On behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, I thank Deputy Byrne for raising these important issues.
The Government continues to prioritise increased investment in the National Ambulance Service with an allocation of €285 million in 2025. Investment this year includes €8 million for new service developments to deliver 180 additional posts. This will help to support capacity building in our front-l…
TDs / Noel Grealish
Noel Grealish
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
27,769
words spoken in the chamber
27,625 as a minister, 144 as a TD
397
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 93 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 6 |
| March 2025 | 0 |
| April 2025 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 0 |
| June 2025 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 2 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 4 |
| October 2025 | 19 |
| November 2025 | 3 |
| December 2025 | 4 |
| January 2026 | 0 |
| February 2026 | 14 |
| March 2026 | 2 |
| April 2026 | 3 |
| May 2026 | 3 |
| June 2026 | 9 |
| July 2026 | 0 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 0 |
| October 2026 | 10 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 65 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Galway West 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine 23 January 2025 to now
I thank the Deputy. In my opening statement I focused on the specific issues she raised concerning the National Ambulance Service station in Drogheda and the status of the rapid response vehicles at the station. I will now speak more generally about the National Ambulance Service's urgent and emergency ambulance performance and reiterate this Government's continued investment in this service. Demand for our urgent an…
I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to speak on this matter, especially in the context of my role as the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for new markets and food promotion. Ireland and the US have a significant and mutually beneficial economic relationship. Within this context, the US is a key market for the Irish agrifood trade. It is …
Go raibh maith agat, Deputy Geoghegan, for the question. I am a great supporter of the farmer markets and organic food markets.
In 2023 the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine awarded €1.1 million to 12 projects to promote and develop the organic sector over 2023 and 2024. One of the successful applications was to hold an organic food fair in Merrion Square, and this was a well-attended event that took pl…
I thank the Deputy for his comments. It is great that a Dublin TD is talking about farmers' markets, which is very important. I spoke about this in my first speech to this Dáil when a number of the TDs from Dublin were talking about the farming community. Farmers put an awful lot into the economy in Ireland and I am great a supporter of farmers' markets. We have very successful ones in Galway and Galway City Council …
I agree with the Deputy on that and I will look at it, along with my colleagues here. The second call closed on 7 March and relates to a €3 million fund to develop and promote our organic sector to cover the period of 2025 to 2027. The applicants were asked to submit their applications for that. It is in process at the moment and the announcements will hopefully be made by the end of April. I hope more organic market…
I thank Deputy Byrne for submitting this question. The Department operates a number of schemes in the horticulture sector. They may be availed of by wine producers in the context of the grape-growing aspect of their production. The two schemes are the scheme for investment aid for innovation and diversification in horticulture, which supports feasibility and desk studies, and the scheme of investment aid for innovati…
It is important to note that my officials participated in the European Commission high-level wine group last year. This group was established to develop policy recommendations to address issues in the European wine sector. While primarily aimed at reducing burdens currently impacting larger wine-producing countries, the final recommendations document produced by the group also recognised the importance of new and eme…
One of the first meetings I had when I was appointed was with Bord Bia. I was very impressed with the organisation. It has 14 offices around the world. We export to 114 countries and many of those exports are drinks that are produced in Ireland. If we can promote the wine industry here, I am sure Bord Bia will be delighted to do so. I will be happy to work with Deputy Byrne to ensure that happens.
I am delighted to vote confidence in the Ceann Comhairle. Verona Murphy is a formidable lady and the first woman ever elected to the office. Despite encountering difficulty in carrying out the duties of the office, she has always been impartial, fair and independent in her actions.
Verona was first elected to represent Wexford in 2020. Since then, she has proven to be a strong voice for her constituents and for the …
Hear, hear. They should be ashamed of themselves.
You should withdraw it.
Deputy Bacik should withdraw that comment. They got elected here the same as her.
Hear, hear.
Get a majority and vote it down.
You still do not have enough for Government.
I thank everyone for their contributions and for their messages of goodwill to the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and me. My good friend, Deputy Fitzmaurice, said they were giving us a short stay of execution. I hope I get a bit of a longer one because I am only new in this Department, while the Minister has been there for the past five years.
Listened to the debate, I note what Deputy Fitzmaurice said about going out to …
I know. It was my first speech as a Minister of State.