About committees

• Legislation – scrutiny of draft legislation in advance of its publication or before Committee Stage; consideration and amending of Bills at Committee Stage; and consideration of draft EU legislative proposals.
• Scrutinising the work of Government Departments – Ministers appear before Oireachtas committees to answer questions concerning policy, expenditure and governance matters regarding their Departments.
• Advising on policy issues – seeking submissions from and holding hearings with stakeholders; and conducting off-site visits and drafting reports outlining the Committee’s findings and recommendations with a view to influencing policy decisions or legislation.

Committees' powers include the power to invite submissions, hold hearings with stakeholders, including Ministers, and draft and publish reports.

Committees are given these powers by one or both Houses of the Oireachtas when they are established. Committees remain subject to the Houses and cannot expand or increase their own powers or functions, unless the Houses formally agree to do this.

There are four different types of committee:

Joint Committee

Comprises members from both the Dáil and the Seanad

Select Committee

Comprises members from either the Dáil or the Seanad, but not both

Special Committee

Established for the sole purpose of considering a specific matter usually for a specified period of time after which it must report back to the House(s)

Standing Committee

A permanent committee required by Standing Orders of either House to be established after a general election

The Standing Orders of both Houses apply to proceedings in committees. The chairperson is responsible for enforcing them and members must accept and obey the rulings of the chairperson.

The membership of each committee usually reflects the proportion of the seats held by each of the political parties in the Houses. Each political group nominates which Members will represent them on each committee.

Chairpersons of committees are usually appointed by Dáil Éireann using the d'Hondt system, a formula that results in the committee chairpersons proportionately reflecting each party’s representation in the Dáil Chamber.

Chairperson

The chairperson is responsible for chairing committee meetings and making decisions (rulings) on procedural issues. The chairperson must act in an impartial manner. The chairperson also has responsibility, with the assistance of the clerk to the committee, for monitoring the progress of the committee against the agreed work programme.

Vice-chairperson

A committee may choose to elect a vice-chairperson who can perform the duties and exercise the authority of the chairperson in his/her absence. Where a chairperson or vice-chairperson is not present, the committee can elect one of its members to act as a temporary chairperson.

Other members

The other ordinary members of a committee also have duties as committee members. They have a responsibility to attend and participate in meetings and to abide by the rules of debate.

There are also general conventions (or rules), based on custom and practice over the years, which apply to committee meetings. Some of the principal rules are:

• Precedence of chair - If the chairperson intervenes during a debate, any member who is speaking, or who is waiting to speak, should give way.
• Speaking in committee - A member who wishes to contribute should signal his/her intention  and wait until called on by the chairperson before speaking. All speakers should address the chairperson. Members must not speak or applaud from outside the barrier of the committee room or from the public gallery.
• Addressing Members - Members are referred to as – “Deputy X”, “Senator X” – and Ministers and Ministers of State are referred to by their titles – “Minster for X”. The chairperson is addressed as “chairman”, “chairperson”, or “A Cathaoirleach” as appropriate.
• Private session - Committees can meet in private session. The usual practice is for housekeeping issues (such as adoption of minutes; consideration of correspondence, draft reports, work programmes and travel proposals; and legal advice) to be dealt with in private session. Private session generally takes place at the start of meetings or on the conclusion of the public business. The discussions during private session remain confidential unless the committee decides otherwise.

A minimum number of committee members is required to be present before a meeting can begin. If a quorum is not present within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time, the meeting cannot commence and has to be rescheduled for later that day or for another day.

On establishment, and at the start of every year, a joint committee decides what priority areas it will focus on and how much time it will allocate to each of these priorities for the year ahead. Each committee is required to publish and send its annual work programme to be laid in the Oireachtas Library. These reports are also uploaded on each committee's web page.

In addition to items of business referred to the committee by the Houses, a committee may decide to examine a particular issue with a view to influencing a related policy. This usually involves inviting stakeholders such as the Minister, civil or public servants, representatives of NGOs and other interest groups, to make submissions on the subject and/or to attend a public meeting of the Committee to discuss issues in detail. The committee can use this examination to reach conclusions, balancing public opinion with expert advice. The outcome from that process may be a formal report by the committee to the Houses setting out its views and recommendations.

In some cases, a committee may set up a sub-committee to work on a specific piece of business. Sub-committees usually report to the main committee, but can have power to report directly to the House(s).

Most Oireachtas committees have the power to invite interested persons or bodies to their meetings to discuss any matter that the committee decides to examine.

 A committee must ensure that the proposed topic comes within its remit and fits in with the work programme of the committee before holding any public hearings.

As in Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, Members are protected by absolute parliamentary privilege in relation to statements which they make in committee meetings. However, they also have a duty not to abuse that privilege and to avoid naming or identifying any individual or entity or making statements which may be defamatory in nature.

Witnesses are also protected by absolute privilege. However, if their submission reflects unfavourably on another person, the committee may direct them to stop their remarks on that particular topic and reduce their protection to qualified privilege if they continue making the same remarks.

Both members and witnesses should avoid any comments about an issue that is currently[MO1]  before a court of law, or about which court proceedings are imminent, because comments could prejudice the judge or jury in the case.

Parliamentary privilege also applies to the official written record of committee meetings and all official reports and publications of a committee, wherever published.

