I welcome the recent announcement of funding of €339 million for craft apprenticeships for 2025. It is my understanding that this funding will be used to support the expansion of training places, the recruitment and retention of instructors, and the provision of more places, especially in trades needed for housing infrastructure, including, as the Minister of State said, plumbers and electricians. The recent document…
TDs / Michael Collins
Michael Collins
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
326
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
214,846
words spoken in the chamber
Across 610 contributions
370
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
93
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 326 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 610 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 7 | 5 |
| February 2025 | 16 | 31 |
| March 2025 | 9 | 37 |
| April 2025 | 3 | 28 |
| May 2025 | 27 | 36 |
| June 2025 | 6 | 29 |
| July 2025 | 12 | 25 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 18 | 23 |
| October 2025 | 10 | 28 |
| November 2025 | 5 | 44 |
| December 2025 | 18 | 33 |
| January 2026 | 35 | 54 |
| February 2026 | 25 | 37 |
| March 2026 | 2 | 33 |
| April 2026 | 76 | 54 |
| May 2026 | 29 | 29 |
| June 2026 | 12 | 31 |
| July 2026 | 3 | 15 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 3 | 14 |
| October 2026 | 10 | 21 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 264 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 Independent Ireland 29 November 2024 to now
We are depending on migrant workers to build these houses. These workers have come from Poland, Latvia, Moldova, Bolivia, South Africa and other places across the world. As I said, there are 300,000 new homes needed by 2030 and there are 170,000 people working in construction, but 30,000 to 40,000 is a lot of people to be found between now and 2030. All these workers need to be trained. How many years will it take to…
Today, I speak on behalf of Vera Twomey and her late daughter, Ava Barry. This is a story that embodies the courage of Irish families and the urgent need for compassionate healthcare reform. Ava suffered from Dravet syndrome and endured up to 500 seizures per month. When conventional treatments failed, Vera fought tirelessly for access to medicinal cannabis. She walked from Cork to Leinster House on two occasions, be…
I thank the Minister of State for being here with us today to discuss a very important matter for the constituency of Cork South West, namely, the many areas of flooding and, in particular, the Bantry, Ballylickey and Ballinascarthy flood relief schemes. This morning, I was talking to somebody from Bantry. They said that in 1983, 42 years ago, they had to sit in a shop with their legs up in the air to avoid the flood…
I thank the Minister of State for the reply but the problem here is that the can is being kicked down the road in relation to the Bantry flood scheme. It looks to me as if the Minister of State in charge of the OPW, whoever it may be, will be heading down to Bantry for the next six or seven years. I will be giving the same spin below, telling businesses that I am very sorry but we will have to wait for the next flood…
I am in full support of this vital motion to reform the defective concrete redress scheme. Families across Ireland are living in homes that are crumbling around them - unsafe, uninsurable and unfit for human habitation. The current scheme is failing them. The appeals are delayed for years. Partial repairs are unsafe, and the financial burden is crushing. These families did nothing wrong, yet they are being taxed twic…
I have raised the proposed mussel farm in Kinsale with the Taoiseach before. This proposal, which will cover a vast area of sea, will have huge negative consequences for tourism, watersports and fishermen in the area. The guidelines must be changed. When I raised the Kinsale issue and formally called for change, my request was refused by the Minister, Michael Creed, at the time. The guidelines must be changed. This K…
I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Gillian and Stephen on the heartbreaking loss of their son Harvey. Harvey's story has touched the hearts of people throughout Ireland. He was a bright, brave young boy who endured immeasurable pain while waiting for care he desperately needed. No parent should have to fight for years to secure surgery for their child. No child should be removed from a waiting list witho…
I have been requesting statements on tillage for the past few weeks. I acknowledge the Chief Whip for her help in making sure we got a chance to speak on behalf of Ireland's tillage farmers. It is an essential yet increasingly vulnerable part of our agricultural landscape. The tillage sector is in crisis. For the third consecutive year, farmers are facing financial losses. Despite their resilience and commitment to s…
I called last week at the Business Committee for an urgent debate on the fishing crisis in this country and the recent proposals. The International Energy Agency has found that retail energy prices in Ireland are three times higher than the wholesale prices. Irish households are basically paying the highest electricity prices in Europe, leaving energy providers laughing all the way to the bank as householders are lef…
Independent Ireland welcomes this Bill. It is a short and narrow Bill but it will be an important one if it keeps the wheel turning for social and affordable housing. Independent Ireland will always support a measure that lets councils and housing bodies keep building but, let us be honest, this is a technical fix, not a housing plan.
