I thank my colleague Deputy McCarthy for raising this very important matter. It is one that is of huge importance to him and his constituents in Cork East. We have heard about it across the country due to its significance and the concern it has caused to people for the reasons he has outlined.
I am glad to tell him a thorough investigation has been carried out over the past month into the fish kill incident on the B…
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
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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 |
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| 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 thank the Deputy for raising the matter because it provides an opportunity to put some of the information on the public record, which is important. His broader point is also important, that is, we need at the right moment when these reports are completed the publication of the information as well as the scrutiny of it at the environment committee. I am sure Cork County Council and councillors in the area will want …
Those are all very fair questions. My understanding is that the independent chair for the lookback on the cases that were closed during the Covid pandemic is due to be appointed very shortly. We will certainly keep everybody across the House updated on that. The Deputy is right that this case raises very significant issues. In the first case we need to try to establish as many facts as we possibly can. We then need t…
I thank the Deputy for her kind words. On this matter, very serious issues have been raised here. I am reluctant to overly comment on them because I am trying to establish all the facts of this case. I am concerned over what I have heard and read this morning. My understanding, based on a note provided to me, is that the DPC first became aware of the matter when contacted by "Prime Time" and is extremely concerned by…
We should work collaboratively on this. When is anybody going to bring forward proposals or ideas? As this is a legislative Chamber, I am interested in the Deputy's ideas on this. I am interested in working constructively with people on this as well. This is information that I am trying to respond to in real time. The Data Protection Commission has advised that it is taking the assertions made in the programme very s…
I thank Deputy O'Gorman. I appreciate his sincerity and his work on this, including in his previous role. The Taoiseach and I have both said there will be a particular focus on child poverty in this budget. The child poverty unit is doing good work for us on that. We have had a Cabinet committee meeting which had an initial discussion on the matter. We should be endeavouring to tackle child poverty regardless of who …
I thank Deputy Tóibín. I acknowledge this is an issue he raises frequently in this House. I also acknowledge that we have taken a number of steps to try to improve child protection in this country, such as the referendum we had and the establishment of a dedicated Department and of the stand-alone State agency Tusla. There is a hell of a lot more that needs to be done, however. After the shocking developments of rece…
I thank Deputy Guirke. I do not doubt those challenges are real for families. We have taken a number of measures to try to help students and their families. We expanded the rent tax credit and ensured that students could qualify for it, as that was not originally the situation. We have reduced college fees for the past three years in a row. There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government on the direction …
I thank Deputy Currie very much for raising this issue and for the focus she rightly keeps on early learning and childcare. I thank her for her work in that regard. Certainly, we will discuss this with the Minister, Deputy Foley. The Government will be publishing an action plan on childcare, which endeavours to knit together the 21 programme for Government commitments on childcare. I expect that to happen in the comi…
I thank Deputy Dolan. He is entirely right on this. I remember vividly the day the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, in his former role brought these proposals to Cabinet. It was seen as a reforming step to identify that there were a number of relatively small villages and townlands that would take forever and a day to get there through the traditional Irish Water way and to put ring-fenced funding in place.
It is appalling…
I thank Deputy Byrne very much for raising this issue. I know this is a priority for both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. They tell me that 178,945 tickets have been issued to children and young people for this school year, including 23,300 children and young people with special educational needs. That is an increase of 3%. However, that is no use to the child Deputy …
First, I thank Deputy Collins for his kind words and solidarity. I appreciate it. Second, he is right; anybody at the ploughing who did not hear very clearly about the tillage issue probably needs their ears cleaned out because the IFA and farmers have been very clear about it. He is correct that my colleague the Minister for agriculture was at the crisis meeting called by the IFA in Naas last week, which around 1,10…
I thank Deputy Coppinger. First, I was very angered to see how Kitty O'Brien was treated. My Department and our embassy have conveyed that to the German authorities. I say that on the record of this House.
I am not fully convinced. Deputy Coppinger may end up being right but I hope she is wrong. I know she will hope she is wrong that we cannot have a majority in Europe voting to implement the sanctions. The coming d…
I thank Deputy Burke very much. I know he has been in direct contact with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on this issue. She has looked into the matter. My understanding is that the treatment has now been confirmed, which I am very pleased is the case, and that she will confirm that directly to the Deputy. I wish his constituent, Aishling, the very best in her treatment. I know that the Deputy, everyone in Cor…
I thank the Deputy for his kind words and solidarity. I thank him for the work he did as Ceann Comhairle on the issue of public safety. He led on this with the appointment of former Commissioner O'Sullivan. I was grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for her leadership yesterday as this Dáil term resumed. I wrote to her last night about her suggestion of convening party leaders to look at this wider issue. I appreciate Dep…
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is right that this was a big part of the general election. We all put forward our stalls on it. There was almost political unanimity around the figure of €200 per month per child. We certainly had it in our manifesto and our colleagues in government did too. It is also in the programme for Government. I always say to people at every opportunity that these are co…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. First, let us very clearly acknowledge that there is a real problem in this country when it comes to energy prices. The facts are clear in relation to that, which is why we called this out very clearly in our programme for Government and acknowledged the pressure increased energy costs place on households and, indeed, businesses. We are seeking ways to lower those prices whi…
Please do not paint a picture that nothing is happening to help people in the here and now.
There is an air of unreality about Deputy Doherty's contribution today and many of the contributions we have had during this Leader's Questions slot over the last number of weeks. Being very honest with the people of Ireland, one would have to go back a long, long time to find a summer recess-----
Deputy Doherty probably does not need Deputy Hearne's help. One would have to go back a very long time to find a summer recess in which we have seen a moment of greater economic uncertainty, yet Deputy Doherty does not want to talk about trade, he does not want to talk about tariffs and he does not want to talk about the 48,000 people who work in pharma in this country. He does not want to talk about global uncertain…
-----by protecting their jobs at this dangerous moment. We will support families but we will also support the economy, something the Deputy does not like talking about very often.
I presume I will get the few extra seconds, too. If the Deputy genuinely believes that the economic challenge facing our country this summer is the equivalent to moments of economic challenge over the last couple of summers, I really worry for his level of economic literacy. If he genuinely thinks-----
-----that this situation with tariffs, trade, pharma and global uncertainty is the same as it was last summer, come on. He is better than that.
The Deputy did. The record-----
Deputy Doherty spends a lot of his political career standing up and saying the Government does not get it, it does not understand, it is out of touch. Does the Deputy know what I know? I know who owns SuperValu.