Oireachtas Committees will continue to be extremely active during this Dáil and Seanad recess with a total of 88 meetings due to be held during this period.

These meetings will cover a wide spectrum of activity and will involve Oireachtas members from all sides of the House dealing with some particularly important matters.

Among the issues which will be considered by TDs and Senators at Committee meetings during the upcoming period include;

• The Finance’s Committee’s inquiry into economic management issues arising in the Regling report;
• The Constitution Committee will launch a report on a review of the electoral system;
• The Transport Committee will be addressing the concerns in the Taxi industry when it meets with SIPTU and the National Taxi Drivers’ Union;
• The Health Committee will hold a hearings with the Minister for Health, the HSE CEO and hear from Thalidomide survivors representatives;
• The Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs will meet with Matthew Elderfield to consider a paper on banking supervision published by the Central Bank;
• The Social Protection Committee is meeting St Vincent de Paul Society to hear about the impact the financial climate is having on their service delivery;
• The Environment Committee will launch its report on the Management of Severe Weather Events in Ireland;
• The Committees on European Affairs and on European Scrutiny will launch a report of the Review of the Role of the Oireachtas in European Affairs;

Committees will continue to be held throughout all of July and will return in early September prior to the resumption of the Dáil and Seanad.

Chairman of the of Working Group of Committee Chairs Noel O’Flynn TD said;

“Throughout the recess period, Oireachtas Committees will continue to sit, meet with witnesses, deliberate on legislation, carry out investigations and publish reports.

There is a perception that TDs and Senators go on holidays when the Dáil and Seanad rises and that they spend this time taking it easy and relaxing. The immediate busy work programme of Oireachtas Committees shows this to be an untrue representation.

Over the course of the upcoming weeks, as well as engaging in their usual constituency demands, Oireachtas members from all parties and none will continue to be occupied with Committee work in Leinster House.

There have been a total of 598 Committee meetings, sitting for a total of 1,063 hours throughout the current session of the Houses of the Oireachtas* with approximately 1,600 people appearing before them.

Daniel English

Oireachtas Communications Office

01 618 4484 - 087 6949926

*Relates to numbers of meetings and sitting hours between 6/7/2009 to 30/6/2010