The Government must reverse the 15% average increase in fares for public transport announced by the National Transport Authority for 1 January. This increase worsens the cost-of-living crisis and undermines climate policy. Switching from private cars to a comprehensive system of public transport, not just in cities but also in rural Ireland, where there is no alternative to private cars, is the most effective action …
TDs / Seamus Healy
Seamus Healy
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
102
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
69,402
words spoken in the chamber
Across 297 contributions
338
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
44
topics asked about
Across 14 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 102 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 297 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 3 |
| January 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 2 | 25 |
| March 2025 | 16 | 16 |
| April 2025 | 0 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 10 | 32 |
| June 2025 | 7 | 0 |
| July 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 8 | 8 |
| October 2025 | 0 | 25 |
| November 2025 | 4 | 10 |
| December 2025 | 0 | 12 |
| January 2026 | 1 | 10 |
| February 2026 | 0 | 26 |
| March 2026 | 0 | 5 |
| April 2026 | 10 | 14 |
| May 2026 | 12 | 19 |
| June 2026 | 6 | 22 |
| July 2026 | 7 | 3 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 15 | 26 |
| October 2026 | 4 | 23 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 157 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 Tipperary South 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
7. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will increase the annual carer's support grant. [67666/26]
Will the Minister will increase the carer's support grant in the forthcoming budget in two weeks' time?
As the Minister knows, caring is a very onerous responsibility. It is often a 24-7, 365-day-a-year operation. Surveys by carers have shown that 75% of carers receive no respite whatsoever and the grant itself has been eaten up by inflation not to mention the cost of living over the past number of years. If we look at the past number of years from 2021, we can see that there has only been one year of an increase in th…
The Minister is not giving away much in his reply. The request by Family Carers Ireland is very modest. It certainly does not keep up with inflation and it certainly does not take the cost-of-living crisis into account. An increase of €150 on €2,000 is not a big request. For a very small amount of money, it does a particular amount of good and gives carers the opportunity to have a slight rest and a recharge of their…
9. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Social Protection to review the carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit with a view to the abolition of the means test in budget 2027. [67662/26]
I ask the Minister to honour in budget 2027, in two weeks time, the commitment made to abolish the means test for carer’s allowance.
In the run-up to general election in 2024, every party in this House, including Fianna Fáil, made a commitment to abolish the means test for carers. It was not to be abolished over the lifetime of the Government or in two, three or four years. The commitment was to abolish the means test. That commitment was broken last year. From what the Minister said, it sounds as if we will have a similar situation this year. The…
The Minister's party and every other party in this House made a commitment to the electorate. That commitment has not been honoured. That is a very serious situation because it calls into question people's trust in the democratic process and in politicians. That is serious. The Minister should take what I am saying on board and abolish the means test in the forthcoming budget. There are something like 33,000 carers i…
The Israeli genocide in Gaza involves scholasticide, that is, the intentional destruction of the Palestinian education system. Israel University, the last remaining university in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli military. Some 80% of schools have either been damaged or destroyed. Tens of thousands of students, teachers, lecturers and university academics have been murdered. The United Nations Office of the High Com…
I hope he will reverse that decision.
Carbon tax is just another unfair tax heaped on families already reeling from a cost-of-living crisis and it must be abolished. It unfairly penalises working people rather than the big corporate polluters and drives families and vulnerable people deeper into fuel and energy poverty. The major polluters must be made to pay, including the big oil companies that are making obscene profits. The eight biggest companies ha…
The State is failing persons with disabilities and their carers. The disability services are in crisis on all levels. From the minute a parent or a guardian notices a difficulty with a child, they must fight for everything: for an assessment of needs, with over 22,000 children now waiting; for an appropriate crèche place; for an appropriate school place; for access to therapy services; for respite places; and, indeed…
The modest improvements the Minister has outlined are at best from a very low base, if not an almost non-existent base, but all individuals with disabilities have accessed services since childhood. It beggars belief that there is not a comprehensive national database and register of needs for those individuals.
These must be put in place as a matter of urgency. As the Minister knows, every adult with a disability ha…
The cost-of-living crisis has been building in this country since Covid. It is now at gale-force strength, battering families right across the country. The Government made the crisis even worse by withdrawing the cost-of-living supports in the last budget, costing families up to €1,400. This year, 2026, has seen more huge increases in the costs of all essentials and families are under increasing pressure, trying to m…
Every TD in this House knows Irish Water is not fit for purpose. Every day, an Opposition TD or a Government TD raises an Irish Water issue in this Chamber. Every day, Government and Opposition TDs are on local radio criticising Irish Water. It beggars belief that despite water shortages, hosepipe bans and future and continued scarcity of water due to climate change, Irish Water would decide to close down and decommi…
Irish Water is an unaccountable quango. It has absolutely no respect for TDs or public representatives. Every TD in this Dáil can speak directly to every Government Department, including every section in the Department of Social Protection. TDs can contact county council staff at management, engineering and administrative level. They can speak with HSE staff at all levels. They can talk to Garda officers at local and…
No, it is not. That is the problem. It is not.
We get put talking to a call centre.
It should be but it is not. We can only call and talk to a call centre.
It is frustrating.
The decision made by the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to scrap the men's shed grant for 2025-26 has shocked the 500 men's sheds across the country and their local communities. The grant, small as it is, helps toward basic things like rent, insurance, ESB, heating and water. The withdrawal of the grant will have serious consequences for the sheds. Many will have to cut opening hours or reduce activities and some will fa…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It has been long in the making, going back to recommendations originally made as far back as 2018. Of course, the implementation of Garda powers requires a modern, properly staffed, properly resourced and properly funded Garda organisation with a fit-for-purpose structure. Unfortunately, that is not the situation in Clonmel and south Tipperary. Clonmel is entitled to, …
I welcome and support this motion brought forward by Sinn Féin in support of the triple lock and neutrality. There are no Fianna Fáil TDs here, but the fact of the matter is that Fianna Fáil TDs have the power to stop the abolition of the triple lock. The triple lock is Fianna Fáil. The triple lock is Fianna Fáil history. Éamon de Valera, a founder member of Fianna Fáil, a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach and a Fianna Fáil Pres…
Across Ireland, 624,000 people provide regular unpaid care to children and adults with additional needs. A recent 2026 report on care shows that 75% of carers never received respite, 49% cut back on essentials such as food and heating, and 48% experienced severe loneliness. Of course, these carers saved the State millions of euro annually. I have a specific question arising from a family in my constituency. This fami…