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

Leaders’ Questions begins the day at 10:30am, while members agree to the rest of the day’s agenda in Order of Business just before 11am.

There are two major items on the agenda for the day:

• The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2013, where TDs will consider the last bath of amendments before sending the Bill to the Seanad; and
• The Houses of the Oireachtas Inquiries (Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013, the legislation which will pave the way for a public banking inquiry (among others).

These will be discussed from 11:30am until 7:30pm, with interruptions for the following:

• Lunch for an hour at 1:30pm
• Richard Bruton taking Questions to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at 2:30pm
• Discussion on four Topical Issues at 3:45pm, until just after 4:30pm.

The last item of the day is 90 minutes of debate on the Technical Group’s motion calling for European treaty change so that countries have a defined system for leaving the Eurozone. A vote will be called at 9pm.

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

SEANAD

The Seanad’s day begins with the usual 75-minute debate on the matters of the world in Order of Business at 10:30am, before taking a sos until Jimmy Deenihan pops in at 2:30pm to lead statements on the various forthcoming commemorations at 12:30pm.

At 2pm members deal with Dáil amendments to the legislation creating a new ‘reference pricing’ system for the sale of pharmaceuticals, before dealing with more Dáil amendments at 3pm – this time on the new Animal Health and Welfare legislation.

The last act of the day is a two-hour debate on legislation from FF’s Marc MacSharry, who has tabled a bill cracking down on unlicenced moneylenders. A vote will be taken at 7pm.

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

COMMITTEES

With the Health committee’s hearings having now wrapped up, there are no fewer than six meetings being streamed online…

• The Transport and Communcations committee is first up, when RTÉ director-general Noel Curran discusses RTÉ’s financial outlook, plans to cut the wages of high-earners, and the developments in the new editorial policies for news programming. (Watch here.)
• The Justice committee meets twice today – firstly at 10am to discuss European plans for the ‘second generation’ information system governing the Schengen travel system, and then again at 2pm when Alan Shatter will take charge of amendments to the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2013 (which clears the way for a wave of home repossessions).
• The Environment sub-committee gathers at 12:30pm to consider amendments to the Housing (Amendment) Bill, which will govern the transition between two different models of how council rents are charged.
• The Education and Social Protection committee meets at 2pm to consider plans to reorganise the European Social Fund, before hearings from the End Child Poverty Coalition and the National Women’s Council of Ireland on the Report on Child and Family Income Support).
• Also at 2pm, the Finance committee will meet the country’s top civil servant, Martin Fraser, who will update members on the Department of the Taoiseach’s four-year strategy for 2010 to 2014, and discuss the activities of the sometimes-controversial IFSC Clearing House Group.
• Finally, Michael Noonan visits the Finance sub-committee at 4:30pm to seek adjusted Budget funds for his own office, the Revenue Commissioners, and the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Explainer: How does a Bill become a law?

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