I have been speaking to a lot of disabled people over the past few weeks about their experiences and on this question of a cost-of-disability payment, permanent or otherwise. Some of the stories they told me were that they were using only one heating bar on their electric heater rather two because they could not afford the cost of electricity, that they were going in for central dialysis in a hospital because they co…
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
It is profoundly wrong to chase a defenceless animal to exhaustion and have it ripped apart by dogs and call that a sport. It is a barbaric and cruel practice that has no place in a modern society. It is a throwback to empire. It is a loathsome practice. Those are not my words. They are the words of backbenchers from Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Those words ring true and matter. They should be reflected in v…
Yesterday, the Taoiseach did not answer my party leader, Holly Cairns, on whether an emergency winter payment for people with disabilities would be provided. Instead, he said the Government wanted to embed permanent changes to payments, but it has not done that either. The Government has instead slashed the income of some of the most vulnerable people in this country by €1,400 before those permanent supports were rea…
So, he is ruling it out.
This will be real change.
It is often said that a dog is man's best friend. In Ireland, we are no different. Who of us do not remember the old stories of Cú Chulainn, who was named after the hound, or Fionn mac Cumhaill and Bran? There are nine Irish breeds of dog, the most famous being the wolfhound. We have a proud and long history in our mythology and society of a wonderful relationship with dogs. Unfortunately, we also have a history of c…
I was genuinely shocked and appalled by the video that was circulated by the Department of housing yesterday. It was drafted by a charity, as we know, but it was released on the Department of housing's official communication channels. It actually beggars belief that some bright spark in the Department of housing came up with releasing that video. Is it now official Department policy that young people should move in w…
Is that the official policy of the Government? The numbers have doubled in a decade and the Government still wants them to move in with their parents. Youth unemployment among the highest it has ever been, if you strip out Covid and the recession. What is the official policy of the Government for housing for young people?
It was released by the Department.
I really like numbers. I look at numbers all the time. There are approximately 750,000 people who are about to go on auto-enrolment in January, approximately 1.5 million recipients of social protection payments and zero offshore wind farms in this country that are operational. A magic number I just discovered is minus €250. The reason I really like numbers is that they often bring clarity. Politics is too often the o…
Households.
I move amendment No. 1:
In page 11, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:
“(a) in section 10(2), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):
“(c) act with fiduciary responsibility to the participants in the scheme in the discharge of its functions.”,”.
This amendment follows on from our discussion on Committee Stage regarding board composition and the responsibilities and profiles…
I am disappointed at that response. I understand the logic the Minister has put forward and I accept that the Department is doing all that it can. However, I have very real concerns that the Department and the Minister are not sufficiently prepared for this launch date. As much as they have done a promotional campaign, there are equally some unscrupulous actors equally promoting themselves to divert employers from in…
I thank the Minister. I genuinely welcome the clarity he will bring on the fees in the Cabinet memo next week. I also welcome the work he will be doing in regulating the allocation of funds for employees towards the right products. I would support him in bringing those regulations expeditiously, as reported in the media. I just do not agree that investment managers can be charged with the responsibilities here. This …
Hear, hear.
The renewed calls for a border poll on reunification in recent months point to a definite direction of travel on the issue of a united Ireland and on that question moving from the realm of the idealistic to the practical. My party and I would welcome the opportunity to advocate for reunification and believe that a united Ireland achieved by truly informed communities North and South in a process defined by consent an…
I will send the Taoiseach a copy if he likes.
74. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection when his Department will establish, and make publicly available, the administration fees and charges being imposed as a part of auto-enrolment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62261/25]
My question is about administration fees and charges being imposed as part of auto-enrolment. My understanding is that these fees have not been agreed or released publicly. I have some reservations more widely about whether it is still the case today that the Department and Government are sufficiently prepared when this scheme goes live, which is just a few short weeks away, as the Minister said yesterday.
I thank the Minister. I very much hope the fees will be under 0.1% of assets under management. It would be extremely concerning if they were anywhere near that. My understanding from the Minister’s answer is that the fees have not been detailed, and this goes to the heart of the question of whether the State is adequately prepared to introduce auto-enrolment on 1 January as the Minister said today he would be doing.
…
That goes to the heart of the question here, which is around the digital literacy of the individuals we are putting into this scheme. I am very concerned there is no plan for what we are going to guide people with in terms of the lump sum they will get at the end of the scheme. For those people in their 50s or 60s approaching retirement age who will get that lump sum, there seems to be no pathway to how they would ac…
I thank the Minister and his officials for creating a task force for the Fastway workers. I am conscious that we are not just talking about people who are in typical employment situations. We are talking about people who are self-employed, who are contractors and who are franchisees. According to the information I have, about 1,000 people are in that category as opposed to the 300 who were employed by Fastway directl…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on Science Week and the importance of the sciences to our country and to humanity. I first qualified as a chemical engineer, seeking that course because of my love of the sciences and mathematics. That education gave me much understanding of our world. Interestingly, it is helping me to analyse our wastewater treatment and energy systems in my work as a TD and I am proud to be able …
Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
It has been a little over a month since the Minister for Finance and Minister for public expenditure stood in this Chamber and delivered to the country this Government's budget for 2026. We heard on that day all about the choices this Government was making - which industries it wanted to give tax breaks to, which boardrooms would be popping Champagne, and which food chains would see bumper profits next year under its…
Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
I meant a year. Sorry.