I move amendment No. 1:
In page 9, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:
“Amendment of section 9D of Principal Act
4. Section 9D of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in subsection (2)(c), by the insertion of “, notwithstanding subsection (10)(b),” after “and”, and
(b) in subsection (10)(b), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (2)(b), all” for “All”.”.
These amendments enable the Commission f…
TDs / Timmy Dooley
Timmy Dooley
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
102
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
78,869
words spoken in the chamber
73,967 as a minister, 4,902 as a TD
290
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
33
topics asked about
Across 15 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 102 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 266 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 75 | 12 |
| March 2025 | 2 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 3 | 5 |
| May 2025 | 0 | 14 |
| June 2025 | 0 | 3 |
| July 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 0 | 31 |
| October 2025 | 0 | 12 |
| November 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| December 2025 | 0 | 27 |
| January 2026 | 2 | 24 |
| February 2026 | 5 | 24 |
| March 2026 | 4 | 10 |
| April 2026 | 5 | 30 |
| May 2026 | 2 | 16 |
| June 2026 | 3 | 22 |
| July 2026 | 0 | 5 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 0 | 11 |
| October 2026 | 0 | 7 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 168 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
- office Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications 25 February 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment 2 June 2025 to now
I move amendment No. 2:
In page 9, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:
“Amendment of section 9F of Principal Act
5. Section 9F of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in subsection (2)(c), by the insertion of “, notwithstanding subsection (10)(c),” after “and”, and
(b) in subsection (10)(c), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (2)(b), all” for “All”.”.
I move amendment No. 3:
In page 40, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:
"Amendment of section 22 of Turf Development Act 1998
23.Section 22(1)(b) of the Turf Development Act 1998 is amended by the substitution of "€1,500,000,000" for "€650,000,000".".
Amendment No. 3 inserts into the principal Act a provision amending section 22(1)(b) of the Turf Development Act 1998. I have already outlined the rea…
I move amendment No. 4:
In page 40, line 12, to delete "(Amendment)" and substitute "and Miscellaneous Amendments".
I move amendment No. 5:
In page 40, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:
"(2) The Turf Development Acts 1946 to 1998 and section 23 may be cited together as the Turf Development Acts 1946 to 2026.".
I move amendment No. 6:
In page 40, lines 13 and 14, to delete " and 19" and substitute ", 19 and 23".
I move amendment No. 7:
In page 3, line 5, after "1999" to insert the following:
"to provide for the funding of functions of an Electrical Safety Supervisory Body or Gas Safety Supervisory Body appointed under that Act by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities;".
I move amendment No. 8:
In page 3, line 19, after "2014;" to insert "to amend the Turf Development Act 1998;".
I thank the Deputy for his question. I know of his significant interest in this issue.
I have met with representatives of the National Inshore Fishermen's Association and other representatives of the inshore sector and am very much aware of the challenges facing the inshore sector. I am also very much aware of the challenges facing the inshore fishery sector as a result of more recent quota drops, changes to their l…
There are additional supports available through Bord Iascaigh Mhara. These are aimed at supporting both the commercial offshore and inshore sectors by means of the various schemes that have helped fishers to survive through difficult times. Shortly after my appointment, I tasked independent consultant Kieran Mulvey to engage with the entire fishing sector to look to see what potential supports could be put in place. …
I am very conscious of the positive impact that small-scale inshore fishers have on their coastal communities. It is about maintaining, protecting and preserving that from a cultural and historical perspective. I know they are not looking for money. They just want to survive and they would much prefer to do that through fishing and the processing of fish. I am prepared to work with them, and I am conscious of the doc…
Every second night - it is more like twice a night.
It is not opposed.
It is not opposed.
I thank the Deputy for the question. I understand she wants clarification specifically on the review of the pass-through from wholesale electricity prices to retail electricity prices that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, requested the CRU to undertake. As the Deputy knows, retail electricity prices are influenced by several factors, including wholesale energy prices, system operation costs and supplier hedging. The lat…
The Minister and the officials in the Department have been engaging with the CRU to emphasise the importance of this. We all know the impacts that people are feeling. We know that the cost-of-living crisis is a result of significant increases in inflation in recent times. Of course, we all desire to try to resolve this. As the Deputy knows, the Minister commissioned a report on the national energy affordability task …
The Deputy is aware that the CRU is independent entity. It is answerable to the Oireachtas through the Oireachtas committee, so there is an opportunity there for the Deputy. In fairness to her, Deputy Whitmore is a very vocal and hard-working member of that committee. The Minister has written to the CRU, and the officials are in contact. We want to bring this to a conclusion, but we must also recognise the independen…
I know of the Deputy's interest in this area as he and I have discussed this on a number of occasions. Currently, the Department has no plans for the development of nuclear power, including small modular reactors, as part of Ireland's electricity system. As the Deputy is aware, there are two specific legislative prohibitions on nuclear power in place in Ireland. Both the electricity legislation, in section 18(6) of t…
Nobody wants to rule out the discussion but from a Government perspective, for us right now, it is about action and about meeting our targets on the demand for energy. Our efforts are concentrated on capturing wind to bring the electrons ashore. Of course, we take electricity from France that has its source in nuclear energy. Nobody has a problem with that. The French have a lot of expertise in that area. I think we …
Absolutely. While the debate and discussion are somewhat academic at the moment, it is appropriate that we are looking that far ahead because we do not want to find ourselves in the situation that we currently do - reaching a point where there are constraints on our grid. The lesson we have learned from that is that we now have to get the generation piece right. I really believe in what we are doing on the renewables…
I thank the Deputy. His sense of humour, as always, is timely and appreciated.
We can all be renewed.
The two questions were separate but we have the opportunity to follow one with the other. It is very clear that other countries have a considerable advancement in relation to the use of nuclear energy as a method of driving their economic activity and producing electricity. They have been doing it for decades and have made certain advances in that area. We have not been in that race due to dec…
I agree. From a departmental perspective, we are not losing focus. We are absolutely targeting this. We are looking at interconnection as well. As the Deputy knows - the North-South interconnector is kind of in his area as well - we will have the Celtic interconnector. We want to build a more complex grid right across the European Union, which will help to balance the load, the demand and the generation, and we can d…
I am in broad agreement with the Deputy, but I am a big supporter of data centres. They are like the advanced factories that were there in the seventies.
In fact, I read a report recently which suggested that the use of data centres will reduce the use of electricity-----