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, the Seanad and in the various Oireachtas committees today.

DÁIL

The day begins with Leaders’ Questions at 10:30am, with statements on last week’s meeting of the European Council – which further progressed the discussion on European banking union – at about 11:30am.

After that comes a parliamentary curiosity: the Dáil will approve spending of €45.5 billion without a vote, or even without as much as a debate.

The Budget produced every year includes a breakdown of where state spending will be distributed for the following year: €3 million for the office of the President, and so on. This is legally provided for in the Appropriation Bill, which formally approves the distribution of this money.

Because the funding is absolutely vital – any refusal to fund individual bodies would mean they’d simply have to shut down because they’d run out of cash – each TD agrees to the overall thrust of the Bill, and it therefore passes unanimously, without amendment, and without even a debate. That’ll all happen at about 12:55pm.

After that there’s the final discussion on a Bill to set up a new National Vetting Bureau.

After lunch, James Reilly takes questions to the Minister for Health at 2:30pm, and after Topical Issues, at 4:30pm the Dail will hold its final debates on the Seanad’s proposed amendments to the Personal Insolvency Bill. That will continue for as long as is needed, subject to a final guillotine of 10:30pm.

There’ll be a 90-minute interruption in that at 7:30pm to debate the Technical Group’s motion calling for a statutory minimum wage for carers, and for the reversal of the cut to the respite care grant. A vote will be taken on that at 9pm.

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

SEANAD

Another busy day in the Seanad today, kicking off with general debate in the Order of Business at 10:30am, followed by the final debate on amendments to legislation bringing in the new Risk Equalisation system for health insurance at 11:45am.

At 1:30pm there’s a similar theme – with the approval of a Bill to ensure equal treatment in motor insurance for men and women – before getting into the main meat of the day: amendments to the Social Welfare Bill 2012.

This is likely to be a bit less high-octane than yesterday’s proceedings: having flirted with the danger of not getting the Bill passed, all 12 Labour senators backed it at Second Stage – as did three of the University senators, ensuring its comfortable passage. It’s unlikely, therefore, that any of the proposed amendments could be carried – but the debate will still be difficult. A final vote on any leftover matters will be called at 7pm.

There’s no rest for the wicked, though: they then go straight into a general debate on the legislation behind the Property Tax, with a vote at 9pm.

Seanad proceedings can be watched here.

COMMITTEES

A veritable plethora of committee meetings today:

• The Education Committee meets at 1pm to discuss plans for a EU-wide aid fund to provide food for the most deprived, as well as meeting Eamonn Stack, the chairman-designate of the National Council for Special Education. Watch here.
• The Finance committe enters the first of two important days for financial scrutiny in Ireland – where it hears from the public interest directors appointed to the three continuing bailed-out banks. Today it’s Ray MacSharry and Margaret Hayes, the directors of Permanent TSB. The meeting begins at 3pm. Watch here.
• The Foreign Affairs and Trade committee meets Louis Maguire, the chairman of the Joint Irish-Arab Chamber of Commerce, to discuss the role the Department of Foreign Affairs can bplay in stimulating trade to Ireland. Meeting begins at 2:30pm. Watch here.
• The Justice, Defence and Equality committee meets twice today. The first meeting, at 9:30pm, discusses the difficulties of undocumented migrants living in Ireland; at 3:15pm they’ll discuss whether to approve the Minister for Defence’s report on Ireland’s participation in UN Defence Forces in 2011. Watch here.
• The sub-committee on Penal Reform meets at 1:30pm to hear submissions from Care After Prison, Focus Ireland, and the Cornmarket Project. Watch here.
• Finally, the committee on Public Oversight and Petitions will meet at 4pm to discuss the latest petitions submitted by the public. (This is likely to be Peadar Toibín’s last meeting as chairman, after SF stripped him of the position.) Watch here.

TheJournal.ie‘s one to watch

The appearance of Permanent TSB’s public interest directors at the Finance Committee will be the first chance we will have had to measure the impact of public representatives on the running of bailed-out banks.

Permanent TSB’s status as a mortgage provider means today’s hearing will be all the more interesting.

Read: Social Welfare Bill passes Seanad second stage

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