We have overruns over and over again. The fact the contingency fund of €1 billion is so large is an acknowledgement that the two Ministers have put up the white flag and said it is now a feature of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that overruns are out of control and we cannot curtail them, so let us put a wee pot of €1 billion there to deal with these overruns in the future.
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
During the year, spending runs out of control and the Government acts like it is normal. There are billions more spent but no more houses built. There are overruns and overruns but no improvement in services. There is a breakdown in financial management in this State, from the hundreds of thousands of euro on bike sheds to the tens of millions spent renting empty offices to the billions of euro on the national childr…
You should be red with embarrassment instead of trying to heckle me across the Chamber.
Another election promise broken. You have been involved in government for about 16 years and you have made a balls of it, I agree. Just like childcare, you have copied Sinn Féin's plan to abolish the means test for carers. Again, you are welcome to that policy, but let us get it implemented. What Government has done in this budget would mean it would take it more than a decade to abolish the means test for carers in …
-----because soaring house prices and rip-off rents are hard-wired into Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's housing plan. It is not a bug in the system; it is a feature. Incompetence alone does not explain the housing crisis. It is not by accident that we are in this situation; it is by design. Over a decade into this housing crisis, and we have politicians in government wringing their hands, saying that they are doing all t…
Gabh mo leithscéal?
An raibh an Taoiseach ar na sráideanna nuair a tháinig na mílte daoine agus 130 eagraíocht Ghaeltachta amach le rá go bhfuil €55 milliún sa bhreis de dhíth orthu don Ghaeltacht? Tá an Rialtas ag déanamh neamhaird agus damáiste don Ghaeltacht arís agus arís eile agus sin fírinne an scéil.
This budget is going to come and go like the rest of them. Nothing I have heard here gives me hope that the crisis we face will be…
Answer the question.
Is it good value for money?
Some €100,000.
I could build you a bike shed for a lot cheaper than that. Some €100,000 - it is mental.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn is asking for clarification.
That is not on.
A Cheann Comhairle, the arrangements are not agreed.
You did not ask for a vote.
We are talking about people who may be attacked in the next while. All we are asking for is a bit of flexibility.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— the Government have failed to end the rip-off when it comes to insurance costs;
— the increasing cost of motor insurance is putting many people under severe pressure in a cost-of-living crisis;
— the cost of motor insurance has increased at more than four times the general rate of inflation;
— people are now facing health insurance costs of roughly €2,000 every year, aff…
We produced legislation, for God's sake.
We wrote the law.
More profits for the companies; well done. None of it has been passed onto consumers.
I thank everybody who spoke in support of the motion. The Government does not have an amendment down. I do not know whether it is opposing the motion or whether it does not have any solutions. The one thing on which I will agree with the Minister of State is that, as he said, what he and the Government are doing is yielding results. He is absolutely spot on. The Government has made bumper profits for the insurance in…
Of course I did not. When you go on the phone and start telling them this, that and the other, you get it reduced. Not everybody is doing that, however, and it should not be-----
The Minister of State had his speak. It should not be the policy of the Government that you should shop around. The job of government is to defend consumers. What has happened here-----
-----is as we and the Alliance for Insurance Reform told the Government, that unless it got a commitment from the industry, the industry would pocket the reforms. That is exactly what has happened. What we have got from this industry - and the Minister of State is absolutely blind to this, as is his Government - are bumper profits. These were reforms I championed, legislation I drafted and got passed in this House an…
In motor insurance, it is 8%.
The Minister of State talks about Britain. Does he know what has happened there? Does he know what the ABI says about the 28,000 motor insurance policies it looks at every year? It has told us just in recent weeks that insurance has fallen 10%. What has happened under the Government's watch here? An 11.5% increase. People are getting ripped off left, right and centre and the Minister of…