I thank Deputy O'Shea very much for raising this matter on behalf of his constituents. My understanding is that the Kanturk wastewater treatment plant has provision in the current RC4 investment cycle. There are plans to initiate a wastewater treatment plant upgrade project. This project is currently at stage 1, where Uisce Éireann develops the project objectives and outcomes and indicative range of costs. This work …
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
I will indeed, and I thank the Deputy for highlighting the issue. I thank his constituents in the community for the incredible amount of fundraising they have done, raising €41,000 for maternity care that is no doubt urgently needed in Gaza where the health service has been obliterated and utterly decimated. I will ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to inquire with our embassy in Cairo on this issue to se…
I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. The Government is in the process of working to develop a cost-of-disability payment. The consultation opened on that last week. We are actively engaging now with people with disabilities directly and also with their representative bodies. I encourage everybody and political parties in this House to get involved in that process as we try to design, for the first time, a cost-of-disability …
I join the Taoiseach in thanking the group of survivors from industrial and reformatory schools for their presence in the Dáil today, and indeed for their campaign to highlight the ongoing legacy of trauma bestowed by this country's shameful history of cruelty towards children. Today we welcome Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maurice. I know you met with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last year. I know you to…
We all know that house prices are too high for too many but it is also important that we do not misunderstand what a median price is. A median price does not refer to every house or indeed a typical house, as the Deputy said, in Dublin. Anyone who searches online will see many homes available in Dublin for below €500,000. That is not to take away from the challenge in relation to affordability but it is an important …
It ensures that people can actually benefit from cash through the help-to-buy scheme and from an equity share in relation to their first home. We are also conscious when we look at how we are doing compared with other European countries that we now live in a country that has one of the strongest rates of home completion in the entire European Union. For every 1,000 people in Ireland, we are seeing 5.9 homes being com…
Of course I recognise that house prices are still far too high for far too many, but I also recognise that the figures - the very same set of figures the Deputy has quoted - show more home transactions last year than the year before, and more first-time buyers last year than the year before. They are real people too. They exist in the Deputy's community and mine. Six hundred people every single week are getting their…
I join the Deputy in welcoming Rush Tidy Towns to Leinster House.
It has been an extraordinarily upsetting and difficult week for parents of children with additional needs, for SNAs, for the children themselves, for teachers and for school communities. That is why it was really important to pause and get this right. The first thing I want to say is that we will see more SNAs in our schools next September than this S…
It is an issue for the whole of Government to get right. We are absolutely determined to get it right. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, are working hand in glove, along with all colleagues in government, to get this right. There should be no change in the application of the care needs criteria. The Deputy asked me what my view is regarding what must come from this pause. That…
I do not agree with the Deputy's view in relation to the football game. Our position in relation to Gaza, the genocidal activity there and the horrors the people of Palestine have experienced is very clear, as are the views of the Irish Government and the people of Ireland in relation to the horrific terrorist organisation that is Hamas and the terrorist attack it carried out. We continue to take active steps almost …
It will not.
That is your view.
No. We are supporting the decision taken by the FAI to participate in the competition. We have enough to be doing running the country without running sports organisations as well. I do not run the FAI. I think it is a bit sneery of the Deputy to call it an inconsequential tournament. It might be inconsequential to her, but I do not think we should suggest to the soccer players that it is inconsequential. It is not fo…
The Deputy would not like people suggesting her participation here is inconsequential. Soccer players and young boys and girls across the country who play sport want to see our soccer team do well. They want to see our soccer team participate. I think we can and should differentiate in relation to this. I do not think we should apply this pressure to individual soccer players or our national soccer team in relation t…
I have always admired the Deputy's bluntness. I will make a couple of points. I say this respectfully. We have to be considered in our comments around trade. The Deputy knows this and I do not need to be telling him or his constituents this but we are exporting about 90% of the agrifood we are producing in this country. We need to understand that. Again, I am not suggesting the Deputy does not, but we need to bring i…
I have enough challenges answering for the actions of the Irish Government without answering for the actions of the Danish Government. What I assure Irish farmers is that the policies being pursued by different European governments will not be reflected in the policies being pursued by the Irish Government. Anything we do in this space in relation to nature restoration will be done in partnership, in collaboration an…
I thank Deputy Brabazon for raising this very serious issue. I fully accept that it is a huge concern for parents regarding what will happen to their son or daughter when they are no longer around. I was checking on my phone because my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins, is due to meet the campaign group Before We Die. My notes state she is due to meet them next Wednesday. It is really important th…
My gut was right there. The Minister of State actually met the group last Wednesday. I look forward to hearing how that meeting went and I will ask her to update the Deputy directly in relation to that. That was to kick off a conversation in relation to how we can have that more holistic view. In terms of practical steps that we are taking this year, €65 million has been provided for new responses in respect of disab…
I think the Deputy knows I gave that commitment in good faith after significant engagement with the HSE and it being given to me. While it did result in many more procedures being carried out and many more children getting their surgery, I think we have seen a number of very concerning developments in relation to this specialty. That is why I believe there needs to be that full inquiry. We have even seen as recently …
I have answered that.
I thank the Deputy for raising this deeply and profoundly concerning issue. I join with her and everyone in expressing my profound sympathy and thoughts to the children and young people affected, their parents and their families. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is in Kerry as we speak and engaging directly. She briefed the Cabinet yesterday on this issue. She will leave no stone unturned in providing support an…
What I will certainly do is accept the Deputy is quite rightly highlighting the issue of disability, as is his party. That is an important and good thing to do. No one wishes to engage in any sort of derisory view. These are important and legitimate issues. The next priority for the Government in terms of the work of the Minister for Social Protection is the development of a cost-of-disability payment. As it happens,…
Our community welfare officers, and the Deputy will know this through his office, are there. He will know the names of the people.
They are there to provide exceptional needs-----
If anybody in the Deputy's constituency, or anyone in the country, is concerned about heating or eating, as he said, I genuinely encourage them to engage with our exceptional needs payments. No one should find themselves in that situation in Ireland. That is what those structures are there for. We just need to have that balance in the conversation. The cost-of-disability payment is a priority for the Government. The …