Before we move on to Deputy Gogarty, has Deputy O'Flynn moved his amendment?
TDs / Sorca Clarke
Sorca Clarke
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1,743
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
42,297
words spoken in the chamber
Across 205 contributions. Plus 82 contributions from the chair, not counted
380
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
256
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 1,743 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 205 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 99 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 56 | 12 |
| March 2025 | 46 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 48 | 4 |
| May 2025 | 49 | 4 |
| June 2025 | 70 | 70 |
| July 2025 | 176 | 19 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 130 | 3 |
| October 2025 | 62 | 7 |
| November 2025 | 94 | 1 |
| December 2025 | 136 | 0 |
| January 2026 | 92 | 4 |
| February 2026 | 85 | 7 |
| March 2026 | 92 | 9 |
| April 2026 | 98 | 16 |
| May 2026 | 54 | 6 |
| June 2026 | 197 | 16 |
| July 2026 | 57 | 8 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 50 | 5 |
| October 2026 | 52 | 13 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 75 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 Longford-Westmeath 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
Yes.
Far too many lives have been lost or destroyed due to drug-related intimidation and it is my firmly-held belief that each and every one of those deaths should have been a watershed moment. Across counties Longford and Westmeath, I see individuals and communities being absolutely terrorised. There is no other way of describing it. Our Circuit Court in Mullingar recently heard of teenagers trapped in drug debt. They we…
We will move on to Question No. 133. Deputy Burke, you will not get the opportunity for supplementary questions, but you can certainly ask your question and have the first-round response from the Minister of State.
9. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the assurances he can give rural communities regarding the future of the LEADER programme, including its funding levels, allocation timelines and long-term security. [72921/26]
93. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to restore the Mullingar diabetic day centre. [72024/26]
The adult diabetes service day centre in Regional Hospital Mullingar has been suspended since the beginning of October because of unfilled specialist nursing and dietician posts. Patients have lost access to that specialist support, education and insulin pump training. The staffing crisis was known about well before the beginning of the October, before the service was forced to close, because the dietician actually l…
That will be very cold comfort to the service users who are there at the moment. I do not know if the Minister saw the Westmeath Examiner this week but it makes for really difficult reading. A member of the Westmeath branch of Diabetes Ireland is quoted as stating:
I was just sickened when I heard, and thought about the work we put in as a committee, the money we pumped in doing fundraisers over the years ... If I k…
The Minister indicated that consultant outpatient appointments will continue and that is obviously to be welcomed. However, that is not a replacement for that specialist, nurse-led service that was provided already through the clinic that is there. The HSE has also confirmed those clinics cannot accept new consultant-led diabetes referrals during the suspensions. That is actually quite frightening for services that a…
Quickly.
I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Gould. I ask the Minister to report on the potential closure of the DOMINO scheme in CUMH. I am conscious she gave quite a detailed reply to Deputy Rice earlier.
There is something peculiar going on here. I do not live in Cork so I do not have first hand experience of that scheme. I am a big fan of community midwife care, but I know because I have told that midwives who want to work on that scheme have contacted Deputy Gould. They applied but were told the roles were not being filled. There is a peculiarity going on here. It sounds like an administrative issue that needs to b…
The Minister spoke about recruitment into the wider region and the more professionals we have in our health service the better for delivery of services. However, the question that immediately comes to my mind is whether they are being recruited into this service because that does not seem to be the experience of mums there. There is a lady in Cork who is on her third pregnancy. Her first two were through the domino s…
Was it into that service?
I welcome today's statements ahead of World Mental Health Day this weekend. I acknowledge everyone who is struggling with their mental health, be that quietly or in crisis. I want them to know that they are not alone. I want to also remember those who have lost their lives to suicide and every family left carrying that grief. We stand with them and they are in our thoughts today. I also thank the professionals, advoc…
I join with the Ceann Comhairle in welcoming our guests. It is wonderful to have such young interest in politics and I hope many of them will come back to join us at a later date. I was fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed each of my four children and I was also fortunate enough to be in a position to donate milk to the human milk bank in Fermanagh, so I come to this discussion with some personal experience of b…
The Minister has left me somewhat astonished by how the Government has managed to spend so much money yet achieve so little for hard-working families across the State. It really is something to behold. When the Minister made a commitment in the run-up to the last budget to reduce childcare costs to €200 a month, that was our plan and the Government was welcome to take it and more than welcome to implement it, but it …
I want the Minister of State to come to Longford-Westmeath and meet the families who have been looking at empty oil tanks for months, hoping against hope the Government would move as prices got higher and higher. The Minister of State has the gall to ask them to hope a little more and to hold on a little longer so that the Government might just get a notion of doing something in the budget. That is not good enough. F…
That concludes Question Time. Before I move on, I just want to say a special welcome to Deputy Butterly's guests, the Louth women's and ladies GAA team, staff and management. I congratulate them on the semi-final. Have I got that right?
Well done to them on getting there.
I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case:
Deputy John Connolly - To discuss the proposed expansion of the TFI bike rental scheme in Galway city.
Deputy Conor Sheehan - To discuss the funding of CCTV schemes for Limerick city.
Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan - To discuss lack of resources and staffing issu…
Recent ESRI research shows that child poverty has risen sharply. After housing costs, some 260,000 children are living below the poverty line. I want the Taoiseach to picture a classroom with 30 children and I want him to imagine seven of those kids. That is the equivalent proportion of children who are now living below the poverty line in this State. It would take 5,000 52-seater buses to fit all of those kids. That…
I did not mention DEIS.
No, I was not.
There are many aspects to this debate that I find deeply concerning but there is one that really irks me. Neutrality does not mean being defenceless, a fact that this and previous Governments have deliberately blurred. The triple block is about circumstances where Defence Forces personnel can be deployed overseas: UN mandate, Government decision and Dáil approval for significant deployments. It does not stop Ireland …