I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Minister for Defence is at the annual PDFORRA delegate conference today.
Bringing the Defence Forces within the remit of the Organisation of Working Time Act has been a key issue for the Defence Forces representative associations for a number of years. The inclusion of the Defence Forces under the Organisation of Working Time Act required careful consideratio…
TDs / Niall Collins
Niall Collins
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
223
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
63,958
words spoken in the chamber
63,945 as a minister, 13 as a TD
351
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
87
topics asked about
Across 17 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 223 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 201 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 14 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 13 | 7 |
| March 2025 | 10 | 7 |
| April 2025 | 16 | 2 |
| May 2025 | 11 | 7 |
| June 2025 | 12 | 3 |
| July 2025 | 13 | 40 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 10 | 13 |
| October 2025 | 11 | 27 |
| November 2025 | 14 | 8 |
| December 2025 | 9 | 4 |
| January 2026 | 6 | 8 |
| February 2026 | 15 | 5 |
| March 2026 | 16 | 7 |
| April 2026 | 4 | 8 |
| May 2026 | 11 | 20 |
| June 2026 | 16 | 0 |
| July 2026 | 8 | 21 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 10 | 1 |
| October 2026 | 4 | 13 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 146 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 Limerick County 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Justice 29 January 2025 to 4 June 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration 5 June 2025 to 28 May 2026
- office Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine 28 May 2026 to now
I thank the Deputy for raising the issues he has raised. I am sure the Minister, Chief of Staff and management of the Defence Forces are following this discussion very closely. Any of the outstanding issues which the Deputy has raised and indeed any of the issues which will be raised at today's delegate conference will receive maximum attention over the coming weeks and months.
I will.
As my colleague the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has done, I too acknowledge the women and families who have had heartbreaking personal circumstances in pregnancy and who have been the motivation behind this Bill. There are, of course, many perspectives involved in the issue of termination of pregnancy services. As legislators, it is important that we facilitate open and frank discussion and consideration of is…
I thank the Deputies for their contributions and for their very useful comments during this debate on the National Safety Camera Strategy and the important topic of road safety more generally. Road safety is a matter which affects all of us, and every member of the public is entitled to feel safe on our roads. Far too many families and communities across the country continue to be affected by the devastating impact o…
I thank the Deputy for his amendments. Amendment No. 1 seeks to substitute section 5(2) of the Bill and, in doing so, seeks to provide that the chairman of the inquiry would, instead of specifying the questions he wishes to have asked of an officeholder or former officeholder, specify, “the topics, areas of inquiry, or matters on which the Chairman requests that evidence be taken". I note that the Deputy has not put …
I thank the Deputy for these amendments. As we understand it, the intent of the amendments to section 5(4) of the Bill is to narrow the circumstances in which the head of the State body is required to refuse to accede to a request for assistance for reasons linked to the sovereignty or security of the State or other essential interests of the State.
We do not believe that this amendment achieves that. Rather, it wou…
I thank the Deputy for his amendments. As I understand the Deputy’s proposed amendment to section 5(5) and its equivalent in section 6(5), he is seeking to introduce a form of compulsion for former officeholders, be they past members of An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces or the Civil Service or former ministerial officeholders, to give evidence before the High Court. This would be subject to the person concerned h…
The Deputy is seeking to insert a new section after section 5 of the Bill providing for the taking of written witness statements from officeholders and former officeholders. The statements would be provided to the designated person, who would in turn provide them to the chairman of the inquiry. If the chairman is satisfied with the contents, he may decide that he does not require the person concerned to give oral evi…
I touched on the difficulties with amendment No. 20 in my remarks on amendment No. 1. As it is linked to the change proposed to section 5(2), which has not been accepted, I cannot accept this amendment. This also applies to amendment No. 21. The amendment to substitute section 9 would fundamentally alter the bespoke legal mechanism being provided for in the Bill, which is designed to enable the taking of oral evidenc…
The amendment would insert a new subsection in section 11 after subsection (4) dealing with the rights of core participants to the inquiry. The core participants are largely family members and have a formal status before the inquiry with rights to receive documents and make submissions to the chairman. There are 62 core participants, of whom 58 comprise families or groups of families represented by a range of legal f…
The Deputy is seeking to insert a new subsection in section 11, after subsection (4), dealing with the right of the chairman and counsel to the inquiry to make submissions or representations to the nominated judge concerning the scope, relevance and permissible extent of questioning under sections 9 and 10. It appears to extend to the questions that might be put by the nominated judge, core participants or their lega…
The Deputy's amendment seeks to limit the grounds on which a designated person may refuse to answer a question asked by or on behalf of the chairman of the inquiry under subsection (10). The amendment is drafted on the basis that many of the Deputy's earlier amendments have been accepted and is therefore not amenable to being accepted for that reason alone.
