This time last year, the Ministers and all Government TDs chose to make people's lives harder. They chose to abandon working people and the ripple effect of that decision led to a year of discontent. People literally took to the streets because they could not take it any more. This discontent shows no signs of abating, with the people who provide our most necessary public services and who keep this State ticking, eng…
TDs / Mairéad Farrell
Mairéad Farrell
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,072
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
77,415
words spoken in the chamber
Across 359 contributions. Plus 93 contributions from the chair, not counted
363
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
266
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 1,072 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 359 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 21 | 5 |
| February 2025 | 74 | 21 |
| March 2025 | 51 | 21 |
| April 2025 | 47 | 41 |
| May 2025 | 64 | 12 |
| June 2025 | 104 | 15 |
| July 2025 | 58 | 24 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 26 | 2 |
| October 2025 | 30 | 26 |
| November 2025 | 59 | 5 |
| December 2025 | 45 | 30 |
| January 2026 | 46 | 4 |
| February 2026 | 70 | 3 |
| March 2026 | 72 | 19 |
| April 2026 | 48 | 15 |
| May 2026 | 63 | 28 |
| June 2026 | 93 | 10 |
| July 2026 | 57 | 30 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 24 | 8 |
| October 2026 | 20 | 40 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 209 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 Galway West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
The Tánaiste said those words.
On 21 November 2024, eight days before the last general election, he told TikTok viewers that. He then asked people to vote Fine Gael so that he could get on with that plan. They were great words. What happened?
Was it a game of "Simon says but Simon does not do"? Was it just pre-election rhetoric and a promise he knew well he would not keep?
In the first budget after that, with Fine Gael in government, the Government increased fees by €500.
The Tánaiste went back on his word.
The Tánaiste and all of those on the other side of the Chamber may shrug their shoulders, laugh-----
-----and say "That is okay. These things happen", but it matters. Being straight and direct with people matters. Making a difference in young people's lives matters. If young people want to go to third level education, they should have that choice. It should not be based on where they live, what their parents do, their background or anything like that. People should have the right to choose their future. It should no…
The Tánaiste is now the Minister for Finance. This is his first budget in that role. He has power and influence, yet with the first chance he has had, he has abandoned his promise. He has abandoned our young people. A €150 decrease in student fees still leaves those fees higher than when the Tánaiste made that promise. Does he know what else his higher? Rents, the cost of groceries and youth unemployment, which are a…
-----cut fees in half and fully abolish them by September of next year.
I cannot hear the Minister because I am speaking and it is my speaking time.
This is the decisive action our young people need. They need a clear and stable future, not broken election promises and gimmicks.
The Minister talks about working hard. Our greatest resource is our young people. That includes our young people who want to build a better future for themselves and for every one of us, which is to be commended. Critical to our future are the hands that will build that future. Our trade…
Our apprentices will build the housing we need. Housing is the biggest social crisis facing our society today. Tens of thousands of working people are unable to put a roof over their heads. Tens of thousands of families are paying rip off rents and sky-high mortgages. Tens of thousands of people are languishing on council housing waiting lists and 17,885 people, including 5,830 children trapped in emergency homeless …
One of the most shocking developments that came out of the budget last year was the decision to leave people with disabilities €1,400 worse off. It was absolutely shameful. We know people with disabilities face unavoidable additional costs just to live equally and this needs to be addressed; not by half measures, like the insulting €500 annual lump sum not delivered until January but by a new and permanent cost-of-di…
I could not let today pass without talking about the public pay deal, or the lack thereof.
The Government talks about a budget for people who get up early every morning and work hard. Give me a break. It is willing to go without negotiating a pay deal with the hard-working people who get up early and go to work in our public services. It is outrageous that the State generates billions of euro in surpluses and at the…
It is hard to put into words the importance of Merlin Woods for the community in which I live. It is one of the only green spaces on the east side of Galway city. It is surrounded by Doughiska and Ballybane, and slightly further on are Renmore, Mervue and Roscam, all of which are areas that have benefited from that green space. To be honest, it is actually hard to understand or fathom in any way why these woods - thi…
I appreciate that. I appreciate that the Minister of State is not the line Minister and that it is quite a specific case, but the reason I raise it here is because the people have not been silent in relation to this. The community has not been silent about it. The people who deal with Merlin Woods day in, day out have been saying they feel this is a serious destruction of the habitat, as I have outlined, and of many …
Tonight's motion is about the here and now. This Dáil has an opportunity to cut the price of oil tonight. The facts are very clear. People cannot pay their bills. They cannot afford to put fuel in their cars. They cannot afford to put oil in their tanks. That has happened on the Minister of State's watch. He is from the west of Ireland just like I am. He understands the impact that storms and sudden changes in the we…
The budget is for next year.
The Minister of State is talking about budget 2027. It is 2026.
Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le PBP agus Solidarity as an rún seo a chur chun tosaigh. I thank People Before Profit and Solidarity for bringing forward this really important motion. The reality is the people are in crisis. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that ordinary people need energy credits and that we need to start putting ordinary communities ahead of data centres. I am a…
What the Minister and her Government colleagues Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are doing to Irish neutrality is eroding it bit by bit. They might not say it explicitly but we can hear it in their words. They use language to change our position regarding neutrality. We can see it in the amendment they tabled tonight. Previously, Government talked about "neutrality"; now it always talks about "military neutrality". It…
Hear, hear.
13. D'fhiafraigh Deputy Mairéad Farrell den Minister for Education and Youth maidir le ceist 40786/26 ar an 28 Bealtaine 2026, an dtabharfaidh sí an t-eolas is déanaí maidir le hoibreacha atá á ndéanamh ar scoil an Tuairín i mBéal an Daingin; an bhfuil aon athrú ar an stádas don tionscnamh; agus an ndéanfaidh sí ráiteas ina thaobh. [54054/26]
Céard go díreach atá ag tarlú leis an scoil ar an Tuairín i mBéal an Daingin? Is é an t-eolas is déanaí maidir leis na hoibreacha atá á lorg againn. An bhfuil aon uasdátú ar stádas an tionscnaimh? Is é sin an t-eolas atá de dhíth ar dhaoine. Will the Minister give an update on an Tuairín i mBéal an Daingin?