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…

5 things we’ll be keeping an eye on

• Dáil: Finance – Michael Noonan takes questions on his portfolio in the first business of the day at 9.30am. Expect Ireland’s current economic progress and the bailout exit to dominate.
• Dáil: Bailout exit – Statements from the government and the opposition on the decision to exit the bailout programme without a backstop begin at 10.45am and are sure to be full of healthy debate i.e. a bit of a row. Debate concludes at midday before resuming again at 2.40pm.
• Dáil: Leaders’ Questions – The Taoiseach takes questions on the big issues of the day from opposition leaders at midday.
• Committees: Gardaí – The Justice Committee meets in Room 2 at 4pm to discuss the supplementary budget for the gardaí with the Justice Minister Alan Shatter who will also field questions on the Defence Forces activity with the UN, while wearing his Defence Minister hat (note: not an actual hat)
• Committees: More gardaí – The Public Oversight and Petitions Committee meets in Room 3 at 4pm to discuss issues related to the handling of garda informants with the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

Everything else that’s happening in the Dáil

• After all the morning’s shenanigans the Order of Business starts at 12.21pm or thereabouts.
• Then Topical Issues are raised at 12.51pm.
• After lunch and more statements on the bailout exit, the Child and Family Agency Bill – the centrepiece legislation of Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s agenda – reaches report and final stages in the Dáil.
• Sinn Féin’s motion on youth employment is debated for 90 minutes from 7.30pm before a vote is called and the government almost certainly wins.
• The Dáil adjourns at 9pm.

Everything else that’s happening in the Seanad

• Senators discuss everything and anything from 10.30am in the Order of Business.
• The report and final stages of the Protected Disclosures Bill – legislation to protect whistleblowers – begins in the upper house at 11.45am.
• At 3pm a motion based on a recent Oireachtas committee report into the grocery sector is discussed with the Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.
• At 6.30pm, the Seanad debates the Civil Law Missing Persons Bill which has been brought forward by Senator Colm Burke.
• Then at 8.30pm its Matters on the Adjournment.

Everything else that’s happening in the Committees

• The Education Committee meets in Room 3 at 1pm to discuss the entitlement of self-employed persons to social welfare with officials from the Department of Social Protection.
• The EU Affairs Committee meets at noon in Room 1 to discuss the social dimension of economic and monetary union with the head of employment, social affairs, and inclusion at the European Commission, Koos Richelle.
• Proposed changes to the pay and file deadline – as a result of the earlier Budget – will be discussed with Mark Redmond from the Irish Tax Institute at the Finance Committee in Room 4 at 3pm
• The Foreign Affairs Committee meets in Room 1 at 2.30pm to discuss the humanitarian response in the Philippines and the crisis in Syria with Peter Power from Unicef. US Immigration Reform is also on the agenda for the committee.
• The Transport Committee discusses a number of EU legislative proposals at 9.30am in Room 3 before it hears regional community concerns about EirGrid’s Grid25 project from various Anti-Pylon Community Groups in the South-East and North East.

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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