When is this Government going to take road safety seriously?
In a week when we saw the Road Safety Authority, RSA, perform a U-turn on a shambolic plan to introduce breathalysers in pubs, we know that the start reality is that our roads have become a much more dangerous place to be. Statistics published today paint a harrowing picture. Today, there are hundreds of families grieving the tragic loss of a family member…
TDs / Aidan Farrelly
Aidan Farrelly
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
1,387
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
53,883
words spoken in the chamber
Across 192 contributions. Plus 135 contributions from the chair, not counted
391
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
227
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 1,387 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 192 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 32 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 140 | 19 |
| March 2025 | 124 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 85 | 13 |
| May 2025 | 53 | 11 |
| June 2025 | 114 | 5 |
| July 2025 | 50 | 6 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 81 | 12 |
| October 2025 | 11 | 4 |
| November 2025 | 60 | 12 |
| December 2025 | 57 | 10 |
| January 2026 | 65 | 9 |
| February 2026 | 82 | 28 |
| March 2026 | 60 | 3 |
| April 2026 | 107 | 8 |
| May 2026 | 108 | 7 |
| June 2026 | 54 | 11 |
| July 2026 | 42 | 9 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 26 | 9 |
| October 2026 | 36 | 5 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 96 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 Kildare North 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
I want to speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, about some emerging issues in Naas General Hospital. I have spoken to the Minister of State previously about the context of County Kildare and the population growth in the county since the early 1990s, when it had a population of approximately 100,000 people. Now we are in a situation where we have 250,000 people and, if we keep growing at the rate at which we …
I thank the Minister of State for that reply on the behalf of the Minister and the Department. For the record, the piece of the reply I will draw attention to is the figure of 52 additional staff in Naas General Hospital between December 2025 and August 2026. Of those 52, only five are nurses. The Minister of State told us that we had 52 additional staff members in Naas but he provided no detailed breakdown as to who…
I am convinced now more than ever that politics, being in government and public administration in general are just one big game to so many members of the Government. Too many of them have no idea of the impact that their decisions make with the simple stroke of a pen. I know that I am meant to stand up here and react to this budget and the decisions that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents have made regarding tra…
I recently completed my doctoral studies in youth work. I conducted research with youth workers around the country, having been a youth worker myself for 15 or 16 years. Simply put, being a youth worker is the best job in the world. It is as simple as that. Youth work changes lives. Youth workers change lives.
However, there is a concern within the sector with regard to the implementation of opportunities for youth,…
I thank my colleague Deputy Whitmore for her excellent work on this. As an overall summary, having sat here for the entire debate, the contempt and disrespect shown by the Government benches with regard to a fully costed and evidenced proposal is quite baffling. The Minister of State just said he encourages people to talk to their suppliers as if that will achieve something, while the CEOs are sitting there laughing …
I thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin for putting forward this motion. I listened with attention to the Minister's opening remarks on the motion. If he can deliver what he just put forward, I will be the first to stand here in a couple of years and say he has done a really good job. There is an awful lot of good in this. The potential and the demand for public transport in this State are very clear. While we struggle to…
I am not criticising the Minister. I am just letting him know that when the question was asked last week, no answer was forthcoming because, it was said, this was a budgetary decision. We have, however, an overspend of €68 million.