What is the Minister of State's plan? Today, I do not see anything different from …
I have another minute. Good.
Men and women are trying to get a start in life but are being refused in their first steps. It is nothing short of scandalous and the reasons for the refusals leave me scratching the back of my head. To my sincere embarrassment, I can look at a site and see holiday homes at sky level behind the site where the house is proposed to be built and they are being refused because the new house …
I do not want to stand up and criticise everything. Independent Ireland and I have called for a VAT reduction from 13.5% to 9%. That reduction has arrived, which is a good news story. I am astonished to hear the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and People Before Profit continuously dismiss this as a non-event. I am not going to do that. They are on about the fast food industry, but most of the fast food businesses …
One of my constituents after seeing the budget today sent me this message: "Work, work, work, and at the end of the year you are back to where you started." After budget 2026 has been unveiled, many working families across the country are asking a simple question: where is the relief for us? Despite rising wages, soaring rents and relentless inflation, the Government has chosen not to adjust income tax bands. This de…
I have both statements and questions. To start with, I just spoke to Councillor Ger Curley who is an Independent councillor. The worries and concerns of the people of Cobh are for Paddy O'Donovan and the other Irish citizens who have been detained. There are serious concerns in Cobh in regard to Paddy O'Donovan, including among his family. I hope that we convey those concerns to the relevant people. On Tuesday, durin…
As I said, given our own experience in the Famine, where food was exported while our people starved, does the Tánaiste agree that Ireland carries a special moral duty to stand against the use of hunger as a weapon?
In my final 20 seconds, I will ask the remainder my questions together and see how I get on. What concrete actions will Ireland as a neutral country take at the UN and in the EU, and bilaterally, to insist on safe passage for humanitarian supplies and to hold to account those responsible for the blockage? Will the Tánaiste assure the House that Ireland as a neutral country will not be silent or complicit but will use…
I welcome the Government's new community pharmacy agreement but, to be very clear, our independent pharmacists and communities have waited far too long for this kind of recognition. This agreement has good intentions but we in the Independent Ireland Party will not stand by and let it become another glossy plan that gathers dust while patients and pharmacists on the ground continue to struggle.
There are positives. …
On 21 May this year, Independent Ireland put forward a motion, part of which called for the abolish the means test for carers. The Government said it would not oppose the motion. Budget 2026 is here next week so let us see if the Government puts its money where its mouth is. Family carers save the Irish State over €20 billion every year by providing 19 million hours of unpaid care each week. That is not just a contri…
West Cork is home to some of Ireland's most extraordinary sporting talent, from the Olympic gold of Paul and Gary O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in Skibbereen to the blistering speed of Phil Healy from Ballineen. Our athletes continue to inspire the nation. We have seen Nicola Tuthill from Kilbrittain rise as one of Ireland's brightest stars in the hammer throw, breaking records and representing us on the world stage.…
As we near the budget announcement next week, there is no doubt about the demands on the Government with the cost-of-living crisis, with families and the elderly severely squeezed financially at this time. Tillage and dairy farmers are under enormous pressure. Independent Ireland has also called for the abolition of the carer's means test.
One thing Independent Ireland has called for in the past two years is to brin…
I thank the Taoiseach. As he will know from his holidays in west Cork or elsewhere, when there is a huge influx of people, there is a bonus from that but the problem is that the bonus does not last. If you go past a café today, there might be two or three people sitting outside it. It is during the busier times that they make their little bit of profit. The proof is in the experience of the business person I mentione…
At the meeting of the Business Committee last Thursday, I asked that the Minister for agriculture come before the Dáil on the grain crisis in this country at present and the sensational drop in milk prices, which is putting some farmers under serious pressure. I also ask that the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries comes to the House for statements on the struggling inshore fishermen and developments …
After 27 years of frustration, Uisce Éireann is finally being held accountable following a case brought by the EPA. The organisation was found guilty on both charges for breaches of its wastewater licence at Shannonvale Park, Clonakilty yesterday and fined €4,000. This is a major step forward. It recognises the environmental damages done to Shannonvale Park and to the River Argideen to Clonakilty, a vital local water…
Today we are speaking about the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian led humanitarian mission currently en route to Gaza. The flotilla, made up of vessels from over 40 countries, is carrying medical supplies, food and essential aid to a population facing catastrophic conditions. This is not a political statement; this is a humanitarian one. The people involved are doctors, nurses and aid workers. Their cargo is not weap…