Parliamentary reporters are part of the Debates Office team that produces the Official Report, which is the authoritative record of everything said during proceedings in the Houses and at committees.
The Debates Office is led by the Chief Reporter and Editor of Debates and a team of deputy editors, assistant editors, parliamentary reporters and administrative staff.
Work of parliamentary reporters
Proceedings are logged by parliamentary reporters who sit at the reporters' desk on the floor of the Chamber, located in front of the Clerk of the Dáil, during debates. These proceedings are also digitally recorded. Using their logs together with the sound files, reporters produce the Official Report in ten-minute sections.
A Member may be contacted by a parliamentary reporter requesting a copy of a speech, either electronically or in hard copy, to assist with accuracy and the speedy production of the debate. It may be necessary to ensure a quote from a constituent's email has been accurately transcribed, for example, or that a townland in the Member’s constituency is spelled correctly.
The Official Report is a complete and impartial report of the contributions of all speakers. It is substantially but not strictly verbatim because it is accepted that the spoken word must be lightly edited for a readership rather than a listenership. Parliamentary reporters render the spoken word in a written format while preserving the character and meaning of Members' contributions.
Publication of Official Report
Dáil debates are published incrementally throughout a sitting day. All proceedings before 7 p.m. are published before midnight and the remainder are published the following day.
Replies to parliamentary questions tabled by Members on a particular day for written response by Ministers are generally published within two working days.
A first unedited draft of the Official Report is available to Members within approximately two hours.
It is important that corrections which Members wish to suggest should be clearly marked, preferably on the electronic copy of the relevant debate, and forwarded to the Editor immediately.
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Last updated: Fri, 29 Nov 2024