We have a serious problem here. I note that the Minister of State mentioned the 13,500 properties that are protected but the Dáil was told the same number of properties were protected in 2023. The fact is that we have not protected a single additional property since. The numbers have not changed in the past couple of years. According to the Government's website, I think 143 or 144 schemes were identified eight years …
TDs / Pearse Doherty
Pearse Doherty
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,436
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
224,644
words spoken in the chamber
Across 1,657 contributions
378
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
236
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 1,436 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 1,657 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 10 | 20 |
| February 2025 | 135 | 57 |
| March 2025 | 93 | 120 |
| April 2025 | 59 | 72 |
| May 2025 | 117 | 111 |
| June 2025 | 79 | 75 |
| July 2025 | 132 | 106 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 89 | 38 |
| October 2025 | 75 | 81 |
| November 2025 | 79 | 163 |
| December 2025 | 51 | 102 |
| January 2026 | 64 | 37 |
| February 2026 | 72 | 98 |
| March 2026 | 53 | 95 |
| April 2026 | 64 | 140 |
| May 2026 | 78 | 75 |
| June 2026 | 67 | 102 |
| July 2026 | 60 | 16 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 39 | 90 |
| October 2026 | 20 | 56 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 1,142 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 Donegal 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
I appreciate what the Minister of State is saying. I also appreciate that the Minister of State was not in office during the eight years I am talking about. However, his Cabinet colleagues were. We lost a lot of time when no schemes were delivered. That is the problem. In 2024, three schemes were supposed to be delivered but none were.
I want to go back to the national flood forecasting and warning service. Less tha…
It has been ten years and we do not have it.
I mí an Mheithimh 2024, scríobh an Tánaiste faoi mholadh cánach do thithe atá ag teastáil ó cheannaitheoirí céaduaire. Dúirt sé nach féidir cur suas leis agus thug sé gealltanas nach dtarlóidh seo arís, ach ar aghaidh go dtí i mbliana 2026 agus ceisteanna curtha air, dheimhnigh sé go raibh 293 teach bulc-cheannaithe díreach anuraidh ag creach-chistí agus tiarnaí talún corparáideacha. An nglacann an Tánaiste leis go b…
The Tánaiste gave a commitment in 2024. He said that the bulk purchasing of these homes by vulture funds should not be tolerated, cannot be tolerated. He is the Minister for Finance. He has not just been tolerating this once or twice. He tolerated it 293 times last year. These were 293 opportunities snapped away by vulture funds from young people who wanted to buy their first home. The Tánaiste stands there and someh…
In all my time in politics I probably only ever saw the anger of the Donegal people as acute as I have seen it in recent days and that was with regard to the handling of defective blocks in the county. There is probably a thread that runs through this. The Minister who refused to come to our county and meet homeowners with defective blocks was the Minister for housing at the time, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is now t…
The Minister of State talked about the airport. Staff at Donegal Airport are ripping about this. They are actually taking legal advice. They told the Department not to enter into the contract. We told the Department not to enter into the contract. I put it to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach. The Minister of State said the Minister for Transport is listening. The Minister just gave a slap in the face to the people of D…
Deputy McDonald raised the issue I am about to raise with the Taoiseach earlier. We have campaigners from Donegal with us who made the journey. The long and the short of it is that the Government entered a contract with Emerald Airlines yesterday. That contract will end afternoon flights to Donegal and Dublin. The Government did that despite that Donegal Airport asked it not to because it was seeking legal opinion. T…
The Government knew about it in October.
What is the Government going to do about it?
The Government is not doing that.
Are you talking to yourself?
The Taoiseach has a half-eye on Deputy Jim O'Callaghan.
Ní réiteach atá sa Bhille seo, ach géilleadh ar ár bhflaitheas. Trí glacadh go hiomlán le comhaontú imirce agus tearmainn an Aontais Eorpaigh, tá neamhaird déanta ag an Rialtas ar fhírinne an tsaoil sa Stát seo, is í sin ná nach bhfuil muid mar chuid den limistéar Schengen; tá Teorann againn leis an dTuaisceart; agus tá comhlimistéar taistil againn leis an mBreatain.
Tá Sinn Féin soiléir gur chóir go ndéanfaí na cin…
156. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to ensure that flood insurance is extended to the approximately 290,000 buildings in the State that have limited or no flood insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10449/26]
This question relates to flood insurance. We have seen floods destroy homes, communities and businesses alike. The Central Bank's figures show that 290,000 buildings in the State are at risk of flooding and that the owners struggle to access flood insurance. Almost 100% of those have either limited cover or no cover at all. This does not even include properties at risk from coastal flooding. What actions is the Gover…
Lack of access to insurance can affect communities and businesses in a very real way. The Minister of State mentioned the Central Bank report. In 2024, it reported as follows: "The occurrence of a severe flood could leave households and businesses with high levels of uninsured losses, impairing economic recovery from a flood event"., It concluded that there is "a serious risk of complacency". Everything the Minister …
The problem is that we have been hearing the same thing for the past ten years regarding task forces, multi-agency groups and the rest. That is all fine. We have to do some of that work to get the results and ideas. However, the Minister of State talks about his plans delivering but ten years on, they have not delivered for these households. Thousands of houses and businesses across the State have no insurance and ar…
158. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the total number of homes and total value of homes that have been bulk purchased each year, and subject to the higher rate of stamp duty, since the higher rate was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10450/26]
This Government, Fine Gael in particular, has a long history of welcoming in the vulture funds to snap up Irish homes. Only because of rightful public anger at vulture funds bulk-purchasing homes a number of years ago under the nose of ordinary workers and families have we seen any pressure put on, and action by, the Government. The Minister committed that this practice would end. Has it ended or is it still going on…
Under review.
The Minister promised us he was going to end this practice. He has just told the House that nearly 300 family homes were bought up by vulture funds last year, and he is going to keep it "under review". Under his watch, the Government is sitting by and allowing vulture funds to buy up family homes, a practice he promised over and over again that he would end. A total of 293 homes that should have been bought by ordina…
The stamp duty measure was introduced back in 2021. Does the Minister know that vulture funds purchased more homes last year than they did in 2021? He said the trend is going down every year. That is not true; the figure actually increased in 2022. The 293 homes purchased are homes that people are queuing for and want to have as their family home, their forever home, and vulture funds are buying them up because they …
160. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will bring forward a cost-of-living package, considering inflation is far higher than projected on budget day, at 2.8%, and given the findings of the ESRI that the budget has resulted in income losses for the average household; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10451/26]
Inflation is 50% higher than what the Government had forecast. It claimed prices were stabilising and that was the basis for the Government pulling the cost-of-living supports in the budget. The ESRI said that the budget resulted in income losses for the average Irish household. Will the Tánaiste accept he got this badly wrong? Will he bring forward a cost-of-living package that so many families desperately require g…