I am generally supportive of this Bill and, unlike some of my colleagues, I see the rationale in not having juries for certain types of defamation cases. However, I have a query about the corporate entity issue, which is a follow up on what other Deputies said. Let us say there is a chain of hardware stores - let us call them Fianna Fáil hardware - and it is owned by Joe Bloggs. Let us also say Fianna Fáil hardware h…
TDs / Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
476
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
165,982
words spoken in the chamber
Across 383 contributions. Plus 3 contributions from the chair, not counted
315
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
111
topics asked about
Across 17 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 476 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 383 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 13 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 21 | 19 |
| March 2025 | 30 | 25 |
| April 2025 | 27 | 21 |
| May 2025 | 27 | 30 |
| June 2025 | 18 | 19 |
| July 2025 | 48 | 11 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 29 | 9 |
| October 2025 | 6 | 24 |
| November 2025 | 17 | 37 |
| December 2025 | 5 | 17 |
| January 2026 | 31 | 31 |
| February 2026 | 20 | 18 |
| March 2026 | 37 | 15 |
| April 2026 | 29 | 25 |
| May 2026 | 16 | 19 |
| June 2026 | 46 | 12 |
| July 2026 | 5 | 15 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 23 | 17 |
| October 2026 | 28 | 16 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 129 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 Mid-West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Yet, this is what we keep doing in relation to the scourge of nitrous oxide usage. The latter has led to serious injury and death in this country and is now a major source of litter in our communities. So far, it has been left to the Revenue Commissioners to deal with the issue. In that context, they seized 55,000 large canisters last year. The H…
Children's Health Ireland is a publicly-funded hospital group in disarray. We have had the ongoing issues with spinal surgeries, the shocking use of non-medical grade springs for scoliosis, which my colleagues mentioned so I will not go into it even though it is such an important issue, and the massive waiting lists. Later, we will discuss the large number of unnecessary hip surgeries, which again raises questions ab…
I thank colleagues for tabling the motion. This is an important issue. It was good to have a wider contextual debate on what went on in CHI earlier. To recap, I take on board what the Minister said during her contribution. I did not get a chance to come back to it during that debate but I will do so now. We need accountable and deliverable movement in the next couple of months due to the fact that this has been going…
We had some discussion yesterday on other aspects of Irish Water. I mentioned the ageing infrastructure and the fact that we have high levels of leakage - 40% overall, although 16% in newer, fast-growing areas like my part of south Dublin. However, some pipes, particularly in the city areas, are more than 100 years old. We need that general investment. That is clear.
As others have said - we had this conversation wi…
Go raibh maith agat. I welcome the opportunity to have this discussion. It is also good to know we will have a further chance to talk about the current Trump slump later today.
It is widely known that in the 1940s and 1950s, the cliché was that Ireland's biggest exports were live cattle and people. Many of these people went on to create lives and send money back to Ireland from the UK and the US. These early immigra…
To continue from what I said earlier, if MAGA USA has a plan aside from Trump's ego and desire to exercise power, it could be that the tariff strategy is aimed at devaluing the dollar while also managing to retain it as the global reserve currency. I am not sure about that but it is a radical and risky strategy, if there is a strategy. It could equally be totally unintentional and be purely about reducing trade defic…
On one level, this is a very straightforward Bill. I will try to stick to the topic, although the Ceann Comhairle might give me some leeway. I have read that this is an updated version of the earlier touted Employment (Restriction of Certain Mandatory Retirement Ages) Bill 2024, which was here before I was elected in November. The Bill delivers a statutory provision that sets out that an employer may not enforce a co…
Water is a fundamental right, which means that irrespective of income or means the water infrastructure should be funded through general taxation. In this context, I fully support and reiterate the calls of colleagues for a referendum on water infrastructure and ownership vested in the people of Ireland. It is a matter on which I have previously tabled motions when I was a councillor. However, there is another angle …
It is good to have the opportunity to speak on this issue. To be quite honest, I would love an hour, no more than anyone else would.
