WHAT ARE OUR politicians doing in the halls of Leinster House?

TheJournal.ie lets you know with our guide to what’s coming up to the Dáil, Seanad and various Oireachtas committees today.

The funeral of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe means both houses will adjourn for several hours as a mark of respect – so it’s a reasonably light morning.

DÁIL

The day begins with Leaders’ Questions at 9:30am, with the rest of the day’s agenda agreed from 10am before the house adjourns until 4pm.

It resumes at 4pm with Questions to Arts minister Jimmy Deenihan, with Topical Issues debated at 5:15pm and legislation to abolish the board of the HSE debated between 6pm and 7:30pm.

At 7:30pm, in what will certainly be a sombre mode, TDs will debate a motion from Fianna Fáil – tabled last week, before Det Garda Donohoe’s death – calling for the reversal of closures to Garda stations and the reopening of the Templemore training centre. A vote on that will be taken at 9pm.

The day’s Dáil business can all be viewed here.

SEANAD

Senators convene to discuss the day’s agenda at 9:30am, adjourning at 10:45am.

It reconvenes at 4pm to debate a motion from David Norris, asking the Minister for Health to investigate the fluoridation of water. At 6pm they’ll debate proposed amendments to the Spent Convictions Bill, which sees certain minor criminal offences written off the record after a certain period if someone has not reoffended since then.

The day’s Seanad business can all be viewed here.

COMMITTEES

Most of today’s meetings have either been deferred or postponed in light of Det Garda Donohoe’s funeral. Here’s the two that are continuing:

• The Foreign Affairs committee meets at 5pm to hear from Martin Murray of Asia Matters on the role that the Department of Foreign Affairs can have inpromoting trade and stimulating Ireland’s economic recovery. (Watch here.)
• The Public Service Oversight and Petitions committee meets at 4pm to elect its new chairman – with Sinn Féin’s Padraig Mac Loghlainn likely to get the gig, replacing partymate Peadar Tóibín – before going through another batch of the petitions it has received to date.

TheJournal.ie‘s one to watch

James Reilly is under the kosh at the moment – ridiculed by a Troika report and caught in the fire over his decision to fast-track hospital works in Kilkenny and Wexford, the home towns of two cabinet colleagues.

The introduction of legislation to abolish the board of the HSE – which has been in track since last June, and to which Reilly made appointments last December – could therefore provide yet another opportunity for opposition TDs to try and land a few blows on one of the cabinet’s more vulnerable performers.

Read: Seanad to begin debating legislation behind water charges

Explainer: How does a Bill become a law?

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