For ideas on how to find the speech or parliamentary question (PQ) you are looking for, take a look at these sample searches. These searches are done in the Find a debate page.
Sample searches
- I want to receive a notification when my local TD speaks in the Dáil.
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In the TDs & Senators section, scroll down and find your constituency on the interactive map.
View the profile of your TD. The TD's recent contributions are listed near the top of the page, and to the right of the screen you will see a Share button.
Click the Share button and click the RSS icon.
Copy the URL and add it to your RSS reader.
- I want to see recent speeches about animal welfare.
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Type animal welfare in the search field and click the search icon or press the Enter key.
In the Sort by field click the arrows and select Date.
This displays all the speeches that mentioned both animal and welfare with the most recent debates at the top.
- I want to see speeches about the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
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Type "Animal Health and Welfare Act" in the search field and click the search icon or press the Enter key.
This displays all the speeches that mentioned the exact phrase Animal Health and Welfare Act with the most relevant first.
- I’m looking for the debates of the Second Dáil.
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In the Show field select Dáil debates. In the For field select Dáil or Seanad term. In the Term field select 2nd Dáil. Click the Update list button.
This displays all the debates of the Second Dáil.
- I’m looking for speeches in the 1922 Seanad about divorce.
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In the Show field select Seanad debates. In the For field select Dáil or Seanad term. In the Term field select 1922 Seanad. Click the Update list button.
This displays all the debates of the 1922 Seanad.
Then type divorce in the search field and click the search icon or press the Enter key.
This displays all mentions of divorce in the 1922 Seanad.
- I’m looking for a speech by a particular TD.
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In the Member field, type the TD's name and select the name from the list that appears. Click the Update list button.
You can also access a particular TD's speeches via their profile page in the TDs & Senators section.
- I’m looking for a parliamentary question (PQ) asked by a current TD.
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On the left of the page, click Parliamentary questions.
In the Member field, type the TD's name and select the name from the list that appears. Click the Update list button.
You can also access a particular TD's PQs via their profile page in the TDs & Senators section. - I want to see how a current Senator voted in a recent Seanad division.
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On the left of the page, click Find a vote.
In the Member field, type the Senator's name and select the name from the list that appears. Click the Update list button.
You can also access a particular Member's voting record via their profile page in the TDs & Senators section.
- I’m looking for a speech made at a Committee debate.
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On the left of the page, click Committee debates. In the Committee field select a Committee and click the Update list button.
This displays Committee debates, starting with the most recent.
You can also access a Committee debate via the Committees section.
- I want to see all the parliamentary questions (PQs) that were asked on a particular day.
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Questions and answers published up to July 2012 were published as part of each day's Dáil debate and can be found in the Dáil debates section. Questions and answers published after July 2012 are published separately in the Parliamentary questions section.
PQs from July 2012 onwards
On the left of the Find a Debate page, select Parliamentary questions. If you’re looking for a recent date, find it in the list, which shows the most recent PQs first.
Otherwise, click the For drop-down box, select specific dates or Dáil or Seanad term.
PQs before July 2012
On the left of the Find a Debate page, select Dáil debates. Click the For drop-down box, select specific dates and set the date you want.
- I want to read the debates on a particular Bill.
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In the Bills & Acts section find the Bill and open the information page about it. Scroll down and click the Debates tab. This lists the debates for all Stages of the Bill.
[If there were general discussions in the Houses about the Bill, such as motions, they will not be listed here.]
Advanced searching
For targetted searching consider using advanced search operators. Any of the syntax below can be included in the search box with your search terms.
- Use + between words to indicate AND in your search, eg, homelessness +anxiety +stress
- Use | between words to indicate OR in your search, eg, mortgage arrears |IBF
- Use - in front of a word to exclude that word from your search, eg, homelessness +anxiety +stress -HSE
- Use double quotes around a series of words to indicate a phrase search, eg, "bee populations"
- Use * at the end of a word to indicate a search for all words starting with that prefix, eg, exception* contingen*
- Use brackets ( ) to give precedence to particular words within the seach, eg, (rent supplement) poverty disincentive crippling
- To search for any of the above characters literally, put a backslash (\) immediately before it.
Our search uses the tf-idf algorithm when calculating search results. This algorithm looks at the frequency of a given search term in a document and how often the search term appear in all documents in the collection. These two factors combined give a single score.