Every Wednesday night, we press a button here and decide whether are for or against something. We lose some and we win some, but that is what we do; we make a decision. Poland has made a clear-cut decision. France has asked that the matter to be kicked out to the new year. The least Ireland could do would be to issue a statement and join France in that regard. Whether we are on the winning side or the losing side, we…
TDs / Michael Fitzmaurice
Michael Fitzmaurice
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
429
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
50,404
words spoken in the chamber
Across 171 contributions
293
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
120
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 429 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 171 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 58 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 8 | 22 |
| March 2025 | 17 | 8 |
| April 2025 | 21 | 3 |
| May 2025 | 6 | 8 |
| June 2025 | 36 | 3 |
| July 2025 | 11 | 1 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 21 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 9 | 15 |
| November 2025 | 16 | 7 |
| December 2025 | 16 | 24 |
| January 2026 | 14 | 6 |
| February 2026 | 21 | 22 |
| March 2026 | 45 | 14 |
| April 2026 | 31 | 6 |
| May 2026 | 15 | 1 |
| June 2026 | 34 | 0 |
| July 2026 | 31 | 7 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 13 | 3 |
| October 2026 | 6 | 15 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 79 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 Roscommon-Galway 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent Ireland 29 November 2024 to now
Whether it is right or wrong, and whether you are on the winning side or the losing side at the end, at least we did not sit on the fence and abstain. We had the guts to stand by our farmers right around the country. I am asking the Tánaiste -----
----- in the spirit of Christmas for his Government to do that.
But every block builds the house.
I have a query. Has there been a change to the rental accommodation scheme, RAS? I have been contacted by a few people who bought a house and they wanted to sell it. They went through all the procedures 100% correctly, gave proper notice and everything. It appears to be happening with Galway City Council a lot. The council went through all the procedures and there is a timeline of eight or ten months. It has gone on …
I can send on details.
I have no financial or other interest in hunting and do not even own a gun. I cannot be accused of being lopsided because of it. A lot of people would not even know what neosporosis is. A farmer in rural Ireland whose cows are aborting will know all about it. It comes from foxes where overpopulation happens. We come from a managed landscape. We saw a few years ago, from Kerry to Donegal, throughout the country, the p…
I wish the Ceann Comhairle and everyone here a happy Christmas.
I do not object to the Minister's plans but I have a few queries, including on the agricultural side. I welcome the exemptions. There are new regulations requiring farmers to collect soiled water. The exemption that they can put down a tank to gather that soiled water is a help. It is to be hoped they will get a targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant for it. That will help water quality right around …
During the week, the news of the derogation was welcome, but the real work starts now. Unfortunately, unelected bureaucrats in Europe have put in a proviso, because of the habitats directive, that over the coming years, what a cow does in a field and the impact of this on the Barrow, Nore, Suir, Blackwater, Owenriff or whatever other river will have to be screened. This will cost the State millions of euro. I do not …
Europe is always able to add more but no one ever asks whether a mistake was made or whether the ECJ's interpretation has gone too far.
Are we now prioritising a snail over people being able to drink water, live in a house, have a port, have an airport or farm their land?
At the moment, we are starting on the derogation for farmers but what will happen?
They will drive it down to the ordinary small farmer in this country. Thank you, Chair.
I am not pointing-----
I welcome what the Minister has said but this is the reality so far. Unfortunately, I have lived through a review of the habitat's directive. I was invited to go to a meeting. To be honest about it, I would have been better going home to count the cattle, because I wasted a day doing a review of the habitats directive. You were only allowed to speak for a few minutes and after that it was, "Good luck and good night" …
Most elected representatives, if the playing field is fair, are open to trade agreements. The reality of the past few trade agreements, be it Mercosur or this one, is that the playing field is not fair.
I smiled when I heard the Taoiseach say a few years ago that one was backward if one felt one needed a sovereign state. When he spoke about Ukraine the other day, he made reference to a sovereign state. Europe has st…
I wish the Taoiseach well with the new legislation he is bringing forward in relation to infrastructure. If it is not emergency legislation, we will be caught again down the road with regard to housing, motorways, roads, waterways and sewerage.
How would the Taoiseach like to get this message? I welcome the new legislation but this is another part. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, was set up by the State.
The EPA. An Bord Pleanála was set up by the State. I got a message the other day from a guy I know in the west who employs 200 people.
Howya Fitz? Eighteen months now and we are still waiting for planning. €3 million spent before that. €3 million to spend. Someone else called last week from An Bord Pleanála to have another walk around. Business doesn't wait, Fitz. We have worked in specialised manufacturing, in phar…
The Taoiseach's new legislation - and I wish him well on it - has nothing to do with this. How are we going to get these people to do their jobs efficiently, properly and fairly for the people of this country?
As I said earlier, I welcome the legislation he is proposing but it talks about ABP judicial reviews - I agree that there are too many of them - and how it will be more difficult, to put it simply. There are different tweaks like that and the Taoiseach is talking about emergency legislation but I am talking about an ordinary person who is creating jobs in rural Ireland. In the west, 200 jobs to us are the same as 4,0…
I welcome what the Taoiseach is doing and I am not going against that but what I am saying is that the State agencies are not doing their jobs to help facilitate these businesses.
I spoke before on this. I hope this solves the housing thing, that is being honest. I do welcome the likes of the modular on it and different steps where we are going to go designing the same type of house and all of those things. These are things that should be have been done years ago but I welcome them. I cannot see a lot on rural housing. I believe that family members should be allowed build houses. We need to ma…
First, I welcome the Bill and I support it. What we heard from the Government side is just the usual palaver. I remember Sinn Féin bringing a Bill forward on the Shannon, to have one body over it. It was kicked down the road for nine months and we never saw it to this day. That is the reality of what is going on here and I think the people out there should understand this. We are after listening to Deputies speak abo…
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. People need to realise that about 165 million tonnes of goods are hauled around this country every year and 13.6 billion miles are done by hauliers. I have a truck licence and I drove trucks a lot of my life. Anyone who knows it will see the council go along and take two swipes of the road, but the third and fourth swipes are needed where there is a mirror of a b…