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DID YOU KNOW that the Dáil only sits three days out of the week, with work on a Tuesday starting at 2pm.
This results in government business and opposition questioning being crammed into a tight schedule, with late-night sittings almost always an inevitability.
Just recently, the support staff who work in Leinster House said that they didn’t get to leave work one night until 2am.
Not only is this just not a great way to foster a nice workplace, it’s not family-friendly and it also incurs costs in overtime and transport costs to get people home in the late-night hours.
So why does Leinster House operate this way?
Well, having Mondays and Fridays off is meant to allow politicians tend to their constituency work, while the late start on a Tuesday was also explained away as to allow TDs who live rural areas time enough to make the journey to Dublin.
The Dáil also only sits 33 weeks of 52 in a year. On Thursday this week, the politicians went on holidays and won’t be returning until mid-September.
But in a time of great uncertainty and with widespread acknowledgements that we are living in the midst of a housing and cost-of-living crisis, not to mention looming global threats from US tariffs, is it okay for Leinster House to cram its work into a short work-week and to shut up shop for such an extended period of time over the summer months?
Many would say it is not and there’s a better, more functional way for our parliament to work.
These observations are not new.
In fact, for over a decade, there has been debate, recommendations and some tinkering around the edges to change things. But nothing has really ever stuck or improved things.
On the back of the 2008 crash, politicians were feeling the heat from the public and pressure was on them to up their game and their workload, but it also meant stretching out the week.
In 2011, it was agreed that that Dáil would meet more often and sit earlier in the day in what was viewed at the time as the most significant package of Dáil reforms in decades.
The new rules meant that more TDs were required to sit in the Dáil chamber for the duration of debates, while the formula of sittings also be changed to allow for more daily topical debates.
It stretched-out the working week, with sittings adjourning earlier at night, but continuing into Friday mornings, initially on a once-a-month basis.
Thursday’s sittings also included a new session of Leaders’ Questions, something that has stuck around since.
At the time, Friday sittings were devoted entirely to allowing opposition parties and backbenchers introduce proposals for new laws.
One of the key changes was also a reduction in the amount of recess time over Christmas, Easter and summer.
At the time, the then Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe told The Journal that the changes resulted in the Dáil sitting around 42% more than it did under the previous administration. He said the changes also allowed for more opportunities for legislation coming from the opposition side of the house to be debated in the Dáil.
At the time, Niall Collins, who is now a government minister, was on the opposition benches as Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson and was all for the Dáil being utilised more.
He told The Journal in 2011 that the Dáil was not sitting nearly enough. Not only was he in favour of the Dáil sitting on a Friday, he said committees should also, stating:
“If we’re going to have the Dáil sitting and the cost associated with it then we must have all aspects of it functioning and not just the optics.”
He dismissed claims that it would costing a huge amount of money – some estimating at the time that it could cost around €90,000 for the Dáil to stay open on a Friday.
Collins said such a claim was “absolute rubbish”, stating that the Dáil is open either way on a Friday.
“The only extra thing you are doing, you have the chamber open and a number of staff. These staff are in the building either way and the more you use a chamber the less it costs. That’s the way I would put it,” he said.
In the end, Friday sittings were done away with, along with any momentum to stretch out the Dáil working week.
Fast forward ten years, to 2021, and the discussions around how to make Leinster House more functional and more family friendly were still going on.
In 2021, the former Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil’s Seán Ó Fearghaíl published a report from the “Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament”.
Current politicians such as Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and Minister of State Neale Richmond, sat on the forum, along with other experts and stakeholders.
One of the forum’s priority recommendations included:
“Reduce long, late and unpredictable sitting weeks With immediate effect, Members and political parties and groups are to facilitate appropriate flexible working and remote working arrangements for their staff to address the long sitting hours, until other recommendations to eradicate long hours have been implemented.”
It also called on the Houses of the Oireachtas Service to address areas where staff are working very long, late and unpredictable hours to serve sittings.
The report also said that by the end of the 33rd Dáil term, or until a referendum to amend Article 15 can be held, the Houses of the Oireachtas to introduce hybrid sittings of some Dáil, Seanad and Committee business where Members can choose to participate in certain business remotely or to be physically present.
By September 2022, Dáil voting blocks should be moved within the weekly schedule, so that it is taken in the afternoon, the report recommended.
Votes continue to be held late on Wednesday night, with votes in the last week being held after 10pm.
The September 2022 deadline was also given to ensure that the Dáil, Seanad and committees holidays align with school holidays at Easter, Halloween and Christmas, as set out in Department of Education circulars. This is something that largely does appear to be in place now, though there might be mixed views as to whether this is a good or bad idea.
One of the biggest ideas to come from that forum in 2021 was the idea to have a second Dáil chamber in Leinster House. It was viewed as a possible way to make working hours more family-friendly for politicians through parallel sittings.
The idea being that simultaneous Dáil debates and discussions around a bill could be going on but topical issues could be discussed at the same time in another location.
O’Fearghail said at the time that it would allow more work to be put into the week without the anti-social and unacceptable hours.
However, despite €3.7 million being put into fleshing out the project over a three-year period, the plans were shelved earlier this year amid concern about a public backlash.
What has happened since? Nothing. It appears the push to make Leinster House a more functional, family-friendly workplace, is as dead in the water as the second chamber idea.
Maybe in ten years time we’ll have another report with ideas to look forward to. It can sit on the shelve with the others to gather dust.
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