-----that Deputy Cullinane sniggered at this issue, which is very real in Clare. Let the Sinn Féin voters in Clare know about this.
TDs / Cathal Crowe
Cathal Crowe
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1,151
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
50,384
words spoken in the chamber
Across 201 contributions. Plus 78 contributions from the chair, not counted
398
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
275
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 1,151 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 | 12 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 78 | 12 |
| March 2025 | 44 | 4 |
| April 2025 | 59 | 18 |
| May 2025 | 71 | 16 |
| June 2025 | 42 | 3 |
| July 2025 | 77 | 14 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 62 | 7 |
| October 2025 | 27 | 20 |
| November 2025 | 86 | 13 |
| December 2025 | 80 | 22 |
| January 2026 | 99 | 11 |
| February 2026 | 67 | 12 |
| March 2026 | 76 | 7 |
| April 2026 | 38 | 11 |
| May 2026 | 54 | 16 |
| June 2026 | 44 | 2 |
| July 2026 | 51 | 1 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 57 | 4 |
| October 2026 | 27 | 7 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 99 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 Clare 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
The American poet Maya Angelou famously coined the phrase, "You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been". The Israeli cabinet either does not know or reflect on their collective history. There is certainly a sense of some selective amnesia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s father-in-law was the sole survivor of his family following the Holocaust. Both parents of the Israeli ministe…
Miriam Lord once described sport as the greatest of all Ministries because you get to tour every parish in the country and see best practice. In the last two rounds of sports capital funding, certainly in my own county - I think it is probably the same around the country - every group that had a decent application put together properly got funding of some sort or the other. It is transformative. As other speakers hav…
My question is to the Taoiseach and the Minister, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. Last year, here in the Dáil Chamber and at the Oireachtas health committee, I led calls for an independent review into the access to emergency care in the mid-west region. That review, led by HIQA, has concluded. A whole host of recommendations are before the Government now. One of the key ones is that there is a need for short-term beds to …
I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate. The auto-enrolment scheme is very important. It will mean that Ireland will not longer be a laggard in the European Union. As Deputy Ó Cearúil said, many other countries have brought this in, some as far back as a decade ago. We are catching up. The introduction of this in the new year will see hundreds of thousands of people who are not on pension plans now being…
This is a very important debate. Like other speakers, it needs to be acknowledged on the record of the Dáil that it was Fianna Fáil in government that brought in the world's first ever national ban on smoking in the workplace. It was ahead of its time and many other countries have followed suit since. This debate is very timely. I wrote to the Department of Health recently. Like many Deputies, I get emails about many…
I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I join with the Taoiseach and other speakers in congratulating Deputies Cairns and Higgins. It is good to be back here again.
With the population continuing to grow and the pressure on all forms of public transport increasing, it should be no surprise to anyone that the 2007 planning condition imposed on the Dublin Airport Authority that it could only cater for 32 million passengers per …
I am very much a Shannon advocate.
The Taoiseach knows that Shannon Airport is a huge political issue in the mid-west, not just in County Clare. I am chair of the Oireachtas Shannon Airport group, which has 22 members from Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann from the rank of Minister, Opposition Member and Senator across all parties. We meet quite regularly to focus on policies that will strengthen the airport because we recognise that when the Ryder Cup …
Hear, hear.
I echo what others have said here. In Ennis and Clarecastle in County Clare, even though the sewage treatment system is modern and new, it is already close to capacity. If we want to reach these housing targets, the first thing that needs to be done is to upgrade all of that network underground. The public will not see it and we might not get great praise or thanks for it, but it is crucial and is the key enabler. I …
14. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will provide an overview of OPW drainage, flood protection and coastal erosion defence works that are planned to be undertaken in County Clare in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39855/25]
I thank the Minister of State for taking this question. I would like to know what plans the OPW has for drainage, flood protection and coastal erosion defences in County Clare this year.
I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of positive stuff happening in the county. I will bring the Minister of State back a bit to the Arterial Drainage Act 1945. Neither of us was around at that time but some guru decided that different watercourses would be divvied up between the Board of Works, now the OPW, and local authorities. The River Inagh in north Clare comes under the jurisdiction of Clare County Co…
Before the Minister of State was appointed, his name was synonymous with communities fighting back against flooding. He has done stellar work in and out of politics on that. For many people in these areas, insurance is still impossible to get. The term "risk equalisation" is used when applying for health insurance. It means that all people of all ages pay a little bit of a premium so that risk is balanced across olde…
I echo the points made by Deputy McGrath. The EU procurement rules are rather outdated. A lot of the regulation that is stifling what this country is able to do is not domestic but comes from an EU treaty. The time has come for us to be able to procure beyond the EU 27 bloc for very large projects, such as hospitals, large road projects and rail. It has repeatedly happened that projects we pitch a certain amount of m…
I thank the Taoiseach for taking this question. In the last few days of the school year, Gareth Heagney, the principal of Sixmilebridge national school in County Clare sent a letter out to parents. The school has around 400 pupils, so is quite a large school, and for the last few years it has only had three SNAs even though the children in the school have needs that far exceed that allocation. Indeed, children who wi…
I also wish to speak in support of this Bill. I will take up from where Deputy Roche left off. We all acknowledge the huge efforts of our front-line workers in every part of the country, and the Deputy is right to pay tribute to them. They work damn hard. Conditions for them all are not great. I have been in hospital myself in the past as a patient and visiting people. One would often see nurses having their lunch at…
It is not just the Department of Health; it is also the Department of Transport. If we table parliamentary questions to that Department, they are forwarded to the National Transport Authority or Transport Infrastructure Ireland. A large number of agencies have been set up over many decades. The all-important stuff we try to do as TDs gets siphoned off in different directions, and it can sometimes take months to recei…
Sorry, it is not on the Minister’s desk yet. I apologise. The report to the Minister is imminent and the Cabinet will have to consider it. The report is on emergency healthcare access in the mid-west region. From replies to parliamentary questions that I and others have tabled, I know that initially HIQA was supposed to report to the Minister and then to Cabinet. Now, however, she has rightly asked it to factor in th…
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Fianna Fáil is very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Back in 1993, it was then Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who led the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It is hard to believe that at that time, it was still illegal. I was someone born in 1982 and throughout my secondary school years, the standard insult in primary and secondary schoolyard was to…
Tá Roghchoiste na Gaeilge, na Gaeltachta agus Phobal Labhartha na Gaeilge tar éis a bhreithniú a chríochnú ar na Meastacháin Athbhreithnithe seo a leanas i gcomhair seirbhísí poiblí le haghaidh sheirbhís na bliana dar críoch an 31 Nollaig 2025: Vóta 42 - An Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail, agus Gaeltachta, clár D - an Ghaeltacht.
I travelled with the Deputy on the train recently and we had a good sing-song. It was a very memorable trip.
We will finish this segment with a statement from the Minister. Deich nóiméad le do thoil.
I thank the Minister of State very much. I thank Members.
The Select Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimate for public services for the service of the year ending on 31 December 2025: Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
The Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach has com…