To put it in the optimistic point of view, Central Statistics Office, CSO, information from 2022 suggests that only 2.3% of young people aged 12 to 17 were referred to the Garda youth diversion programme. Obviously, there were activities that did not get to that level and that were und…
I have been raising this issue, including through parliamentary questions, for quite some time. It is the matter of Wombles Pre-school at Scoil Mhuire, Airlie Heights. While the Department correctly acknowledges that it has no direct role in the provision of childcare services based in the school, everyone acknowledges that the service is essential. There were 46 early childhood care and education, ECCE, and 54 after…
I thank the Minister of State. Scoil Mhuire is well equipped to provide autism support. For example, two staff members recently completed a master's of education in autism. It is a capable school, which does its best for students of all backgrounds.
I am still looking for further clarity, if it pleases the Minister of State, on whether we can say that ten years down the line Wombles Pre-School will still be able to …
I will use less than my 90 seconds because we are pressed for time. I welcome Deputy Healy's motion, which gives us another opportunity to talk about the important issue of housing, in particular the fundamental point that is the five-year emergency plan, which I absolutely support. We need to take a multifaceted approach. I have made a few suggestions before. A couple of months ago, I mentioned using gardens as a st…
A worrying increase in incidents involving the spiking of drinks has been reported. I met a constituent this week whose daughter's drink was drugged, but luckily she had people close by. This sinister offence and others like it are currently covered under legislation on poisoning or drugging - namely, the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, the Misuse of Drugs Act and th…
This confidence motion arises because several Opposition parties want to take down the Ceann Comhairle. She is not the issue. The problem is the Government riding roughshod over speaking time and designating the Lowry Independent group as somehow non-Government and reducing Opposition speaking time. As an Opposition TD, I have called this out on several occasions, but some want to use the Ceann Comhairle as a trophy …
Additional Government policy is needed to encourage the use of electric vehicles. One of the principles in the Government's own EV charging infrastructure strategy is that for the majority of EV users, home charging will be the main solution. However, in new, more densely populated housing areas in my constituency such as the Adamstown strategic development zone, the SDZ in Clonburris, parts of Newcastle, City West, …
I thank the Minister for agreeing to take my points on board. The roll-out of fast chargers is really suited to commuters, taxi drivers and others who need a quick top-up. The mid-range 7 kW to 22 kW chargers are supposed to charge over a period of four to eight hours. They are suited to a different cohort, namely, people going to the supermarket, going to play a five-a-side game or watch a GAA match. As an EV user f…
The policy of charging tolls on the M50 has been raised on multiple occasions. I would agree with the abolition because it has been long paid for.
However, I want to take it from a slightly different angle, which is the need to stagger the tolls along the route. In my constituency, areas like Lucan are choked with traffic going through the village every evening, with people avoiding paying the tolls. It has a knock-…
They own it.
This Bill, in essence, seeks to amend and extend the Social Welfare Acts, make consequential amendments to the Taxes Consolidation Act and provide for related matters. As noted by other Members in this discussion and in committee, the Bill will give effect to the Supreme Court decision in the O'Meara case by expanding entitlement to social welfare schemes aimed at bereaved partners and families to qualified cohabitan…
There are many pressing national and international issues we need to discuss. In this context, given that the total Opposition time has been reduced by almost 70 minutes and Government-related time has been increased by 56 minutes, the time for the Government to be held to account is being significantly curtailed.
The Taoiseach has to acknowledge his role, and that of his party, Fine Gael and the Lowry line-up in the whole debacle of calling time for Government Independents non-Government time. Will he now push for the Dáil to sit at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays to address the time balance? Even better, he could review this plan. Abusing the Ceann Comhairle is wrong, the way the Ceann Comhairle was treated yesterday was semi-feral and a…
Overall time.
I do not have much time but in that very short period, I reiterate my support for this earlier introduction of the ARP. I also commend my former Green Party colleague, Deputy O'Gorman, on his work in this regard. It is hugely important that this scheme continues. I note the Minister said today that all we are doing is extending it for a year and it is not about the wider discussion, so I take that on board. I agree w…
Trade and security are intermingled. In an Irish context, we face many challenges. Issues relating to Brexit have not gone away but these are small issues compared with the deterioration in EU-US trade relations in areas such as tariffs, subsidies and digital trade rules. We have challenges too with China in the context of market access, intellectual property issues, etc. The supply chain disruptions from Covid-19 ha…