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

Eamon Gilmore takes the morning’s Leaders’ Questions at 10:30am, before TDs agree to the day’s agenda and then finish up their discussion on a motion backing the promissory note deal. The motion is certain to pass, but there’s still reason to tune in at 1:30pm (see ‘One to Watch’ below).

The rest of the afternoon is taken up resuming debate on legislation behind water charges, from 1:30pm to 3:42pm. The day finishes with debate on four topical issues (3:42pm) and Dail questions to the Minister for Health, James Reilly (4:30pm).

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

SEANAD

A simple day in the Seanad: 75 minutes of discussion on the Seanad’s future agenda (10:30am) and the Seanad’s final consideration of legislation granting a pardon to Irish Army deserters who left to fight with the Allies in WW2 (11:45am).

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

COMMITTEES

It’s a relatively quiet Thursday, with only three committee meetings:

• The Health Committee has some unusually high-profile visitors at 9:30am: the team from Operation Transformation will be present to discuss how to tackle obesity. They’ll also discuss a proposed European directive on on the manufacture and sale of tobacco products. (Watch here.)
• Also meeting at 9:30am, the Agriculture meeting will be getting down to horsey business – but not of the burger kind. They’ll meet the new chairman of the Irish National Stud, Matt Dempsey, and his equivalent at Horse Racing Ireland, Joe Keeling. (Watch here.)
• At 10am, representatives from the taxi drivers’ body Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann will address the Transport and Communications committee about the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Bill 2012, which proposes to introduce new rules like fining drivers who don’t take the shortest possible route. (Watch here.)

TheJournal.ie‘s one to watch

As we mentioned, the motion on backing the promissory note deal is worth watching for a number of reasons – not least because it could cause legal difficulties for the government while it fights David Hall’s appeal against the creation of the notes in the first place. If this vote is considered tantamount to Dáil approval for the deal, does this form a tacit admission that Dáil approval should have been sought for issuing them in the first place?

Furthermore, there’s also the interesting matter of how last week’s absentees might vote. Peter Mathews wasn’t around for either of the votes on the Bill to liquidate IBRC, and is said to have been too unwell to attend the late-night sessions. As a noted critic of nationalising banking debt, the Fine Gael back-bencher might find nowhere to run at 1:30pm.

Read: Seanad to begin debating legislation behind water charges

Explainer: How does a Bill become a law?