On prevailing side: this member voted with the winning side in 509 of 516 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FF | Fianna Fáil | 19,180 | 2020-02-20 – 2026-09-30 |
Membership spells on record: FF 1989-06-15–1992-11-05 · FF 1992-11-25–1997-05-15 · FF 1997-06-06–2002-04-25 · FF 2002-05-17–2007-04-30 · FF 2007-05-24–2011-02-01 · FF 2011-02-25–2016-03-09 · FF 2016-03-10–2020-01-14 · FF 2020-02-08–2024-11-08 · FF 2024-11-29–present
What the Deputy has done is use a clever device. We all talk about the Christmas bonus and the Deputy uses a nice, politically clever device - hey presto, a spring bonus. Let us have a summer bonus. Let us have an autumn bonus.
It is good politics, but that is all it is - clever politics.
The Deputy is attempting to be clever but I do not think it fools people. What is more important-----
Let us take the issue of mortgage interest relief. The people that the Deputy identified in his presentation would not actually benefit as much from mortgage interest relief as he might think. As he knows from previous experience, it was the top two deciles who benefited most from it. Is the Deputy really as committed as he suggests to those on the lowest incomes?
We are going to come forward with proposals to deal with people on low incomes, and to target our resources at those on low incomes.
These are the measures that are now being discussed among the party leaders.
Those were the days, my friend.
Among the negatives of the terrible war in Ukraine is the obvious and shocking impact of the death and destruction of young people in a war, both Ukrainians and the young Russians who are being sent to the front line by a despotic leader who seems to have no consideration for life or limb. There is also the terrible impact on civilians in Ukraine, with the displacement of 8 million people. Along with that, people analysing the war will say that it has had a negative impact on climate. The rush to reduce dependency …
I agree 100%. I applaud the Deputy's position in terms of her address to the public meeting next Saturday. I think she has shown leadership in that respect, which I recognise and acknowledge. In terms of the broader agenda, I would have written to the Ceann Comhairle in my time in opposition. We now have the wildflowers on the Merrion Street entrance to Leinster House. The entrance is now much better than the manicured lawns of yesteryear. We need to do more and lead by example in respect of how we live and the rea…
-----that we need to factor in in terms of road-building.
There is a climate issue but we need to get the EVs faster, in my view. That would be my perspective on it.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is correct to say that for 20 to 30 years the policy has been to discontinue the provision of housing within the Defence Forces. I want to be very clear on this. The Deputy will have received responses to parliamentary questions from me. The Deputy, Senator O'Loughlin, Deputy Howlin and others have been in touch and written in on this. I have a meeting with the officials next week on the issue. As far as I am concerned, the policy of discontinuing the use of e…
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is interesting that as we change policies over the decades and so on, we realise that not all that happened in the past was wrong. There may have been issues with the policy, management issues, challenges in terms of maintenance and so on, but the bottom line was that it was all about the quality of life. We are endeavouring to recruit and retain people in the Defence Forces. The response to that crisis of both recruitment and retention has to be multifactorial. It has t…
I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue in respect of our commitment to adult literacy, adult education and the importance of ensuring high quality resources are available to enable us to achieve the objectives we have set in respect of adult education and literacy more generally. Some 3,300 adult education tutors are employed across the 16 ETBs. There is no specific public sector grade, as the Deputy has said, for adult education tutors. They are paid on the basis of an hourly rate and, as the Deputy sai…
I am not arguing with the Deputy on this point. The value of the role of the tutor, which has now existed for over 25 years or more within the further education and training sector, is generally accepted. The regularisation of the grade is essential to ensure the flexibility and agility we need to meet current and future needs. The Future FET: Transforming Learning National Strategy 2020-2024 sets out an ambitious agenda for the sector. Tutors have a critical role in ensuring that the sector continues to adapt and …
The Deputy has come a long way if he is now quoting Davy Stockbrokers to me. Perish the thought. I would be cautious about all of that if I were the Deputy.
The Deputy has come a long way.
Fianna Fáil has been in government for the past two and a half years. Fianna Fáil has identified housing as one of our key issues. Along with our colleague parties in Government, we are increasing State investment in housing. We have been building more houses, particularly social houses, in the last two and a half years than we have in more than a decade. We will continue with that. There is a wide variety of schemes, including schemes for affordable houses.
Sinn Féin opposed the help-to-buy scheme.
Its policies would have reduced supply while the help-to-buy scheme brought in by the previous Government has enabled thousands of people to buy homes.