I thank Deputy Hearne for raising what is a very important matter. I spoke to the Minister for Education on this issue this morning. I met this week the Ministers for Education and Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability specifically on the issue of children's disability services. There was an announcement today by the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility fo…
TDs / Simon Harris
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
566,209
words spoken in the chamber
566,201 as a minister, 8 as a TD
140
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 2,972 in all
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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 4 |
| January 2025 | 4 |
| February 2025 | 255 |
| March 2025 | 42 |
| April 2025 | 83 |
| May 2025 | 249 |
| June 2025 | 175 |
| July 2025 | 144 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
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| February 2026 | 197 |
| March 2026 | 187 |
| April 2026 | 226 |
| May 2026 | 119 |
| June 2026 | 127 |
| July 2026 | 93 |
| August 2026 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 83 |
| October 2026 | 53 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 2,685 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 29 November 2024 to 22 January 2025
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Defence 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
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- office Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Defence 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Finance 18 November 2025 to now
Every child has a constitutional right to a place.
On such a serious issue, the Deputy does not need to say people are rambling on. We are trying to sort this issue for parents and children, and to absolutely vindicate their rights. While every child in this State has a right to a school place, every child also needs to have a right to an appropriate school place. The Opposition can laugh all it wants; everything is not always funny.
So do I, Deputy Coppinger, very well.
I know, from a familial perspective, what it is like when you do not get that place. I know that, so do not lecture me on this stuff. We know.
We are going to address the issue. As recently as today, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, made an announcement regarding additional capacity in special education. The Minister for Education intends to engage directly with parents. Any parent would do anything for his or her child and I do not want to see any parent having to sleep out. Rather, I wish to see meaningful engageme…
We will engage with them.
I thank Deputy O'Connor and I will absolutely bring this issue directly, as I know he has, to both the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I will ask them to come back to the Deputy through the NCSE regarding Youghal and how we can increase capacity in east Cork.
In both the Deputy's constituency and many other constituencies, people are working cross-party to …
I thank Deputy Carrigy for that. This is a very important project. It is a strategic corridor from Dublin to the north-west region and the Border counties. The project is about 54 km in length, connecting Mullingar and Westmeath to Roosky in Longford.
The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Canney, reminds me that his Department is well aware of this project. The emerging preferred route has now…
Like the Deputy, we all have been working tirelessly on this issue and no one on the Government side is in any way dismissive about this. I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this important issue. I have spoken to the Minister for communications, Deputy O'Donovan, and I have asked him to come back to the Deputy directly today regarding more information and timelines, including for Ballinamore nursing home and other are…
I am due to meet shortly, along with the Minister for Health, with some people specifically on this issue. It is an area in which we need to do a lot better. I undertake to look specifically at the recommendations and suggestions put forward yesterday by Cared Ireland. Either the Minister for Health or I will come back directly to the Deputy on this.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We continue to have a big focus on the whole issue of vacancy and how to bring vacant properties and stock back into use in general. He made the point that even within the local authority stock, more could be done in terms of funding and timelines for the conversion of that stock back into use. I will raise that directly with the Minister, Deputy Browne, and ask him to get b…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue for his constituents in Palmerstown and across Dublin Mid-West. He is right that this is an issue more broadly. People may feel anxiety in terms of everything moving to a digital or online world and will ask, "What about my needs and the needs of my community?". I assure those people the Government is conscious of this and that we intend to restore the access to cash Bill to …
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue as it relates to his constituency of Kildare North. I am very much aware that there are operational challenges in Celbridge, including at Hazelhatch, and that the water network is under pressure. The good news is Uisce Éireann has water main rehabilitation works approved for design and construction in 2025, involving 5.3 km of new water mains. Site investigation works are pla…
As the Deputy knows, at the moment, around 80% of our gas supply comes from two pipelines with the UK. If anything were to happen with one of those pipelines, we would all know about it in terms of very serious consequences. We need to have an insurance policy in place. That is the responsible thing to do. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is examining this area and will bring proposals to the Government shortly. It is i…
I thank the Deputy and Councillor Johnston for raising this important issue of reduced capacity on the northern commuter rail and the impact it is having on their constituents. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Canney, has heard what he said. We will raise this issue within the Department, with Irish Rail and with bus providers to see whether that case can be made. Deputy Smith is right on …
I agree with the Deputy on the school inclusion model. We have got to be honest when the model is not fit for purpose. I really believe this and I say this when I talk to parents. There are often issues that if there is more money allocated, it can make great progress. Of course, we will allocate more money to children's disability services but reforming the system will be as important. That is why the programme for …
No, because we have already done that. A Dáil reform committee has been established. As the Deputy rightly said, we had a Dáil committee that fully engaged. As the Deputy rightly said, it was not possible to reach agreement. I accept the Deputy engaged. Everyone engaged in good faith. I am not having a go here but at some point, we have to say we have talked this as much as we can. It is about eight minutes on a Wedn…
I thank the Deputy. He is entirely correct. I know it from my time as health Minister. We all know it and the Deputy knows it well. It is an issue of great stress and concern to people in Galway and the west and, indeed, to people having to work in the hospital, and do amazing work but in substandard infrastructural conditions.
The Government will respond in kind to the good work that has been done by that board set…
I thank the Deputy for this important question. I want him, the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann and the people of Ireland to know that as Minister for Defence, I am deeply committed to the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern, fit-for-purpose organisation to defend the State and meet the challenges of today and the future.
Across Europe, all countries including Ireland, are experiencing an increas…
I have given a timeline for when we expect to reach LOA2, namely, by 2028. I will work constructively with the Deputy on this to see if there is potential to accelerate this process. That will be a matter for engagement with Government colleagues, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. We are taking action on this and any objective examination of Defence Forces spending would …
We will map that out in terms of the progress we need to make between now and 2028. The figures show that last year was the first year in a long time that we saw stabilisation and very small growth, which I do not overrate, in the number of men and women in our Defence Forces. We expect to see this trend continue. Let us look at this in the round. The budget increased each year from 2020 to 2025. A number of capital …
There is often time for argy-bargy in the House but I want to acknowledge the constructive way the Deputy has engaged with me and my office in passing on the views and concerns of ACCAS. I will endeavour to also engage on this constructively in return. The health and well-being of the men and women working in the Air Corps and the wider Defence Forces is of the utmost priority for me, both as Tánaiste and Minister fo…
I want to reflect on what Deputy Ó Laoghaire has said to me today, and what he conveyed to me by email on behalf of ACCAS last night. I say this without prejudice or conflation with any other ongoing issues, be they issues before the courts or issues that will rightly be examined by the tribunal in terms of how complaints are handled. The point Deputy Ó Laoghaire is making is that regardless of both of these facts, w…
Yes.