Most individuals are invited to attend committee meetings and attendance is voluntary. Only committees that have the power to send for “persons, papers and records” can insist upon the attendance of named persons and the production of papers and other material. Any committee that has these powers has to apply to the House for permission to use these powers under legislation called The Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013.

There is a dedicated European Union Affairs Committee which plays a key role in fully considering important EU developments and initiatives affecting Ireland. Furthermore, draft legislative proposals are regularly received from the European Commission and passed to the relevant Oireachtas committee for review. If further scrutiny of the draft proposals is deemed necessary, this is initiated by the committee.

The making, amending and repealing of laws is the major function of the Oireachtas. One of the most important functions of a Dáil select committee is to consider Bills that are referred to it by Dáil Éireann. The Third Stage of a Bill is commonly referred to as Committee Stage.

If a committee decides to seek submissions on a Bill, this should be done before the commencement of Committee stage. Committees may also ask for a private briefing session by officials of the sponsoring Department before the commencement of Committee Stage, if the nature and complexity of the Bill requires it.

Parliament has a fundamental role holding governments to account by scrutinising budgetary decisions and performance. The role of sectoral (departmental) committees in the scrutiny of Government expenditure programmes includes consideration of Revised Estimates for Public Services (the Estimates), the Public Service Performance Report (PSPR), and value-for-money and policy reviews. This involves questioning Ministers’ proposed spending plans for the coming financial year; scrutinising results achieved for monies approved and spent; and consideration of the effectiveness of the expenditure.

The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) is responsible for examining, and reporting to Dáil Éireann on, the annual accounts of government departments and of other public bodies, following the audit of those accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG). The roles of the committee and of the C&AG are interlinked as the bodies that are audited by the C&AG are those that are accountable to the Committee.

The Committee on Budgetary Oversight (BOC) is responsible for enhancing the role of the Oireachtas in the budgetary formation process. The Committee reviews the macro-economic and fiscal issues that form part of budget considerations. The Committee’s budget scrutiny process is also informed by evidence-based research and analysis carried out by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

Even if they are not Members of a particular committee, all Members of both Houses wishing to attend a joint committee meeting are entitled to do so and may take an active part in the meeting but may not vote or move motions or amendments. Similarly, all TDs may attend and participate in select committee meetings. Exceptions apply in the case of certain special and standing committees.

Where a Bill or Estimate is being considered by a select committee, the Minister of the relevant Department is an ex-officio member of that committee for that purpose and has the same rights as any other member of the committee. 

[1] ‘Ex-officio’ in this case means because of his or her responsibility as a Minister.

Much of the detailed work of the Oireachtas is conducted through the committees and they provide an opportunity for the public to be directly involved in the work of the Oireachtas. Their work is publicised in a number of ways, as described below.

• Every public committee meeting is transcribed by the parliamentary reporters and the transcript is published on the Oireachtas website . This is the Official Report of a committee meeting.
• The public part of the meeting is streamed live online and can be played back online after the meeting.
• Members of the public may attend the public sessions of committee meetings and observe the meeting from the public gallery, if arranged in advance by contacting a member and asking them to sponsor the visit.  Any association with a lobby group or other organisation should be specified when requesting permission to attend.
• The Committee Press Officers may issue press releases in advance of, and following, meetings.

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A select Committee includes Members from either the Dáil or the Seanad, but not both. A joint Committee has Members from both Dáil and Seanad.

Standing Committees are established by Standing Orders of the Oireachtas and fulfil functions that are required by every parliament, such as the scrutiny of public accounts.

Standing Committees are established by Standing Orders of the Oireachtas and fulfil functions that are required by every parliament, such as the scrutiny of public accounts.

Committee meetings ordinarily take place in four committee rooms located in Leinster House. Committee meetings are generally conducted in public session, online or in hybrid (in-person and online). Normally each committee has one meeting per week, however more meetings of a committee can take place if required.

A schedule of all committee meetings for the week is available here? on the Oireachtas website. Anyone can subscribe to receive this weekly schedule.

Each Committee has a Committee Clerk who is the main point of contact for that committee. He/she is assisted by staff in the Committee Secretariat. As Civil Servants, committee clerks and other support staff have no political affiliation or connection with political parties. They carry out their functions impartially on behalf of the whole Committee. Clerks along with their staff are responsible for co-ordinating all the administrative arrangements for the Committee, advising on matters of procedure and organising policy advice and papers. When a committee is in formal public session, the clerk provides procedural advice to the committee through the chairperson, as the clerk may not speak in public session.

The Library & Research Service (L&RS) provides impartial and confidential information and research services to support the work of both Houses, the committees and individual members in respect of parliamentary duties. The committee clerk liaises with the L&RS on behalf of the committee.

The committee press officers work to increase media coverage of the committees by promoting and providing information such as press releases and reports to national and local media. They respond to media queries, monitor media coverage of Committee activity and assist in organising events, launches and press briefings on behalf of Committees.

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) provides independent, impartial and non-partisan advice on economic and fiscal matters to the Houses of the Oireachtas and their committees in particular to the Committee on Budgetary Oversight.

Where an issue being considered by a committee is of such a technical and/or complex nature that the required expertise is not available within the Houses of the Oireachtas Service, a committee may need to hire a consultant with the required specialist or technical knowledge for a fixed period. Consultants are selected, in accordance with public procurement rules, for a fixed period.