What are we doing? We are putting €70 million worth of additional fares on the taxpayer. It is simply not good enough. As it stands, while the Minister's opening remarks are very aspirati…
119. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Transport if he will detail the way in which he plans to comply with the €18 million levy applied to his Department's Vote for 2027; and if he will ensure that public transport commitments and obligations are fully resourced. [67530/26]
I thank the Minister of State for that reply. It is a bit of a leap to ask us to accept that it is still part of the negotiations. The Minister of State definitely knows by now where that €18 million shortfall is going to be made up and it is not part of the budgetary process. He could tell us. I have asked him to detail to us what that is going to look like for 2027. He is choosing not, and that is unfortunate. We w…
Those policies are working because the fare points are right. We know that increased fares reduce passenger numbers. The Government has made a decision in the last couple of weeks that it knows will be tantamount to a reduced level of service demand at a time when we have climate and affordability crises and at a time when the Department is not rolling out new services. They are facts. Absolutely, there is €900-odd m…
Increasing the cost of using public transport by an average of 15% is a political decision. It is happening because this Government refuses to invest in the National Transport Authority, NTA, in the expansion of the network and ultimately in its passengers. We now know this is only the start of the fare increases. The Government intends to raise them again and again. While Government backbenchers love the photo-op of…
I welcome the opportunity to debate this Bill on Second Stage. I look forward to tabling amendments on future Stages. Any debate such as this is always emotional because we often think of somebody we know who has been hurt or whose life has been prematurely lost on our roads and we automatically assume the legislation and enforcement are in place to ensure our safety on the roads. This is a welcome step but as the Mi…
I thank colleagues for tabling the motion this evening. It is interesting that we have set the context that much of this is as a result of the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East. You would think the energy suppliers would start to feel that struggle as well, yet what we are seeing is record levels of profits among the energy suppliers. It is impossible to defend when you do not know where the attack is com…
2. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide an update on the commitment in Opportunities for Youth: National Strategy for Youth Work and Related Services 2024-2028 to produce a workforce development strategy; if an advisory group has, or is intended to be, set up; the terms of reference for the group; if pay and conditions are to be considered as part of the strategy; if sh…
I ask the Minister to provide the House with an update on the commitment with regards to Opportunities for Youth: National Strategy for Youth Work and Related Services 2024-2028.
I thank the Minister. If she will indulge me, it is very rare I get the opportunity to speak about my life experience prior to being in here but I have been a youth worker for about 16 years or the guts of three Dáil terms. The day before the general election I submitted my PhD thesis, which was on professional youth work. It asked youth workers many of the same questions that were asked afterwards by the Department.…
It is acceptable that data will be shared with the task force in September but I ask that it be shared more widely once the terms of reference have been agreed. It would be really useful for the academic sector and for those who are in the market of training and professionally qualifying youth workers in the field.
I have been around long enough to have seen youth work move from Department to Department. The only co…
In the past year, the number of children admitted to Temple Street with brain injuries from accidents on e-scooters has increased by 50%. I think we have agreement across the House that this is an ever-worsening public health crisis at this point. It is clear that the ban on under-16s using e-scooters has been a monumental failure. We need a new approach. As the Tánaiste has just said, instead of a ban, we need regul…
I thank the Minister of State for being here. Like my friends, I commend Deputy Quaide on his sincere work on this over recent months. I also welcome most warmly those who are here in the Gallery who for some warped reason have had to tirelessly work and campaign for so long for what is such a basic entitlement.
I am really disappointed because today was not a day for either the Minister of State or the Minister, De…
Neither should we be saying that the course that is set out and laid out will meet the needs because it will not. It is as simple as that. I believe today could have been an opportunity for us to come together, but it is actually a day that will empower the Before We Die campaign to work even harder, grow in momentum and somehow find even further resolve and determination. I do not think that it will in any way give …
Is my time up? I apologise.
The utilities regulator recently imposed a €31 million negative revenue adjustment on Uisce Éireann for underperformance and failures relating to its leakage performance target. Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann is giving out performance-related bonuses to its management teams. Its annual report for 2025 shows €18 million worth of bonuses have been paid. How can I explain to people in Kildare, who are so often without water, …
It has already been said by others, but I am also struck by the pace at which this legislation has progressed and is progressing through the House to a point where it will reach completion this evening. It is fair to say that for the first 18 months of the lifetime of this Government, we have seen very little by way of legislation come through the House. Suddenly, however, we are under dramatic pressure to get this l…
-----and now we are looking to do the same thing by bypassing local authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála, which are the bodies responsible for making very important planning decisions. They will never be perfect and neither will this House. However, their being bypassed is a matter of concern that I want to emphasise on the record of the House.
We are speaking about this in a context where the WHO has recognised th…