On prevailing side: this member voted with the winning side in 634 of 639 decisive votes (0 abstentions excluded). Read it as a government-or-opposition indicator rather than a measure of influence — the figure is near 100% for members supporting the government of the day and near 0% for those opposing it.
This is the point of the site: contributions keep the party held on the day, not the one held now.
| Party | Recorded as | Contributions | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC | Ceann Comhairle / Chair | 2,937 | 2020-07-09 – 2024-11-06 |
| FG | Fine Gael | 1,385 | 2020-03-20 – 2026-09-24 |
Membership spells on record: FG 2007-07-23–2011-04-25 · FG 2011-02-25–2016-03-09 · FG 2016-03-10–2020-03-29 · FG 2020-03-30–2024-11-29 · FG 2024-11-29–present
I apologise to Members for the rushed nature of this debate. We must conclude at 12.22 p.m. and the Minister has eight minutes to conclude by 12.30 p.m. I apologise to those Members who could not get into the debate.
This Minister is on added time so I ask her to conclude within the next minute please.
I thank the Minister.
No, I am sorry Senator-----
I am sorry Senator. The House agreed its business. I apologise to Members but we have a certain allocation of time. The Minister has only so much time available. Under the current restrictions we must vacate the Chamber to have it cleansed. I apologise to Members but to be fair the Minister has given a commitment to come back to people if their queries were not answered. I am sure the Minister post recess will come back to us again. I appreciate and sincerely understand there are issues that Members have not had ad…
Next is Senator Martin. Is he sharing time with Senator Pauline O'Reilly?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
When is it proposed to take Report Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
When is it proposed to take Fifth Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I believe the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, should come to the House next week. Notwithstanding the difficult job the Leader has, there is merit in the comments of Senator Higgins this morning regarding all Stages of Bills. It is important for us to have our own autonomy here. In advance of the schools and our educational establishments reopening in September, we should have a debate in the House next week on education and the reopening of our schools. Let me put it in context. A principal in Dun…
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, to the House and congratulate him on his appointment.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to the House. I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him every success in his tenure. The floor is his.
Thank you, Minister, and I again wish you well in your tenure in office. Senator Clifford-Lee has eight minutes.
I welcome the Minister to the House and commend him on his elevation to Cabinet. He is no longer the Joe Brolly of Irish politics; he is now the manager. The punditry is over and I wish him every success. As a former chairman of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, I assure him that the playing field is one he will be well able for. I am struck by the revisionist comments made by some of my colleagues and friends in the House. I remind Members that it was the former Minister, Dr. James Reilly, under the Fine…
I say that because scaffolds need to be put in place to support our health system and I do not know that we can do it from here. I know the Dáil and the Seanad are the people's assembly but as a former member of the Constitutional Convention, I ask the Minister to consider taking a citizens' assembly approach to universal healthcare because we need more GPs. Senator Kyne referenced the out-of-hours service in Galway. The Minister needs to look at SouthDoc, in Cork, and we need to ensure that we continue the out-of-…
I raised this issue when the Minister was Opposition spokesperson on health. The reform of the HSE is going to be critical to his term as a Minister. Mr. Paul Reid brought a certain dynamism to his own role. In the Minister's reply to us, he spoke about the challenges we face in a post-Covid world in terms of access to outpatients and elective treatment. This where a constitutional convention or citizens' assembly around our health sector is important. I do not want to delay the House but for me this is an importan…
On section 6, Senator Conway made a very telling contribution in his Second Stage speech about what the medical card confers on recipients. We need to do a further piece of work on the packages we can bring with that. I hope that in a further debate on health we may be able to embrace what Senator Conway spoke about in terms of the medical card. It is that passport. The Minister spoke about the importance of teenagers and those under six years of age. Our world has changed since 1970. Young people and teenagers are…