The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House doing her job.
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
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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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 |
| September 2025 | 79 |
| October 2025 | 214 |
| November 2025 | 347 |
| December 2025 | 192 |
| January 2026 | 97 |
| 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
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- 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
The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House instead of charging $250. This Government has a proud track record when it comes to supporting people. The package we put in place, which Sinn Féin voted against, reduced the cost of diesel and petrol and-----
-----reduced inflation by 0.6%. We expanded the fuel allowance-----
-----with the largest or second largest package in the European Union, while Mary Lou is over charging people $250 and-----
----- giving out free T-shirts.
As Deputy Hearne knows, because we discussed this at length when Sinn Féin raised this last week, my comments related to the new measures that were brought in and it is true that under the new measures new tenancies, the majority of people are covered on no-fault evictions.
Obviously, measures you bring in are prospective. We brought in a whole package of measures in terms of longer tenancies, making sure the RPZ was nationalised and bringing in an effective no-fault eviction ban for the majority of new tenants as well.
I take very seriously the case the Deputy raised. I do not feel too comfortable about speaking about an individual case in the Dáil but if the Deputy wants to sent me t…
What people should do is slow down.
I try to be constructive in this House.
The problem is lots of people are dying on our roads. I am serious about this. If the assertion is the camera is wrong-----
If the assertion is the camera is broken, then I would ask someone to please look into the broken camera. If the assertion is that people are speeding and should not be getting a fine, that is not it.
Can someone please check this? I am not responsible for the operation of cameras but if the camera is not working, it should be fixed. I presume the Department of Transport can look into that, or the gardaí. The broader issue here of these static cameras making sure our roads are safer is a really important one. If our cameras are catching people speeding, and penalty points or fines are being administered, that is G…
I acknowledge genuinely Deputy O’Gorman’s long-standing commitment in relation to this. It is quite incredible that we have a vaccine in this country that can effectively eradicate a cancer that disproportionately impacts and kills young women in this country. Unfortunately, there have been campaigns, misinformation and disinformation. At times, not every Member of this House has supported the vaccine. I hope we have…
The Deputy will be glad to know the Minister for Health thinks he is entirely right and, therefore, I do too. I know the Minister spoke to this at the INMO conference because the work being done by the ANPs is as the Deputy describes. It is a key part of the delivery of healthcare. It is keeping people out of our hospitals as well. It is a very valued role in the health service. We have a piece of work under way in t…
As the Deputy said, there is an incremental credit scheme that does allow teachers to claim credit for other years of relevant service, whether within the EU or outside it. However, there are some issues the Deputy is right to raise in relation to schools which may not necessarily satisfy the current required criteria and then the service of the school cannot be considered towards that incremental credit.
The servic…
The Government is committed to continuing to reduce class sizes. We have seen a significant reduction in pupil-teacher ratios over the past several years. However, the Deputy is right to say it is not an exact science, and I will not pretend it is. It has to be at a point in time. There are opportunities for schools to appeal, put forward information with regard to special circumstances or show they expect that numbe…
I accept that the return on investment in family resource centres is extremely good. I met with the one in Greystones recently and the national organisation came to see me also. It is due to come to see me for a pre-budget meeting in the autumn as well. Being truthful, over the past number of years, we have been trying to balance core funding for existing centres with trying to fill in the map because there are quite…
I thank Deputy Rice. As he said, Pride is a celebration and a protest, but it is also a public statement of intent about the importance of quality and inclusion. When I was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade I met all of our diplomats in Dublin Castle and made the point that we have to live up to our own values test, and our values test is simple. If you are whispering something that you used to say loudly and pr…
I thank Deputy Dolan. I will certainly do that and speak with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, about that issue today and come back to Deputy Dolan and the Galway East representatives. I know Councillor Moegie Maher well and I will be in trouble if I do not go back to him too. As the Deputy knows, we have made the decision to significantly increase the funding for the Department of education. We also made a significant…
We will publish a roadmap on how we create the childcare system I think everybody in this House wants. We had a good meeting of the Cabinet committee on this in recent weeks. Fees are one element, and we have a commitment to get to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of the Government. However, fees without access will only frustrate parents. We have increased the childcare budget to the largest ever, at €1.5 bi…
I am delighted to hear of the progress with the family resource centre.
We need to be very careful here. Everybody wants to see people who have a drug addiction get access to healthcare - 100%. We are all very clear on that, and it has been the clear direction of travel in the Department of Health for many years. Everybody wants to see anybody who is involved in criminality and gangland criminality banged up, taken …
I accept that there can be rigidity, but I also balance that with the fact that there has to be some system in place. Is there a better way of doing it? I am open to considering that. I believe there are appeals mechanisms, and an understanding is meant to exist in the system. If the Deputy sends me the details of the school in his constituency, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to come back to him.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know it is one he has been working on for some time. The Carrigtwohill school campus project is the largest single school building project ever undertaken by the Department of education, and it will serve a school community of about 2,400 pupils. The Department tells me that it has had a positive and productive engagement with the three schools and the patrons through all …
The Deputy is right. I always learn a lot, when I come in here on a Thursday, if a multitude of colleagues across the House are bringing up the same issue. I have to be blunt. We are increasing the number of teachers and SNAs working in our schools, we are increasing the number of schools that we have and we have a redeployment scheme in place. Obviously, we have to have criteria for the teaching allocations. That is…
I thank Deputy Doherty for his question and I thank the Oireachtas committee on housing for its work. The committee report published this morning makes 14 recommendations. Of course, we will work our way through the report and consider all of the recommendations, as we do with all committee reports.
Page 5 of the report states that these committee recommendations arise from hearings held on 16 December last year. A …