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.

DÁIL

With all minds on developments at Ashbourne GAA club, where the count in the Meath East by-election will be getting underway, it’s a relatively sedate and non-combative schedule in the Dáil – with Leaders’ Questions at 10:30am possibly the only point where sparks may fly.

At around 11:20am TDs will hold their very last debates on the Spent Convictions Bill, which will allow people to ‘wipe clear’ their criminal records if an offence is minor and they do not reoffend within a particular period of time.

At 1pm there’ll be a resumption of discussion on last week’s CAP deal, and the impact it will have for farmers; at 2:30pm focus will move to the Credit Reporting Bill, which sets up a new centralised credit register to record a person’s credit history, taking the matter out of private hands.

The day concludes with discussion on four topical issues at 3:42pm, and Eamon Gilmore taking Questions to the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade at 4:30pm.

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

SEANAD

The Seanad’s daily warm-up in ‘Order of Business’ (10:30am) is followed by a two-hour discussion on the legislation changing the motor tax system in line with the Budget 2013 decisions.

At 2pm members will finish up their consideration of the changes to medical card eligibility, with a final vote on the moves at 4pm.

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

COMMITTEES

With so many people hoping to be celebrating in Meath East, there are only three committee meetings today:

• The Fisheries sub-committee resumes its hearings from last week, where it is briefed on aquaculture, inland fisheries and marine tourism at 9:30am. This week’s attendees represent five different fisheries unions and representative bodies. (Watch here.)
• Also at 9:30am, the Health and Children committee goes dental, discussing the operation of state dental schemes with figures from the HSE and the Irish Dental Association. (Watch here.)
• Finally, at 10am the Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform committee goes through some miscellaneous plans for EU lawmaking, and has a look at correspondence from the Irish Bank Officials’ Association – most likely to do with the layoffs at the major banks, and in particular IBRC. (Watch here.)

Explainer: How does a Bill become a law?

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