THE DÁIL sat for more days last year than in any other year since the foundation of the State.
TDs met to discuss the country’s business on 123 days in 2012 – the most since the 1920s, when it was customary to sit for five days a week.
The previous record, of 121 days’ sittings, had been set in 1923 and 1924 – the first two full years after the Anglo-Irish Treaty had taken effect, and the first two years of a near-universally recognised autonomous government within what is now the Republic of Ireland.
The Dáil had sat for 105 days in 2011, an increase from the 100 days registered in both 2010 and 2009 – despite the fact that 2011 was an election year which meant no Dáil sittings for several months.
The increased volume of sittings is in dramatic contrast to 2002, also an election year, in which the Dáil met only 67 times.
41 Acts completed their passage through the Oireachtas in 2012, a broadly average number, while a total of 116 Bills were introduced – a record number, reflecting the more recent Dáil developments where one day per month is assigned to debating legislation from opposition and backbench TDs.
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