WANT TO KNOW what’s going on in Leinster House today?

Every day the Dáil and Seanad are sitting, TheJournal.ie brings you the most comprehensive guide to what our lawmakers are getting up to in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Here’s what we can expect to see happening in the Dáil, Seanad and committee rooms today…

Four things we’ll be keeping an eye on:

• Committees: The main event at Leinster House today will be happening behind closed doors — but you can still expect this afternoon’s meeting of the high-profile Public Accounts Committee to generate plenty of media attention. The panel decided on Tuesday that it would hear evidence from a garda whistleblower on alleged malpractice in the penalty points system in private session. [2pm]
• Dáil: Pat Rabbitte kicks off proceedings in the chamber this morning at 9.30am, answering queries on issues of direct concern to his department. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is likely to be be hit with plenty of questions on the controversial issue of pylons — he announced this week that a panel would look at the possibility of putting the high-voltage ‘Grid Link’ and ‘Grid-West’  power-lines underground.
• Dáil: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore gets his weekly grilling from the opposition as he takes Leader’s Questions at midday
• Dáil: It’s a 4.42 start for Topical Issues today, as TDs raise issues they consider to be of concern to them, their constituents, and the country at large. The ongoing pylons debate, the planning of Irish Water, penalty points and the other issues of the week may or may not feature to some degree.

Everything else happening in the Dáil:

• The legislation paving the way for constituency changes ahead of the European elections on 23 May continues its progress through the Oireachtas from 10.45am: [European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2013 (Seanad) - Second Stage]
• After Leader’s Questions, it’s down to business once again, as work continues on the European elections Bill and three other pieces of legislation — they concern: reductions in allowances for politicians [The Oireachtas Ministerial and Parliamentary Allowances Bill]; the the dissolution of enterprise advisory board Forfás; and new rules for online bookies [Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013]. [From 12.51pm]
• The Dáil adjourns today at 5.30pm.

Everything happening in the Seanad:

• Order of Business in the upper chamber begins at 10.30am, and at 11.45am we’ll have statements on “The Humanitarian Situation in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic”.
• Senators have their go at ‘topical issues’ directly afterwards, raising issues of concern to them in ‘Matters on the Adjournment‘.

Everything happening in the committees:

• The issue of plain pack cigarettes will be the main focus of the Joint Committee on Health and Children when it meets at 9.30am. The panel of TDs and senators will hear from the Irish Cancer Society, Ash Ireland and others on the subject. [Committee Room 2]
• The PAC will also be sitting this morning. They’ll be discussing the business of the committee itself from 10am, before moving on to consider a particular case from the Comptroller and Auditor General 2012 Annual Report, whereby the state was unable to deliver a promised Dublin site to a developer in an affordable homes deal. [Committee Room 1]

Here’s how to watch what’s going on in Leinster House today:

• Dáil Éireann
• Seanad Éireann
• Committee Room 1
• Committee Room 2
• Committee Room 3
• Committee Room 4
• To access streams on iOS, click here

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