Houses of the Oireachtas Commission publishes 2020 Annual Report

As well as providing details of parliamentary activity throughout 2020 it also accounts for the public money spent in running the Houses of the Oireachtas last year. The report shows parliamentary services continues to be delivered efficiently and effectively.  The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Act 2018 provided funding of €422.3 million to meet the costs associated with running the Houses of the Oireachtas for the three-year period 2019-2021.  Gross expenditure in 2020 was €135.89m. The unspent allocation for the period 2020 was €14.836m and is carried over.

The reporting period includes the 2020 general elections for both Houses of the Oireachtas, the beginning of the 33rd Dáil and 26th Seanad, and 80 new members joining the Houses.

The year marked a fundamental shift in how the Service did its work and how the sittings of the Houses and meetings of Committees were supported.  Remote working, virtual meetings and off-site sittings became the norm.

The Convention Centre Dublin was used for Dáil sittings for the first time – in addition to Leinster House - in response to public health measures.

Prior investment made by the Commission in the Oireachtas Digital Transformation Programme facilitated the accelerated transition to remote working and to supporting the sittings and Committee meetings remotely.

There were significant achievements made in the move towards a Digital Parliament including the accelerated roll-out of Microsoft (MS) Teams across the organisation in a rapid response to Covid-19 to facilitate remote working.

There were 25 Committees established for the 33rd Dáil in September 2020. They held meetings in public using a hybrid model - involving witnesses joining via MS Teams (both on-site and off-site) and members joining from their Leinster House offices. This model was piloted by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. 2020 saw a major shift to online public engagement.

The Oireachtas website provided a significant and crucial portal for the public to the work of the Houses and award-winning social media channels recorded increased audiences. A virtual tour of Leinster House in both Irish and English was launched on the Oireachtas website and remains available for viewing.

The Oireachtas Education Programme continued to be delivered online throughout the year. A high number of interparliamentary meetings was facilitated through virtual engagements.

The Broadcasting Unit ensured coverage of on-site sittings in Leinster House and off-site sittings in the Convention Centre Dublin. Oireachtas TV broadcast speeches on issues of national concern and special events such as the first day of the new Dáil and the election of the Ceann Comhairle, the election of the Taoiseach, the election of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, first day of the new Seanad and the election of the Cathaoirleach, the election of the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Budget Day.

In a year of unprecedented challenge:

· The Dáil and Seanad sat for a combined total of 130 days: there were 82 Dáil sittings over 822 sitting hours, and 48 Seanad sittings over 324 sitting hours Dáil Éireann met 33 times in the CCD

· 201 Topical Issues were selected for debate in the Dáil.

· 124 Commencement Matters were tabled for debate in the Seanad

· 344 Committee of the Houses meetings over 597 sitting hours, heard from 792 witnesses and presented 9 reports to the Houses;

· 78 Bills initiated in the Houses

· 32 Bills passed by the Houses

· 48,735 Parliamentary Questions were processed - 37,941 for written answer and 977 for oral answer

· 1,743 hours of parliamentary debate

· 21,121 MS Teams virtual meetings were held and 59,593 MS Teams calls were made

· There were 6.6 million website page views

· The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) produced 84 publications and prepared 3 briefings for the Dáil Budgetary Oversight Committee.

· There were over 600,000 views of live streams of parliamentary debates on the website excluding videos viewed on mobile

· 56 of the 58 PACE (The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Plenary and Committee meetings were held virtually

· The Library & Research Service (L&RS) provided 1,225 customised research briefings and information briefings for members and other users

· Oireachtas social media coverage of the Seanad Election and Count attracted 4.75 million views of content by Twitter users; 49,000 live stream views on Twitter; approximately 13,000 Facebook page views; and over 60,000 LinkedIn and Instagram impressions

·    603 parliamentary and corporate legal advices were issued by the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA)

·The ICT Helpdesks provided support for 22,819 calls from members and their staff, and from Service staff.

· Oireachtas TV delivered 982 hours of live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings; and 2,424 hours of Oireachtas original TV content were broadcast, up from 1,400 hours in 2019.  

Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD and Cathaoirleach Senator Mark Daly said: “The annual report incorporates the second progress report on implementation of the Strategic Plan 2019-2021, presented to the Commission by the Secretary General pursuant to section 16 of the Commission Acts. As demonstrated by the report, despite the challenges of the past 12 months, the Service adapted to the evolving situation to meet its key objectives in delivering the services to support the parliamentary business and the work of members. Investment over a number of years in digital upgrades and enhanced communication technologies in the Houses enabled several innovations that have allowed parliamentary business to continue during the pandemic while also protecting health and safety in the parliamentary workplace.

”We are very grateful to all the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas for their tremendous efforts in ensuring the business of the Houses and its Committees continued safely and without interruption despite the unprecedented challenge posed by the pandemic.”

Read the report here.