I think the Minister of State is conflating fatigue risk management systems with accounting of hours. Crews would say they are two completely different things. Of course there should be fatigue risk management systems but this is counting one quarter of their hours as rest time. The Minister of State acknowledged in his response that these crew had to remain on base and were ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.…
TDs / David Cullinane
David Cullinane
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,614
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
117,211
words spoken in the chamber
Across 499 contributions
417
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
145
topics asked about
Across 16 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 1,614 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 499 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 22 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 73 | 27 |
| March 2025 | 70 | 92 |
| April 2025 | 121 | 18 |
| May 2025 | 218 | 26 |
| June 2025 | 129 | 16 |
| July 2025 | 174 | 23 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 28 | 9 |
| October 2025 | 75 | 25 |
| November 2025 | 35 | 40 |
| December 2025 | 68 | 16 |
| January 2026 | 72 | 11 |
| February 2026 | 115 | 29 |
| March 2026 | 35 | 42 |
| April 2026 | 85 | 43 |
| May 2026 | 30 | 12 |
| June 2026 | 119 | 15 |
| July 2026 | 67 | 20 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 52 | 10 |
| October 2026 | 26 | 25 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 304 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 Waterford 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I have brought forward a plan for healthcare. I will send it on to you.
30. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the programme plan for his Department’s new disability unit for 2025-2027. [65604/25]
I move amendment No. 1:
In page 3, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:
“Report on profits, rising costs, and potential impact of removal of private practice from public hospitals
3.The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 33:
“Report on profits, rising costs, and potential impact of removal of private care from public hospitals
33A.(1) The Authority shall…
What we were looking for was a report that would look at a number of things. If the Minister looks at what the amendment actually calls for, it is for the preparation and submission of a report from the Minister for Health, having undertaken a review of the current profit rates of health insurance providers. The Minister will have noticed over the past year that most of the private providers have increased their prem…
It will be a long night.
We have seen over the past ten years real improvements in healthcare technology, which are bringing tremendous benefits for patients and real opportunities for more care at home. I am sure Deputy Harris saw some of that when he was Minister for Health, and some of that evolving. However, it has changed and expanded exponentially over the past four or five years. We now see the HSE rolling out virtual wards and virtua…
Maybe next year?
This is an annual Bill that renews the risk equalisation mechanism, which supports the community-based health insurance market. Obviously, I recognise the fact that many people rely on health insurance, so for that reason, we will be supporting the Bill. However, as in previous years, I will be critiquing what I see as a two-tier system and an insurance market system that I fundamentally do not agree with.
Many peop…
Respectfully, the Minister seems to have missed the point of the Bill. He has argued that victims who have reason to fear for their safety following the release of a convicted perpetrator have several legal avenues available to them to seek protection. The problem is that for many victims, those legal protections, as the Minister called them, are simply not fit for purpose because they force the victim to go back to …
75. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the level of new funding to be made available for the national cancer strategy; if she will implement multi-annual funding frameworks in 2026; when a review of the strategy will commence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64612/25]
My first question is in relation to the national cancer strategy. The Minister might be aware the Irish Cancer Society has been raising concerns over the past number of weeks and months in relation to access to diagnostics, staffing shortages across cancer centres and cancer services but also insufficient and inconsistent funding for the national cancer strategy. The Minister might outline to the House, if she can, w…
The Irish Cancer Society was before the Oireachtas health committee a number of weeks ago. It raised very serious concerns in relation to major delays in diagnostics and treatment, particularly in the areas of colonoscopy, breast and prostate clinics, imaging, surgery and radiation therapy. It raised concerns about severe staffing shortages in radiology, cancer nursing and radiation therapy.
I put down a parliamenta…
I fully understand that cancer services go beyond the national cancer strategy. Of course that is the case. Across all of our acute hospitals, cancer services are provided that are outside the remit of the national cancer strategy. That strategy is also important in bringing together stakeholders. It is meant to bring consistency in services and it looks at where gaps are and so on. I had this discussion with the Min…
77. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health her plans to reduce waiting lists for diagnostic scans; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64613/25]
This question relates to diagnostic waiting lists and the number of patients waiting for various forms of diagnostic equipment in hospitals across the State. The numbers are quite high, as I am sure the Minister will see. What are her views and plans for how she will reduce those wait times and the number of people who are waiting for a diagnostic scan?
The most recent figures are that almost 300,000 people are on a waiting list for a diagnostic scan. Over 77,000 of those have been waiting more than a year and over 46,000 have been waiting more than 18 months. That is far in excess of any Sláintecare targets. I gave examples earlier of CT scanners and other diagnostic equipment that is not being fully utilised, partly because we do not have the staff. I agree with t…
I took an active interest in the area of diagnostics after my mother passed. She went for a check in an emergency department and was told she would have to wait for possibly 12 to 18 months for a CT scan. We had the money to send her privately. She had that scan done in a matter of weeks, was diagnosed with cancer and, unfortunately, within a year had passed away. I know how important it is for people to get that tim…
I do not think the Minister of State or the Government get it at all. People outside this building wonder whether they live in a bubble and whether they have any understanding of what it is like for ordinary families. The Government initiated these statements on the issues and rising costs affecting the haulage industry when the Government is responsible for those same rising costs. What is ironic and a real slap in …
In 2017, the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, made a promise to children with scoliosis and spina bifida that long waiting lists would essentially end and that children would no longer wait in pain, deteriorate or lose the chance of life-changing and, in some cases, life-saving intervention. He promised that no child would be left waiting longer than four months for surgery. Since then, as we know, countless children have suf…
I will not hold the Minister up on this. I would say we will get through this very quickly. It is a technical amendment and the Minister is right. It is the only section of the Bill that has not been commenced, but obviously it is an important section. As the Minister said, it gives the chief inspector the discretionary powers to commission an investigation, and that is an important part of the Bill we had passed.
W…
We are into next year, I take it.
It is very controversial.
On the issue of voluntary hospitals, as the Minister has raised it, I raised this issue with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, when he appeared before the health committee last week, as well as with Derek Tierney, the assistant secretary in the Department of Health. I have seen media reports of attempts to make sure the voluntary hospitals play ball in relation to the integrated financial service management system…
I have a final point on this issue. I do not want to hold up the discussion on the Bill itself. I have read media reports between tensions between the Minister and some of voluntary hospitals. I do not want to get into that because I do not know the accuracy of it and I am not really that interested in it, in any event. The only interest I have is that the voluntary hospitals are fully compliant, play ball and implem…