If I start making diary commitments for the Minister for Transport on the floor of the Dáil, I will find myself in a peculiar situation.
I will certainly pass on the Deputy's request as I am sure the Deputy will be in touch with the Minister's office also. I live in a county not too dissimilar to the Deputy's in relation to commuter issues. I do take the point that far too many people are spending far too long sitti…
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
We do need to see how we streamline that for important capital projects.
I generally believe it is very important for public officials to listen and engage, including those who have responsibility for the delivery of the projects in terms of the various agencies. I am sure if the Deputy reaches out to the Minister's office, he can engage with him. I am sure he has done so. I will certainly pass this on as well. I am in a point of agreement. First, I disagree with the idea that the project…
The Deputy is right. I have a note here. I am only going to read this bit out to show how frustrating what we receive sometimes is. The note is saying that for 2025, it is estimated that there are around 4,200 first year places available in County Kildare, with 3,794 sixth class pupils in the area, and on this basis the officials estimate a surplus capacity of around 400 places. Whoever wrote that note in the Departm…
As the Deputy approaches his first anniversary in the Dáil, he has definitely learned how this place works. I think he named every town in his constituency through the two contributions. I hear him. I also want to acknowledge and thank him for the constructive suggestions and solutions he has brought here on behalf of the schools, communities, parents and students he is dealing with in his constituency. They are sens…
I thank Deputy Doherty. I am aware of this issue and the significant concern of taxi drivers in relation to this. The factual position given by the Department is that dispatch operators are required to provide bookings to small public service vehicle, SPSV, licensed drivers using SPSV licensed vehicles only. Where taxi drivers choose to affiliate with a dispatch operator, they are free to contract with a dispatch ope…
I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I congratulate him on his first year in the Dáil. I think I heard him say the other day that he is the first TD born in the 21st century-----
-----which is a significant milestone.
Did we? There you go. Well, comhghairdeas, and-----
Maybe you will. I would highly recommend it most days.
We will have a discussion offline about that. We used to be in government with the Labour Party. You have to be careful not to get too close to that crowd - I jest.
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a really serious matter because school secretaries and caretakers are the beating heart of our community. We know them; we know them by name. We all want to see this issue resolved. Conscious of my new position, I d…
There have been eye-watering amounts of public funding allocated to capital, including to the Department of Transport.
I would make the point, as I made earlier but I want to make it again, there are lots of projects that will be advanced over the lifetime of this Government and beyond that are not included in yesterday's sectoral investment plan. They are generally projects of below €200 million and TII will publis…
A minute ago you did not want to spend the money on roads and you criticised us for spending too much money.
Exactly. Roads funding is important and I agree with Deputy Whitmore on this. This is why we have made sure the N11 will advance and I assure Deputy Whitmore that the N81 will too. The N81 is not a project that is expected to reach the threshold there would have been in the sectoral investment plan. I have discussed this with the chief executive of Wicklow County Council also. My broader point is that I will ask the …
I thank Deputy Healy for raising a very important matter. Sometimes when you are in my position talk is not cheap and it can be detrimental to very important processes that need to be followed in our labour relations and industrial relations mechanisms in the country. I agree with Deputy Healy's analysis on the hugely positive contribution our school secretaries and caretakers, and the SNAs he referenced in an earlie…
I am sympathetic to some of the points the Deputy makes. I have had discussions with colleagues on this also. CPO is a very important tool but it should be used in very specific instances. I am not certain I am comfortable with its use in relation to greenways. The State should not overcomplicate the situation in relation to greenways. They are good things, and they are things that communities generally want, but the…
That is genuinely what I want to happen and I know it is really what the Taoiseach wants to happen. I acknowledge and pay tribute to him for the work he is investing in this personally. He and I had a meeting circa three weeks ago, maybe four, and we are due to meet with the representative group again very shortly. It will be either next week or the week after but it is in the month of December. A huge amount of work…
I thank Deputy Aird for all the work he has been doing over the course of the past year, keeping us under pressure in terms of many projects that are important to the people of Laois, who gave him such a resounding mandate a year ago and I acknowledge this. I thank him for raising this important matter with me. I know it is an issue he has been campaigning on, not only as a TD but during his time on Laois County Coun…
I will have to check with the relevant Minister on the status of that and will revert to the Deputy directly.
That is a very good idea because we need to do two things. As the Deputy has rightly said, for his constituents in Palmerstown, Chapelizod and in general, we need to build the confidence he has talked about but we also need to be able to track performance in terms of return of investment. We have just announced as a Government a major increase in public transport funding and a major increase in capital funding in gen…
I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising this issue. The roll-out of DEIS and DEIS plus, as we have committed to in the programme for Government, is linked to an educational measure but also a child poverty measure. We all know one of the best ways of lifting people out of poverty, including intergenerational poverty, is through our education system. Tackling educational disadvantage moves children out of poverty in the sh…
Let me correct the record: we have an excellent Minister who is working very hard but housing is also a whole-of-government issue. The Minister, Deputy Browne, recently published, with me, the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, a new national housing plan that involves every part of the State, realising everybody has a role to play in the housing emergency, including our local authorities and State …
I will speak to the Minister because we all want to see more supply and I will ask him to revert to the Deputy directly.
I thank the Deputy for highlighting that. Ultimately, State agencies must always remember that they are agencies of the State. The people in this building and those in local authority chambers are the democratically elected representatives of that State. I am sorry to hear the Deputy is highlighting a real issue in terms of a lack of engagement on this. I will certainly take this back and discuss it with the Minister…
I will not give any undertaking until I get on top of the facts of it. I will certainly get on top of the facts now and will revert to the Deputy on the issue. I can only imagine the frustration of those An Post pensioners. Allow me to seek the latest update and I will revert to the Deputy on it in writing.