I think it is doable but it is extremely ambitious. For the Council of the European Union to reach an agreement at a relatively early stage, in other words, by the end of this year, provides a degree of certainty in a world that is craving certainty. There is a real premium on trying to reach agreement because there is so much uncertainty in the world right now. It is not inevitable that that will happen. The Deputy …
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.
Month by month
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
Show as a table
| 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
As the Deputy knows, the Government is committed to balanced regional development and supporting rural communities, as outlined in the programme for Government. Regarding fiscal supports, a range of tax-based enterprise supports are available to businesses and enterprises across the country, in particular SMEs. These incentives complement more regionally specific direct expenditure measures and schemes overseen by th…
Personally, I am very positively disposed to that once it is a matter for the local authority. As the Deputy rightly said, I am a big believer in empowering local democracy. If you run in your community and get elected by your community, you should have real powers. A revenue-raising power is one. If you happen to be a member of Galway or Dublin City Councils - they are two examples - and you say, "Hang on a second, …
I am very much up to the idea. Generally, people come to this House and come up with ideas on how to spend money. It is refreshing to have people come into this House and come up with ideas on how to generate money. A tourism tax or levy at the very least merits consideration. I say "tax or levy" because they are obviously very different. A levy is something that may not necessarily involve my Department or the Reven…
I join with the Deputy in extending sympathies to the family, friends and community of Moya Brennan. She was a musical icon, a unique voice of extraordinary talent and somebody who played no small part in bringing Irish music to an international audience. May she rest in peace.
I thank the Deputy for the question. This has been a very challenging period of time for the people of this country. The pressures that peop…
It matters.
No, it is quite the opposite, in fact. People are living through very tough and very challenging times but Deputy Doherty has got to be honest with that person who wrote to him as well. The Deputy can talk about waving graphs, but facts matter. I had Sinn Féin's measures assessed by officials in my Department, and they came back and said it was not doable.
Hang on a second. May I speak, please? Thank you. Revenue does not hold records of individual end users when it comes to home heating oil. If we did what Sinn Féin proposes, and I am accepting-----
You are.
With regard to a proposed amendment for solid fuel carbon tax, the Sinn Féin amendment proposed reverting to 2023 rates and backdating the reversal to 1 May 2023.
I am going to write to the Deputy and explain to him the practical challenges with the Sinn Féin's measures. There are practical challenges.
Can I say something else? The Deputy had his time and I think the people deserve better than shouting and roaring. We cannot get through this global economic crisis if every week we come into this House-----
-----and the proposal is to abolish taxes and spend more. That is not a sustainable way through this. Abolishing taxes and spending more would not steer us-----
What I say to that person is we have her back. We put in one of the largest packages in the European Union.
We have reduced excise. They are benefiting from that at that pump. We have extended the fuel allowance and we will work through this together-----
-----while Sinn Féin refuses to condemn intimidation against gardaí this week. It refused to stand by-----
She did not but you refused and your leader refused-----
Time and time again, Sinn Féin refused to condemn the blockades. It is now in favour of blockades.
You are out of touch.
I thank Deputy Ahern for his question. I will reiterate my point that while there has been much discussion this week about various sectors that are vital to the Irish economy, whether they are farmers or fishers, hauliers or the likes, the fundamental point here is that this Government's package supports everybody because the PAYE worker and everybody else in this country needs food on the shelves. They need the port…
At least your politics are honest in the sense that we can either agree or disagree on certain policy areas and you can criticise us and we can criticise you. You do not come into this House and constantly suggest the abolition of significantly important taxes and come up with a load of new spending ideas at the same time. That is not a sustainable position. It was very interesting earlier in the week that the House …
Deputy Doherty, you had your go. It is their time.
This week the Sinn Féin Party took to social media to criticise Labour and the Social Democrats. I thought that was pretty pathetic.
Come on, Pearse, give everybody a chance in this House. No bully-boy tactics, please. We support the Critical Infrastructure Bill. We will be happy to tease through the detail of it. The Deputy is right in that there are lots of factors involved. At times, environmental law can be a factor when there are projects we need to deliver at real speed. This is not about all projects; it is about those that are deemed to be…
We have to acknowledge that real wages in this country are rising. We also have to acknowledge that we made very significant increases, quite rightly, in the disability budget this year, albeit with a big focus on service provision. Those increases totalled over €600 million. The Government is committed to the introduction of a cost-of-disability payment and a lot of very good work is being done by the Minister, Depu…