I wish to register an objection to the way things were done last week. Now we are into the situation where we have Michael Lowry sitting very lonely on his own-----
TDs / Ruth Coppinger
Ruth Coppinger
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
938
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
164,714
words spoken in the chamber
Across 1,017 contributions
371
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
239
topics asked about
Across 19 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 938 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 1,017 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 5 |
| January 2025 | 4 | 2 |
| February 2025 | 40 | 62 |
| March 2025 | 32 | 55 |
| April 2025 | 59 | 51 |
| May 2025 | 42 | 68 |
| June 2025 | 33 | 69 |
| July 2025 | 48 | 63 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 81 | 26 |
| October 2025 | 26 | 79 |
| November 2025 | 81 | 42 |
| December 2025 | 16 | 58 |
| January 2026 | 64 | 66 |
| February 2026 | 64 | 99 |
| March 2026 | 66 | 46 |
| April 2026 | 79 | 48 |
| May 2026 | 53 | 50 |
| June 2026 | 51 | 60 |
| July 2026 | 26 | 32 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 53 | 20 |
| October 2026 | 20 | 15 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 687 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 Dublin West 29 November 2024 to now
- party People Before Profit-Solidarity 29 November 2024 to now
His companion has had to move right up into the corner to disassociate from the absolutely abysmal reputation that the Taoiseach has decided to bring-----
----- this Government into. This is the first time we will have the cordoning off of time purely for pro-Government TDs to speak, not to be accountable to the Opposition in any way this week. I absolutely do not agree.
19. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach how he intends to increase the co-ordination role of his Department in national security; and when the new national security committee will be established. [13704/25]
Disgraceful.
The national security of our country is being breached by increased requests for weapons flight exemptions. However, it seems that mothers are the biggest threat to security judging by the actions yesterday. I, too, want to put on the record the utterly outrageous treatment of mothers who gave up Mother's Day to peacefully hold a vigil. I was actually going to attend it myself. They had pictures of children who have …
Why did this happen at a very peaceful vigil, with displays marking a memorial, in effect, for the people who have been killed in Palestine? These women are nothing but peace-loving. I know many of them personally; one or two live in my constituency.
If I could just say this, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle: why did the gardaí ask the women why they were supporting Hamas? Obviously, they are not supporting Hamas by objecting to a genocide. Why did the gardaí also ask: "What do you think would happen to you if you were outside the White House right now?" Is this an international policing memo that is being sent, emanating from the likes of Germany and the White House?
Is this coming to Ireland as well?
I would like the Taoiseach to object to the way those women were treated.
It was not necessary to do that.
Will the Taoiseach go back to the actual protest he was asked about?
What about the Mother's Day protestors who were strip-searched?
There has been a halving of Taoiseach's Questions, a halving of the Order of Business and extra time for a special group, the Michael Lowry group. I remind the House that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste took the decision to ram through last week's discussion without debate. Michael Lowry, a taker of bribes and of workers' money, is welcomed back into government. Let us be clear as to what the deal was. Fianna Fáil and…
They control the agenda-----
-----so they should give it up with the "get on with the work".
Because you did not put that on the agenda.
What about your part in it?
I am sharing time with Deputies Boyd Barrett and O'Gorman.
I, too, took a huge interest in this Bill when I saw it come up because of people I know who have been in this situation.
I am delighted that there will be a change whereby cohabitees will now be considered equal to people who are married because they feel the exact same impact from a bereavement. I really welcome that. We need to see other changes along th…
I will finish by saying that there is no way in which this can go through as it currently stands.
I will just finish by saying that this cannot go through as it currently stands because it is discriminatory. I ask the Minister to look at it again. I believe it will be legally challenged. When we bring forward Bills, the Government often says that they will be legally challenged because they are unconstitutional. This Bill goes against the judgment that brought it about in the first place. It is incomprehensible.
…
Today in my Leaders’ Questions, I wanted to raise the absolutely desperate situation in Palestine, the Government’s failure to even meet the UN special rapporteur in Leinster House last week and issues such as the special needs crisis, the health workers and so many other issues but today we have to come back to this again because of what happened yesterday.
Comments have been made about the unpleasantness of the pr…
It strikes me that the Ceann Comhairle is a woman who knows her own mind and took a decision yesterday, unfortunately, to co-operate with what was a very co-ordinated move not to allow Order of Business properly, to jettison Questions on Promised Legislation and so on. However, I want to move the focus back on the Taoiseach because he knew that these proposals were opposed by the Opposition and he took a decision to …
Is it the Lowry lackies, the Government, or people who actually care about the Palestine solidarity movement? That is who. Who is more likely to really interrogate the Government on a whole range of issues?
This is the Government preparing itself for unpopular decisions that it will have to take on water charges, cost of living, the triple lock, militarisation but today and next Wednesday, instead of Taoiseach’s que…
He is saying we are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is about him cutting the Opposition’s rights and entitlements to interrogate him.