-----the road. The facts are that two more swipes are catching the mirrors of the buses going to school, plus the trucks. That is the reality of it. The quality of roads is a problem.
The reality for truck drivers at the moment is they buy a truck and pay €46,000 in VAT. They pay 23% VAT for every drop of diesel they have and 19 cent of every litre is carbon tax, which is another tax. If they need a trailer, there i…
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
I welcome the farming organisations. I welcome this motion. In the summer of 2024, when the political machines were flying around this country, the promises to all of the farming organisations, farmers and voters that Mercosur would be opposed were plenty. In November, it was said again. I was looking at the programme for Government again this evening. It stated that the Government would "work with like-minded EU cou…
It is the Government, not the Department.
We need workers in this country from different countries. We need to simplify the process, under the enterprise system, for those coming through. A lot of businesses are looking for and need workers, including hospitals and hospitality. We need doctors, nurses, and nursing home workers. There is not one person in the country who disputes that.
No one could condone what we witnessed the other night in Drogheda, or an…
-----but I would ask the Minister of State to make sure this is fast forwarded very quickly.
I think everyone recognises that we need people coming into this country through the visa system. We need doctors, nurses, people in hospitality and all different types of workers. They are welcome in this country. However, from what we have read last night, we need to have a conversation about illegal immigration. Most politicians are afraid at the moment, as are ordinary people. When you go around the country and t…
Here we go.
In the whole immigration process, the Government said it would process an applicant within six months. That has not happened. It is going on for four, five and six years. When will that be resolved? Our system is broken at the moment. The Government has admitted that we have an influx of youngsters and accommodation is very scarce. In Poland, Donald Tusk has decided, because the country has had an influx and could no…
I have had a few conversations with the Minister for justice and I acknowledge that he is trying to make changes. The reality, however, is that it is neither good for the person looking for asylum or good for the State if something is dragging on for six years. Those are the facts of the matter. Two years ago, I chased up on the question of how somebody is identified and we were told by the Garda at the time that the…
Under the farm to fork strategy, beef prices are good at the moment. Dairy might have slipped a bit but it is still not too bad. However, there is a major problem arising in the pig industry where prices have dropped 30 cent a kilogram. Has the Government engaged, or will it engage, with the farming sector to see how it can help a sector that is starting to struggle at the moment?
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. Whether people come from an area that engaged in tillage, it is awfully important. Whether people are in sucklers, sheep, dairy or whatever, the people who grow the tillage to get the straw are ferociously important. We have a decision to make. Let us look at the prices this year. What is being given under the protein aid scheme is a good subsidy, but in fairness to the peo…
We have already gone five times.
The agriculture committee has gone a few times.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget. I welcome the increases for pensioners and people with disabilities. They probably need more, to be frank, but I have to at least acknowledge it. I welcome the increase in the carer's supports thresholds. The ideal scenario is that if someone packs up a job to mind another person, regardless of what their partner earns or has, it saves the State a lot of money. The am…
And yet there is no extra money for farmers.
Where is the suckler scheme you promised?
What about tillage?
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. I agree with the agreement. It is a step forward. Pharmacists are highly qualified people. Doctors around the country are under pressure. An awful lot of people, especially those who do not have medical cards, cannot get an appointment for weeks. If a person has a chest infection or something simple that can be diagnosed quickly, they still have to go to a doctor first, get…
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. When we were growing up, long before we were in politics, we looked at the news at night and saw the United Nations and said to ourselves, God they are powerful men in suits. We looked at the G7 or the G8 - whatever you want to call it - and said, my God, they are going to solve the problems of the world. To look at the atrocities going on in Gaza at the moment, the …
Sports capital grants have done great things in small communities right around the country. I remember playing football and togging out in places they would not tog out in nowadays. It is incredible what it has done. With the population increasing and different sports coming into play, more money should be put in to attract young people to get more of them involved in sport. The budgets must be available to help smal…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. First, I wish the Minister the best of luck.
I do not think I was in front of you before this so the best of luck. The reality of immigration is that, at the moment in Ireland, we are building 30,000 houses. There is a huge shortage of houses. Look at the numbers of people who are coming in both through legal and illegal immigration. We are scratching our heads when people want to come to work. Let us bear in mind, we need people working. We need them in hospit…
We need to make sure that we tighten this. The court system needs to be sped up to make decisions-----
-----and not hold things up for four or five years on people who are coming here about whom we know nothing.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and commend Deputy Gogarty and his staff on putting it together.
It often baffles me that when we had 9,000 and 10,000 gardaí on the streets or in the total force, there were local Garda stations. If anyone said they were not doing much, they knew everything that was going on in the area. They did not have to be taking out the book doing this one, that one and the ot…