Committees of the Oireachtas

Committees of the Oireachtas are committees and sub-committees and select committees of Dáil Éireann and Joint Committees of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, that are small groups of TDs and senators of the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.^[1] Some committees are formed by statute after every general election, others are formed by agreement for a full parliamentary term or for a specific issue on a time-limited basis. Committees are formed on a proportional basis from members of the political parties/groups in each house. Chairs of committees are granted a stipend for their work. Some committees scrutinise the work and proposed legislation from specific government departments, and senior ministers or junior ministers of state as well as public servants or representatives of semi-state bodies and organisations supported by state funding are also regularly invited to address such committees.

Committees of the Oireachtas
Some members of the Joint Committee on Health and Children meet with representatives of Dáil na nÓg in 2014
Legislature(s)	Oireachtas
Website	www.oireachtas.ie/en/committees/

Private meetings

Committees agree their agendas and ways of working, or discuss matters of a sensitive nature,^[2] in private meetings.

Public meetings

Committees hold public meetings where individuals are asked to address a committee, or be questioned by it.^[3]

Parliamentary privilege

Per Bunreacht na hÉireann,^[4] when addressing a committee in Leinster House, contributors are protected by limited parliamentary privilege, but it is the custom of committees to ask contributors to desist from referring (directly or undeniably) negatively to individuals who are not present at such a committee meeting.^[5] Since the increased use of remote meeting software, (from 2020) this privilege for parliamentarians has been limited to those who are "physically present within the confines of Leinster House".^[6]

Committee of Privileges

The Constitution provides for the formation, at the direction of the president, following a request of 30 senators, of a joint "Committee of Privileges",^[7] to decide on whether a specific Bill meets the definition of a "money bill", which would be subject to a maximum delay of 21 days by a Seanad resolution. This committee would be chaired by a Supreme Court Judge.^[8] No such committee has ever been created under the 1937 constitution, but one was created in 1935 under Article 35 of the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State, which contained similar provisions.^[9] Originally the committee could be requested by two-fifths of TDs, but the Constitution (Amendment No. 12) Act 1930 allowed half of Senators to do so. The Constitution (Amendment No. 24) Act 1936, which abolished the Seanad, made the concept of money bills moot and so also deleted Article 35.

Proposed constitutional change 2011

The Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011, put to a referendum in October 2011, sought to empower each House to convene (possibly jointly) committees of inquiry, with powers to compel withness statements, and to make findings against citizens. The referendum was defeated by 53% to 47%.^[10] In 2013 a referendum to remove the Seanad proposed extensive changes of committees. This was defeated by 51.7% to 48.3%.^[11]

Current committees

Dáil committees

• Public Accounts Committee

Joint committees

• Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine^[12]
• Joint Committee on European Union Affairs^[13]
• Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands^[14]
• Joint Committee on Health^[15]
• Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage^[16]
• Joint Committee on Transport and Communications^[17]
• Joint Committee on Gender Equality^[18]
• Joint Committee on Disability Matters^[19]
• Joint Committee on International Surrogacy^[20]
• Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht^[21]
• Comhchoiste Na Gaeilge, Na Gaeltachta Agus Phobal Labhartha Na Gaeilge - (Joint Committee on The Irish Language, The Gaeltachts and the Use of Irish in Public)^[22]
• Select Committee on Education and Further And Higher Education, Research, Innovation And Science^[23]
• Joint Committee on the Implementation of The Good Friday Agreement^[24]

Former committees

• Joint Committee on Women's Rights^[25]
• Joint Committee on Marriage Breakdown^[26]
• Joint Committee on Tourism, Sport and Recreation
• Joint Committee on the Irish language
• Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities^[27]
• Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, (post-2008)
• Joint Committee on Health and Children
• Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade^[28]
• Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (32nd Dáil)
• Joint Committee on Justice and Equality^[29][30]
• Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU ^[31]