €8.9 million for the enhancement an…
I do not disagree with the Deputy. That is why we have invested in the community centre investment fund and why we have put money aside for new centres, new builds, in communities such as Ballyvolane. Twelve of those have been funded and Rylane in Cork is one, and that is why I hope to have another scheme next year for new builds. I am more than happy to work with the Deputies here and the Minister of State, Deputy B…
It is clear that Deputy O’Flynn has done a lot of work. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, tells me he taught in the area so he knows it very well. I cannot give Deputy Gould a guarantee. Local authorities have to prepare plans but judging by the scoping work, site identification work and community meetings, it sounds as though they are doing the necessary preparatory work. It sounds like an area that needs it. …
I propose to take Questions Nos. 93, 95 and 105 together.
The three letters most feared by my officials are LIS. We are actively reviewing the LIS, looking to make it more effective and to deliver more consistently. It is a is a key support to rural communities in improving non-public rural roads and laneways that are not typically maintained by local authorities. We reintroduced the scheme in my Department since 20…
I agree with the Deputies. In the interests of fairness, we have provided €170 million for a scheme that was not funded prior to 2017. We are working with local authorities. Neither Monaghan nor Tipperary are offenders in this regard, but quite a number of local authorities have a cost per road that is way above the national average. Believe it or not, there are also local authorities which have underspends in the LI…
Since 2021, 4,800 roads have been dealt with under LIS. I agree that we could do with extra funding. We are actively pursuing that and ensuring that people have proper access to their homes and farms.
I thank the Deputies for their remarks. I will speak to the amendments first and then speak to some of the queries that were raised, which were dealt with on Committee Stage. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2, and 21 to 23, inclusive, are grouped together.
As I said during the Committee Stage debate, it is not appropriate to include commitments to producing reports in primary legislation, particularly legislation that is as c…
This is an area the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has also expressed an interest in. On Deputy O'Reilly's comment about the lady whose partner passed away while she was expecting, we have based the qualifications on the 2010 civil partnership Act and the issue from the Department of justice. I am writing to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to highlight this case and also on the points reflected in Deputy Wall's amendment, w…
I thank Deputies O'Reilly and Wall. I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 7, 8 and 14. To accept them would remove the ability of any future Minister for Social Protection to make regulations to clarify the circumstances where a couple may be living apart for more than two years due to medical circumstances. This definition is linked to the regulation-making power inserted into section 123A of the Act, for the M…
If one part of the couple said something different to what had been signed up to, for whatever reason, there would have to be further investigations. I assure the Deputy that I would not want any intrusion into a relationship and the Department does not intend to intrude. If evidence was presented by a member of the couple that contradicted what the other member of the couple had said, that would have to be checked.
Yes.
Yes.
I am pretty sure. It is a standard provision in such legislation. I assure the Deputy that the Department is not going to stick its nose in where that is not necessary.
I thank Deputy Wall for the amendment. Amendments Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive, are grouped together. I do not propose to accept these amendments, which are possibly irrelevant owing to other related amendments being ruled out of order.
I wrote to Deputies Wall, Quaide, Coppinger and O'Reilly on this issue after Committee Stage. There are provisions in the Bill removing the eligibility of divorcees to the bereaved partn…
It is important to acknowledge this Bill came about as a result of Mr. Johnny O'Meara and his family in memory of his partner and their mum, Michelle Batey. I thank Mr. O'Meara and Deputy Alan Kelly who stood and worked with him along with other organisations throughout this process. I thank all Deputies for their contributions to this debate and look forward to bringing the Bill to the Seanad.
I move:
That it be an instruction to the Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development on the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025, that pursuant to Standing Order 194, the Committee has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill to provide that:
— Invalidity Pension is a pension that must be applied for and obtai…
Maidin mhaith ar ais duit, a Theachta.
The new jobseeker's pay-related benefit was introduced at the end of March. This new social insurance-based income support has replaced the jobseeker's benefit scheme for those who have become fully unemployed since the commencement of the scheme on 31 March. On 7 June 2025, some 11,900 jobseeker's pay-related benefit claims had been awarded under the new scheme.
The origin of…
I am always open to considering the Deputy's suggestions. We will be reviewing the jobseeker’s pay-related benefit after a year of operation. This is the first time in more than 40 years we have had such a benefit. In connection with other questions that have arisen, it will provide the foundation for other potential pay-related benefits.
If there are relevant cases, the Deputy should bring them to my attention. We …
Absolutely. I am always open to any engagement with unions on this. This system was designed for workers who are going to be re-employed relatively quickly. Hopefully in the coming weeks, we will get the first signal of that, because the first cohort of people will be coming to the end of the top payment of 13 weeks. That payment declines as they are no longer employed so to do a full comparison between jobseeker's p…
Carer's benefit is, as the Deputy knows, a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care and attention. It is financed from the Social Insurance Fund. Since January, the scheme has been extended to the self-employed. Recipients of carer's benefit were among the 138,000 carers who received a carer's support grant of €2,000 …
Absolutely. I think in a couple of weeks the Deputy will see a full indication of this Government's ongoing commitment to carers. As he knows, the carer's benefit is subject to an earnings limit of €450 per week after tax. As part of budget 2025, the income limit will increase to €625 with effect from July, which will allow far more carers to avail of carer's benefit. We also extended the flexibility regarding childr…
I have met the carers' forum in the Department. I will continue to use that forum with carers' groups for consultation. I am sure the joint committee will have good input on that, as well as Deputies in this House. We have made changes this year. As I said, carer's benefit was extended to the self-employed as part of budget 2025. At the end of April, we had 139 applications from self-employed people for carer's benef…