I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As I said in response to questions from his colleague, I, and everybody in this Government, is well aware of what higher energy costs mean for all sectors of our society. The electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a regulatory regime that comes from within Europe. These markets are commercial and liberalised. They aim to be competitive and they are ove…
TDs / Paschal Donohoe
Paschal Donohoe
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
80,712
words spoken in the chamber
80,238 as a minister, 474 as a TD
110
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The charts stop when they left the Dáil.
Contributions to debates 460 in all
Dec 2024Nov 2025
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 45 |
| March 2025 | 80 |
| April 2025 | 52 |
| May 2025 | 88 |
| June 2025 | 19 |
| July 2025 | 114 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 34 |
| October 2025 | 22 |
| November 2025 | 6 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 370 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin Central 29 November 2024 to 21 November 2025
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to 21 November 2025
- office Minister for Finance 23 January 2025 to 18 November 2025
Am I hearing the sands shifting in Sinn Féin's policy on climate again? The Deputy refers to the Government pushing renewables. Does he not think renewables should be playing a larger role in our energy sector? I would appreciate in the exchange we have if he could clarify that issue. I accept that the cost of energy and the way in which our energy market is structured are causing issues and costs for households and …
All the Deputies on the Government benches here today visit homes that use solid fuels. We all represent people in homes that are struggling with the higher cost of energy and who know the cost of living is high. We understand that as well.
What we are aiming to do is display a greater degree of honesty to them than Deputy Daly is. Is it Sinn Féin policy now - I am really struggling to understand this - that it wants a refund of the last two years of the carbon tax increases? Is that its policy?
People will be getting more and more confused by the Sinn Féin policy here today. The Deputy is saying there should not be any more carbon taxes and there should be a refund of what happened in the past while at the same time Sinn Féin Deputies come to the House every day of the week and want more retrofitting, more cycleways and more measures to help with fuel poverty.
The changes we make in carbon tax help pay for that.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 73 together.
Deputy Daly just referred to the regional Independents turning up. I just want to refer to how there is not a single member of the Opposition present despite its focus on speaking rights and the operation of the Dáil.
Regarding the important issue that has been raised by Deputy Currie, I appreciate its importance. Without the increase in the supply of childcare pl…
I will deal with the different issues that have been raised. I take on board the overall point that the Deputy is making regarding the efforts that we have to put in place to fund supply. That is being done in two different ways at the moment. At local authority level, the guidelines for planning authorities in respect of childcare facilities aim to make clear the minimum number of childcare places that should be pro…
I will raise these issues with the Minister, Deputy Foley, but I know she is aware of them already. I will discuss with her the measures we can put in place now to further increase the supply of new homes and the new childcare places that accompany those new homes. We have measures in place now with regard to helping with the recruitment and retention of staff and with the provision of childcare facilities within pla…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 20 together.
The primary aim of the help to buy scheme is to encourage additional supply of new houses by supporting demand. It also assists first-time purchasers with the deposit they need to buy or build a new home. The scheme provides a refund of income tax and deposit interest retention tax paid in Ireland over the previous four years, subject to the limits outlined in the …
The Deputy is raising the strong views of his constituents on this issue. One of the many points of questions like this is for the Deputy to raise issues his constituents want him to raise and for me to do my best to explain why we are doing or not doing what he wants. As I said, the concern I have is that in addition to the difficulties we have with building more homes, we need to ensure that as we build more homes,…
I have given the view on the scheme as clearly as I can. I completely understand where the Deputy is coming from and why he is raising the issue. As I said, it is really important that any changes we make at a time in which supply is still not increasing at the speed we want do not add to inflationary difficulties. I will take on board what he said.
The Finance Act 2020 legislated for annual increases in the carbon tax rate of €7.50 until 2029, along with a final increment of €6.50, bringing the rate to €100 per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2030, with current rates based on charging €63.50 per tonne of CO2 emissions. Under the programme for Government, it has been agreed to continue with the planned carbon tax increases, which align with recommendations from the C…
This is a revenue-collecting measure that pays for public services and improvements in those things that can make a difference to a greener future for Ireland.
Annual increases in carbon tax have been ring-fenced to ensure that this money is used to fund the development of better infrastructure across our country, help with the cost of fuel poverty and fund things we know our country needs to become greener and heal…
I was careful in my answer. I said that the increases in carbon taxes since I introduced this measure in the Finance Act 2020 have been ring-fenced. Before I put in place the increases to which we are referring, there had been a base carbon tax, which was the foundation for all of this and the revenue from which goes to pay for public services. The Deputy stated that it said something about my motives that we are usi…
The Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund were established in 2024 following the passage of the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Act through the Oireachtas. The majority of the Act commenced on 30 July 2024. The funds seek to future-proof the public finances and deal with future challenges such as our country growing older, decarbonisation and the use of ne…
The day-to-day management of the funds is done by the National Treasury Management Agency. The NTMA is preparing long-term investment strategies for both funds that will then be subject to consultation with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. These strategies are being reviewed and will then be signed off on by the two Ministers. The current…
I would expect those kinds of issues to be considered carefully by those involved in investing this money, which we are now building up. We had a debate last night on this topic in the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach where I said that I am reluctant to put in place lots of legislation and restrictions regarding how decisions are made by the …
The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act 2025 is the result of a recommendation in the Department of Finance’s 2022 review of retail banking. The objectives of the Act are to ensure sufficient and effective access to cash in the State; to put in place a framework to manage future changes to the cash infrastructure in a fair, orderly, equitable and transparent manner; and to bring cash-in-transit p…
I will look at that issue. I am struck, despite what I said, by the number of premises I now walk into, like shops and cafés, that say "card only". I can understand completely the benefits they get in that regard. There are benefits to the economy overall as well in being able to record transactions and look at how tax is collected. However, I go back to the point I agreed on a moment ago. Not being able to use cash …
I would be reluctant to give that commitment to the Deputy here today because I would need to consider whether that would have any unintended consequences regarding policies we have on the legal tender of cash. That is now being developed within the European Union. As I said to the Deputy, I will look at the matter. I want to ensure that citizens do not in any way feel excluded from our financial system. I cannot hel…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 21 together.
It is always a privilege to be here as regularly as I am to answer the important questions Deputies put to me and to respond to the Dáil. I want to highlight where we are from a jobs point of view in Ireland. It is a really positive development in our economy overall. Total employment in the last year alone went up by 90,000 people, with the total number of people…
We need to look at all policies available to the Government in order to see how to make more progress in this area. Having been out and about with the Deputy a number of months ago in many of the towns in the constituency he represents, I am aware of the variety of employers located there. Due to the fact that we now have such a diverse set of employers in Ireland, we need to take a step back and identify the broad t…
I agree with the Deputy. As he stated, this is an important achievement that the Government has to try to sustain. The Ireland in which I began my education did not have this level of employment. There is much we know we need to do better on and every TD on the Government benches is aware of the difficulties that we face and that we committed to trying to deal with. At the same time, having so many people at work is …
Let me begin by emphasising Ireland's absolute respect for international law. Our view is that this is at the core of our foreign policy. I emphasise our track record in what we have done and what we have called for on behalf of the people of Gaza. Let me make the Government's stance really clear. We condemn Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories and we condemn the catastrophic humanitari…