I thank the Minister of State.
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
The Minister of State is half a minute over time.
The Government put on paper its commitment to progressively reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month through the national childcare scheme. As the Tánaiste knows, young families are desperately struggling to get a place, and if they do they face crippling costs. Our childcare and early years education sector is in a precarious situation with regard to recruitment and retention. I hope the Government is consid…
Our water system in Kildare is failing many of us, and too regularly. I was a member of Kildare County Council between 2019 and 2024. Over those five years, a number of issues - housing, roads, climate, public transport, young people services and water - arose on a consistent basis. The anger, frustration and utter dismay felt by Kildare residents about water outages is palpable. N one is immune. Residents in Celbrid…
I sincerely thank the Minister of State for the detailed reply. It is really helpful and appreciated. He can see himself that when we see a list, it is felt individually but when looked at collectively, it is something of a structural issue. That is point I am trying to raise today. The overall demand, when the population increases to such a degree, means we will see infrastructure start to creak overall. I really ap…
I was a professional youth worker for many years. I have spoken about this with the Minister of State in the House previously. I will jump at any opportunity to speak about young people's lives and experiences. I just hope that there is nobody in charge of or responsible for youth justice or youth crime scratching their heads as to why we are where we are in society. It is fairly straightforward, actually. Without tr…
It is Question No. 10.
Okay.
10. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will provide an update in respect of the provision of student accommodation for Maynooth University; his plans for investment in this area; and if he has engaged with the HEA on this matter. [14259/25]
I will start by taking the opportunity to wish both the Minister and Minister of State very well in their new and exciting portfolios. I wish Deputy Lawless well in particular, as he is a constituency colleague. I was delighted to hear the news and really wish him the very best in his role.
I wish to ask the Minister about his plans with regard to investment in student accommodation in Maynooth. Are there any plans …
I am a very proud former student of Maynooth University and I also worked there for a number of years. I was also a councillor representing the Clane-Maynooth municipal district. The Minister will be well aware that there is something quite unique about Maynooth in terms of the student town. The population essentially doubles during term time. The student accommodation issue is not isolated to students benefitting in…
I have one more supplementary question but do not expect the Minister to be able to answer it today. Given the uniqueness of Maynooth, would the Minister consider a working group, involving representatives of the Department, the council, the HSE and others, to sit around the table to get the sustainability of this development right? Maynooth is a decarbonised town and there are lots of different and very important st…
It could be a pilot project.
I am conscious of time, Deputy. We are just out of time. I will give the final word to the Minister before we move on to the next item.
For the information of Members present, we cannot take supplementary questions on priority questions. Apologies to Members.
Four Members have indicated they would like to come in with a supplementary comment. I ask them to be really mindful of their time and to keep their contributions nice and short. They have a maximum of 30 seconds each.
Thank you, Deputy.
In the spirit of showing each other documents across the floor like the Minister did a couple of minutes ago, I present a news article from January where Michael Lowry is quoted as saying, "The Group’s contribution to the review of the National Development Plan and our input to the HSE Capital Plan, will be central to our ongoing work within Government." Can the Minister reassure people that we have not allowed the H…
The truth is this Government does not have the mandate to change the triple lock. As my colleague said, the Fianna Fáil general election manifesto vaguely mentions it. In a 200-page document, it gets one mention. The Fine Gael general election manifesto does not mention the triple lock at all and I am pretty sure it did not make it to Michael Lowry’s shopping list either.
People did not vote for Fianna Fáil on the p…
We move now to Question No. 10 in the name of Deputy O'Reilly.
We have a supplementary question from the Deputy's colleague.
Come on Deputy, you are way over time.
Deputy, sit down. Thank you.
Let us stick to the initial topic.
I am thankful to have the opportunity to speak on the report today. The discourse on housing is often influenced by numbers, namely the number of people experiencing homelessness, the number of homes delivered below the Government's target in 2024, the falling number of planning permissions and commencement notices, the number of workers and apprentices needed, the number of recommendations in the commission's report…