WHAT’S GOING ON in Leinster House?

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.

So, here is what we can expect to be happening in the Dáil, Seanad and Committee rooms today…

3 things we’ll be keeping an eye on

• Dáil: Education Questions - Education Minister Ruairí Quinn will no doubt face questions on the ongoing industrial action by the ASTI and what chances of resolving the dispute at 2pm.
• Dáil: Leaders’ Question - With the Seanad referendum defeated we’d be surprised if the opposition don’t try to quiz Enda Kenny on what, if any, plans he has for reforming the upper house at 3.15pm.
• Seanad: Er, nothing - There is little to no government business scheduled for the Seanad today or any day this week at the time of publication. We will be keeping an eye on the Order of Business at 2.30pm today when no doubt a few senators will be crowing about their weekend success.

Everything else that’s happening in the Dáil

• The Taoiseach answers questions on his portfolio at 3.36pm before the Order of Business at 4.36pm.
• We’ll also be keeping an eye on whether the Reform Alliance’s motion to suspend the Dáil for debate on the Seanad referendum result gets any response from the Ceann Comhairle.
• After the Order of Business we have Topical Issues followed by a motion to change committee membership with Sinn Féin expected to rotate its TDs on the various Oireachtas committees.
• After that TDs will discuss second stage of Forestry Bill which proposes to update and reform the laws relating to forestry in Ireland.
• At 7.30pm Fianna Fáil’s private members’ motion about discretionary medical cards is sure to feature some heavy criticism of the government for what the opposition party believes is “the targeting of those with discretionary medical cards“.
• The Dáil adjourns at 9pm.

Everything else that’s happening in the Seanad

• As we noted above there is nothing much scheduled for the Seanad today (at the time of publication) other than the aforementioned Order of Business.
• At 3.15pm Private Members’ Business from a group of Labour senators concerns the plight of SMEs in rural towns and vacant retail units on main streets and calls on the government to do more.
• This is followed by Matters on the Adjournment before the Seanad adjourns.

Everything else that’s happening in the Committees

• At 1.30pm in Committee Room 2 the Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Committee discusses the Pathways to Work report by the Department of Social Protection with department officials. Other job creation initiatives are also likely to come up.
• The Agriculture, Food and the Marine Committee discusses a bunch of EU legislative directives with officials from the Department of Agriculture at 2pm in Committee Room 3.
• At 2.15pm the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht Committee discusses the location of industrial wind turbines across the country with Andrew Duncan from the Lakelands Wind Farm Information Group in Committee Room 4. Later there will be discussion on the outline draft of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013 with Professor John Sweeney, the country’s leading expert on chlimate science, from NUI Maynooth.

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

Explainer: How does a Bill become a law?

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