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

• Committees: Public Expenditure and Reform – Minister Brendan Howlin will be in Room 3 at 4pm to continue discussion of the Freedom of Information Bill 2013.

• Dáil: Leaders’ Questions – The Taoiseach steps up to the plate at 12pm to take questions from the opposition.

• Dáil: Health Bill 2013 – Discussion of the Health Bill (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) 2013, aimed at setting controversial new medical card income limits for the over-70s, will begin at 10.45am. Thousands turned out to protest against such cuts last month.

Everything else that’s happening in the Dáil

• Minister for Health James Reilly will be taking questions on his portfolio at 9.30am. Yesterday’s increase in cost of health insurance policies is sure to come up.
• Later at 12.51pm, any Topical Issues of the day will be heard.
• If you didn’t get enough of the Health Bill earlier, discussion continues at 2.39pm, followed the same on the Local Government Bill 2013, heralded as ‘the most radical reform of local government in 100 years’.
• And finally, in Private Members Business at 7.30pm a Fianna Fáil motion for the “Central Bank to examine the competitive state of the Irish banking sector” will be heard.

Everything else that’s happening in the Seanad

• Tributes to the late film-maker, environmentalist, and Senator Éamon de Buitléar will be heard at 11.45am. He passed away earlier this year. These expressions of tribute often take a while to make it to the chamber.
• A new law which will abolish minister severance payments and cut politicians’ allowances will be discussed at 1.30pm. That’s the Oireachtas (Ministers and Parliamentary Offices) Bill 2013, and Minister of State Brian Hayes will pop in for it.
• Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte’s bill that will allow for the sale of Bord Gáis Éireann will follow at 2.30pm.
• Private Members Business at 4pm will consist of a motion by Senators Rónán Mullen, Trevor Ó Clochertaigh, Kathryn Reilly, David Cullinane which calls for legislation to regulate the siting of high voltage electricity transmission lines, which would affect Eirgrid’s plans to construct such lines around the country.

Everything else that’s happening in the Committees

• RTÉ’s budget deficit will be in mind when the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland meets the Transport and Communications Committee at 9.30am. They will be discussing future funding of Public Service Broadcasting in Room 4.
• Starting at 2pm in Room 2, the Justice, Defence, and Equality committee will discuss facilitating requests from Canada regarding “Passenger Name Record” data, where you will see Minister of State Kathleen Lynch make an appearance. Representatives from the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority will then discuss recognition of traveller ethnicity.
• At 10am in Room 3, Finance Minister Michael Noonan who appear before the Finance Committee to discuss his upcoming meeting with Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).
• Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs will take on the task of figuring out how to finance poverty eradication at 2.30pm in Room 1. That will be in front of the Foreign Affairs and Trade committee, discussing a call from the EU to ‘accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals‘ titled “Beyond 2015″.
• Would you welcome a school book rental scheme? The Committee on Education and Social Protection will be looking at that in Room 3 at 1pm, as well as a report on back to school costs.

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

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