I disagree with the Minister completely. I think perpetrators of domestic violence are callous. If someone seriously assaults or abuses their partner's child, that behaviour is highly relevant to whether future partners should know about their history. Without this amendment, those convictions could fall outside the register simply because the victim was a child rather than an adult partner. The Minister is obviously…
TDs / Gary Gannon
Gary Gannon
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
645
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
147,808
words spoken in the chamber
Across 475 contributions
389
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
109
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 645 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 475 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 6 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 32 | 27 |
| March 2025 | 90 | 23 |
| April 2025 | 117 | 32 |
| May 2025 | 32 | 24 |
| June 2025 | 49 | 39 |
| July 2025 | 11 | 19 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 15 | 9 |
| October 2025 | 38 | 17 |
| November 2025 | 28 | 22 |
| December 2025 | 10 | 7 |
| January 2026 | 40 | 35 |
| February 2026 | 23 | 45 |
| March 2026 | 15 | 31 |
| April 2026 | 5 | 27 |
| May 2026 | 9 | 16 |
| June 2026 | 35 | 26 |
| July 2026 | 23 | 39 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 41 | 14 |
| October 2026 | 26 | 22 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 249 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 Dublin Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to now
I move amendment No. 14:
In page 6, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:
“(14) The Minister shall, not later than 3 years after the commencement of this section, conduct a review of the operation of the Register and lay a report of that review before each House of the Oireachtas, including anonymised information on the operation of the Register, applications for removal and the offences recorded.”.”.
T…
A couple of weeks back in this Chamber, when discussing the previous Stage of this Bill, I looked up the Gallery. In the Gallery there were campaigners who campaigned for decades, some of whom were friends of mine, for the removal of historical convictions for gay men. In another part of the Gallery were women who had to come before a committee and relive their trauma and ask for change when it comes to the use of co…
Today belongs to the survivors, to those remarkable people sitting in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery and to those who simply could not or chose not to be here today. This apology belongs to all of you. It is impossible not to reflect on the enormity of what you had to endure, not just as children but also as adults. The abuse stole your childhood but the pursuit of justice took decades of your adult lives. You sh…
I begin by welcoming this Bill. It is a really significant piece of legislation strengthening our law on sexual offences, introducing Operation Encompass and, most important, establishing Ireland's first domestic violence register. For that reason, the Social Democrats will be supporting its progression.
Before discussing the legislation itself, I want to acknowledge the people who make this day possible. In particu…
Yesterday, I stood in the Chamber and talked about women being turned away from refuge spaces when they were fleeing violence. Today, we are back here again, talking, fighting and asking for something once more that citizens in this country should never have to go without. It is not just a safe home, but a place of sanctuary, a residence for some of the most vulnerable people in this State - adults with intellectual …
Destroying the courts.
The Social Democrats support the motion. Ireland should absolutely opt in to this Council decision. The Istanbul Convention is one of the most important international agreements we have on preventing violence against women, and domestic violence, and Ireland should fully participate in its EU ratification. While it is important to reaffirm our commitment to the convention, we also have to ask ourselves the much more …
I thank the Minister of State for joining us. Let me be clear. I am not looking for the State to intervene when it comes to planning decisions. That is not our purpose in coming in here today. However, we are conscious that the senior members of Government have made observations publicly on issues in Dublin city centre, most pointedly the dereliction and vacancy. Deputy Ennis and I want to bring forward some very sig…
I thank the Minister of State for his response and his understanding of the situation. There is a frustration. We spend so much time talking vacancy and dereliction in Dublin Central that the potential for losing two businesses that have added to the vibrancy and improved the aesthetic quality is grating to the point that it is nonsensical.
For a small independent cafe like Stay With Us, if it is to make an appeal t…
2. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the position of his Department on the central recommendation of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use that the offence of personal possession of drugs be repealed; his views on whether the Government’s stated commitment to a health-led approach is inconsistent with the continued criminalisation of people who use drugs; the specific…
I want to ask the Minister about the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Drugs Use, particularly as they refer to the decriminalisation of drug use. I had not intended to ask this question so quickly following the release of the report, but it is important to seek clarification on some statements the Minister made in the media. I am looking forward to addressing them because I see that they are also in the resp…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire for his response. I was coming in here for a fight, but he has disarmed me somewhat with his response. What he has in his written reply is different from what he has said in that he said we went beyond the recommendations of the citizens’ assembly. I wanted to read the recommendation of the citizens’ assembly as presented on 24 October:
The Citizens' Assembly has recommended that the St…
Does the Minister honestly believe I would stand over a policy decision that would enable an increase in open drug dealing? Does he actually believe that a committee that had representation from members of all parties, including his own and including incredible members such as Deputy Brabazon, whose views differ from mine on this, and Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, would do that? We examined the matter and what we establi…
8. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his views on the fact that there are currently no dedicated addiction nurses working in Irish prisons despite his Department estimating that seven in ten people committed to prison have addiction issues; and when he expects specialist addiction services to commence in prisons. [49882/26]
I commend the Minister on his visit to the Alfie Byrne Road on Friday. It was a source of great annoyance to me that he left such a great impression on the lads down there, so well done to him on that.
Back to the fighting. I want to speak to him about our prison services and the fact that we do not have any specialist dedicated addiction nurses within the Prison Service, despite over 70% of the prison population having addiction needs.
I hope he declared it.
Brilliant.
I am correct in saying that the programme for Government includes a commitment to recruit addiction nurses. The last addiction nurses left in 2016. We have a problem in our prisons. People are going in there with addictions. Over 70% of the prison population, or 4,000 people, entered prison with some form of addiction. The Minister knows our recidivism rates. Almost exactly seven out of ten people who go into prison …
The Minister might want to check the programme for Government in terms of the plans in relation to that, but okay. We have a profound problem when it comes to our prisons. I do not doubt for a second that there are some success stories, but that is by no means the norm. That is actually a failure of opportunity because we talk about the people going into prison for absolute reasons, but while they are there, there is…
20. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his views on the prevalence of childhood exploitation into crime; and his plans to address this issue. [49884/26]
It is appropriate that we move on from discussing the successes of CAB and the evolution of how we target the drugs gangs. That has consequences in terms of how the gangs have tried to innovate. One callous activity they have engaged in is the coercion of children into crime. I do not believe eight- and nine-year-olds were being used as drug smugglers 30 years ago. Today, the prevalence of that is substantial. I want…
I can hear the Minister of State's passion for this area. The problem is that in 2017 or 2018 the Greentown project, in its first national survey, found that at any one time over 1,000 children in the State were being coerced into crime. Between 2018 and 2026, every metric has got worse. I have to assume the coercion of children into crime has got worse. The Greentown project has good outcomes but it is very small an…
The Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Act 2024 was welcome but there are flaws in the legislation in that it has the expectation built in that a child would be the witness to their own coercion. Too often we do not see children and young people who are being coerced into this as victims even by the very fact that we talked about the recurring offences. We separate ourselves from the fact …