What Happens in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. The National Parliament (Oireachtas) consists of the President and two Houses: Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives) and Seanad Éireann (the Senate). The Houses of the Oireachtas are situated at Leinster House, Dublin.

The method of election to each House is different. The 166 Members of Dáil Éireann are directly elected by the people. The 60 Members of Seanad Éireann are either nominated or elected as follows:

• 11 nominated by the Taoiseach
• 43 elected from five panels of candidates representing Culture and Education, Agriculture, Labour, Industry and Commerce and Public Administration
• Three each elected by the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin (Trinity College)

The Constitution empowers each House to make its own Standing Orders (Rules).

The sole and exclusive power of making laws is vested in the Oireachtas.

In addition to its legislative role, each House may examine and criticise Government policy and administration.

The Houses have complementary powers in certain areas e.g. the removal from office of the President, a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court and the Comptroller and Auditor General, the declaration and termination of a state of emergency, the making of law and annulment of Statutory Instruments (i.e. delegated legislative power to Ministers). However, Seanad Éireann does have prior or exclusive powers in two areas:

• abbreviating the time within which the President may sign a Bill into law ( called an "earlier signature motion" ).
• petitioning the President to decline to sign a Bill until the people have decided the matter by referendum (such a petition requires the support of a majority of the Seanad and not less than one third of the Dáil).

The Houses have separate constitutional identities. However, in recent years the setting up of a well organised system of Joint Committees (i.e Committees of both Houses sitting and voting together) has resulted in Members of both Houses having additional opportunities to participate to an even greater extent in specialised parliamentary work.

The proceedings of the Houses and parliamentary committees are televised and there is now the option to view proceedings in the Dáil and Seanad on the Oireachtas website.

The Dáil meets every Tuesday at 2.30 p.m. and every Wednesday and Thursday at 10.30 a.m. and it finishes at 9.10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and at 5.25 p.m. on Thursdays.

Sometimes TDs and Senators may vote to sit later in the evening if they have something very important to discuss and occasionally they will also sit on Fridays.

A bell rings for four minutes to let the Members know that the session is about to start. Click Here to hear the bell.

Dáil Bell	Seanad Bell

The Dáil starts each day when the Ceann Comhairle (Chairman) comes into the Chamber and everyone stands while the Ceann Comhairle says the prayer.

Prayer

We beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thy holy inspirations and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance; that every word and work of ours may always begin from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended; through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

The Ceann Comhairle starts the session and he sits in the Chair, making sure that everyone gets their chance to talk and keeping order.

The first item on Tuesday and Wednesday is called Leaders Questions. This is where the different Leaders of the Opposition parties ask the Taoiseach questions.

Do you know who the Taoiseach is?
Do you know the name of his party?
What are the names of the other parties in government?
What are the names of their leaders?
Do you know the names of any of the Opposition parties?
Do you know the names of their leaders?

This is followed by Question Time and this is where time is given so TDs can ask questions of members of the government about the work in their departments.

There are fifteen different departments. Do you know the name of the one that looks after children? What about the name of the one that looks after schools?

Only two questions can be asked by each TD and only five will be picked for answer on each day and these are called oral questions. TDs can also put in questions and get a written reply and they can send in as many of these as they like.

The Order of Business is where the Taoiseach or a Minister sets out the work for the day and asks the members of the Dáil to agree to it. This can be interesting to watch as sometimes the TDs want to talk about something else. Watch a few minutes of the Order of Business.

Once the Order of Business is agreed then the TDs get to work. This will normally be the discussion of various Bills.

Each TD does not have to be in the Chamber all day every day but they stay close by in case they are going to talk about something or if there is going to be a vote. Some of them go off to do work in their office but they have a telly so they can hear what is going on in the Chamber and can get to it if they need to. Some of them go to Committee meetings where they meet groups of people or work on Bills.

People often visit Leinster House where the Dáil is based to have a tour of the building or just to have a meeting with their local TD and ask them for help with fixing a problem in their area so a TD will often be meeting people throughout the day. Go to the diary to see a typical day in the life a TD.

The next item will be Private Members business. This is where time is allocated to TDs of the opposition to discuss what they want to discuss.

The final item is called Matters on the Adjournment. This is where a TD sends a notice to the Ceann Comhairle that they want to talk about something after the main business of the day is adjourned (ended). The Ceann Comhairle will pick four of these for discussion.

To see what happens in the Dáil, Seanad and Committees click here to see a schedule of a typical week in the Houses of the Oireachtas.