This Bill is an admission of failure. It is an admission of failure on energy policy and energy security. It is an admission of failure of several Governments' inability to plan properly for energy in Ireland.
I had to stop myself for a second and think that, yes, it is 2026 - that is what is written on the Bill - but we have climate goals to 2030 and we have to get to net zero by 2050. Does the Minister know how lo…
TDs / Eoin Hayes
Eoin Hayes
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
539
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
46,272
words spoken in the chamber
Across 176 contributions
420
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
163
topics asked about
Across 20 departments
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
What they ask about
The subject headings the Oireachtas filed their questions under.
Who they ask
The departments their questions were addressed to.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 539 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 176 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| March 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| April 2025 | 44 | 0 |
| May 2025 | 61 | 2 |
| June 2025 | 7 | 1 |
| July 2025 | 21 | 4 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 8 | 13 |
| October 2025 | 64 | 6 |
| November 2025 | 35 | 10 |
| December 2025 | 16 | 14 |
| January 2026 | 38 | 11 |
| February 2026 | 26 | 35 |
| March 2026 | 9 | 15 |
| April 2026 | 33 | 17 |
| May 2026 | 7 | 13 |
| June 2026 | 78 | 10 |
| July 2026 | 72 | 7 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 15 | 10 |
| October 2026 | 5 | 8 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 118 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Worked out by computer from the subject headings of each TD's questions, giving more weight to headings few TDs use. It shows shared subjects, not shared views.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin Bay South 29 November 2024 to now
- party Social Democrats 29 November 2024 to 10 January 2025
- party Independent 10 January 2025 to 10 April 2025
- party Social Democrats 10 April 2025 to now
4. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection to outline the plans his Department has to reverse the trend of increasing levels of poverty amongst older people living alone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46289/26]
My question is about older people living alone. According to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, about 30%, or one in three, are at risk of poverty. It seems quite incredible that in a country with a €9 billion surplus in cash and one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world that we would have such a level of people living alone and pensioners in poverty. I would like to hear what the Minister is going to do about…
The Minister said that the State pension is aimed at making sure older people do not experience poverty but, according to the CSO, one in ten is experiencing consistent poverty. That is a doubling since the year before in 2024. Notably, this is particularly acute in rural areas and in the Minister's constituency of Mayo and Belmullet. Some 27% of households are reliant on the State pension exclusively. They are livin…
I would strongly welcome the Minister doing that in the forthcoming budget. To come back to the fuel allowance in particular, many older people are struggling to heat their homes. They are often staying in bed rather than getting up because they cannot afford the gas or the home heating oil.
I want to focus on the question of targeted energy credits. This is something that has been talked about in the House many tim…
A Cheann Comhairle, you might join me in welcoming Abraham Phelan and Rikke Sorensen from the Silk Road Café, who are here in the Gallery. This past weekend, the Silk Road Café, a private operator in the Chester Beatty Library on the Dublin Castle campus, was forced to close as a result of upcoming EU Presidency events there. Over the last number of weeks, several of us in this Chamber have raised the issue and writt…
It definitely was in the next month. He has a lease until-----
When the Government announced the AI strategy in February, there was a very long press release, but it did not mention the word “jobs”. I want to raise a specific case in my constituency. Covalen made 720 workers redundant, and it blamed 540 of those lay-offs on AI. The company works for Meta. A total of 540 workers were under the two-year mark for statutory severance payments and they also have a six-month cooling o…
The Minister drives from Mullingar most weeks when he comes to Dublin 2, which is in my constituency. He might have noticed the state of the roads in Dublin city. They are in a huge state of disrepair. It is problematic for many residents. The Minister must imagine my surprise when I received an email this week stating that the area engineer for this area does not have any budget remaining for the remainder of 2026 f…
On the eve of the World Cup, it is worth remembering the immense potential for good that sport, and particular football, can have in the world. Much of what we will see in the coming weeks will be the global community coming together to cheer on their teams in the spirit of friendly competition and comradery. While the power of sport can be used for good, the same power can be usurped and used to obfuscate and distra…
A short drive from here is the Poolbeg area. The Irish Glass Bottle site is expected to have about 10,000 residents at peak when it is completed but there is a major traffic congestion problem. If the Taoiseach tried to go there this afternoon, he would experience it. We are waiting on the Poolbeg Luas. There was a report saying it could be delivered by 2030 and I want to understand why it will not be. Why is it not …
That would be an update. It is not in the national development plan, NDP.
The moniker for the Fianna Fáil Party is the Republican Party. What is the Taoiseach's plan to end partition? There is a huge set of tricky issues here. How do we integrate a health service? How do we think about housing? Property prices are about a half or third in Northern Ireland. How do we think about public transport? How do we think about constitutional changes? It does not seem like there is any planning happe…
I start by thanking Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. It is very important and I am very glad that it did.
Here we go again. We are back here again, several months after I introduced a motion calling for an emergency winter payment for people with disabilities. I am a new TD. I like to listen to what is happening around here. One of the first debates I saw was a three-hour debate on disabilities. It came f…
Over the past number of weeks, Meta and Covalen have announced redundancies totalling over 1,000 job losses here in Dublin. This comes on the back of a severe stalling in graduate hiring in Ireland, leaving many young people without an economic future, as if it was not hard enough under this Government. I have been speaking with many young tech workers in my constituency who are deeply afraid that the artificial inte…
Mere words, Minister.
I am proud today to support my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, in this Bill to implement much-needed changes to legislation governing terminations of pregnancies. There is a worthwhile history lesson we should remember in this debate. The people of this Republic made their decision on access to abortion care in 2018 by an overwhelming majority in the affirmative. Many opposed to this Bill will say that the elector…
This morning, the Taoiseach opened a cost-of-disability summit. Immediately prior to him doing so, the Minister for Social Protection was on “Morning Ireland” and refused to commit to a cost-of-disability payment in the forthcoming budget. Over the past month, the Government refused to introduce targeted energy credits that would benefit people with disabilities. Earlier this year, it refused to support my motion for…
The recent report by the ISME noted that there was a decline in SME credit balances from €62 billion in 2011 to €17.8 billion in 2023, despite headline economic growth in Ireland during that period. That is a stunning drop of 70% in capital to indigenous companies since the Taoiseach was last in government. He says he is a pro-enterprise Taoiseach but the evidence points to the contrary. What will he do to improve th…
They cannot get access to-----
It is not working.
Two years ago I canvassed in the local elections. One day in Harold’s Cross I knocked on the door of a man about my age. He came to the door. There were toys in the hallway and he was making dinner for his kids. I asked him what were the kinds of political issues that were on his mind and he said, “The cost of living”. That was May 2024. Two years later I think about that man, with everything that has happened since …
The living conditions faced by Dubliners in social housing flats built between the 1930s and 1960s are frankly unconscionable. I have heard stories from people who are desperate, who are enraged and who, increasingly, are resigned to the failure of this State to uphold their human rights.
I get countless pleas in my constituency of Dublin Bay South from people living in flats with mouldy walls, rotting woodwork and …
6. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide an update on child poverty figures and the effectiveness of his Department's measures to reduce child poverty. [31238/26]
The subject of my question is child poverty. Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures that were released recently show that the consistent poverty rate for families headed by lone parents was about 13.4% last year compared with 11% in 2024. It is a 22% increase in consistent poverty for one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, including the children they take care of. Will the Minister confirm what new measur…