Providing, as section 11(5)(b) of the Bill does, that the w…
I thank the Deputies for their productive engagement during today's debate. I will convey the many assurances of support for the passing of this Bill to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. My belief and that of the Government is that we must do all we can to assist the inquiry so that its investigation into the fundamental question of whether the bombing could reasonably have been prevented is as comprehensive as possi…
I move:
That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration pursuant to Standing Orders 103(2)(b) and 188(1).
The Government is committed to the principle that everyone, wherever they live in Ireland, should be able to feel safe. Building safe and secure communities by investing in An Garda Síochána is a top priority for the Government. However, the introduction of local community safety partnerships around the country represents a new and more collaborative approach to community safety. They are an important step towards a …
Budget 2026 provided €8 million for the National Office for Community Safety. That funding will support the functions of the office, which is developing a national strategy for improving community safety. Each safety partnership is supported by a dedicated community safety co-ordinator and an administrator. Both of these permanent positions are funded by the Department of justice and hosted within each local authorit…
As I said, a safety co-ordinator and an administrator have been funded. Equally, many of the main participants on the new safety partnerships are State agencies that are also very adequately funded, such as An Garda Síochána, Tusla, the HSE and local authorities. The whole idea of these partnerships is to bring people together, along with community representatives, to make sure the priorities, needs, demands and asks…
I thank the Deputy for outlining the litany of issues he has endured. I hope this reply will be of benefit to him.
The primary purpose of vetting carried out by the Garda National Vetting Bureau is to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Clearly, this requires a robust vetting process that reassures the public and, in particular, parents that appropriate checks are conducted on people taking up posit…
The current system used by An Garda Síochána is delivered in a standard format to all organisations seeking vetting. This approach aligns with good international practice. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda National Vetting Bureau's target turnaround time for vetting applications submitted by organisations utilising the e-vetting system is five to ten working days for over 85% of the vetting applic…
I thank Deputies Neville and Farrelly for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. I welcome the opportunity to provide details of the interaction the Department of Education and Youth has had with St. Patrick's Primary School Celbridge in relation to the emergency works scheme and to provide an update on its capital project.
As the Deputies will be aware, the purpose…
I reiterate that the Minister for education and the officials in her Department are fully aware of the issues raised and will continue to proactively work with the school, pending the delivery of its permanent accommodation solution. The new building project is currently at stage 2A of the architectural design process and the Department of Education and Youth currently awaits the submission of the stage 2A report.
I…
I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this important issue. Addressing educational disadvantage is a key priority for the Government, for me and, obviously, for the Minister for Education and Youth. The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative for addressing concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. DEIS supplements universal supports by targeting additional resources to schools where disadvantage is most…
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and giving us the opportunity to discuss it. The Department of Education and Youth is committed to supporting a high quality and inclusive school system that provides an equal opportunity for success for all children. DEIS remains central to that commitment and the forthcoming DEIS strategy will ensure that supports are targeted fairly and reflect the evolving needs of our sch…
It was a split decision as well.