Houses of the Oireachtas Commission publishes annual report for 2023

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has published its 2023 Annual Report which presents an overview of the work of the Commission over the past year in performing its functions. As well as providing details of parliamentary activity throughout 2023 it also accounts for the public money spent in running the Houses of the Oireachtas last year.

Read the report in full here.

The financial accounts of the Commission, which have been audited by the C&AG, show that the cost of running the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2023 was €150.4 million against a budget of €174.8 million, resulting in a net underspend of €24.4 million, a 14% financial saving for the year.

The report outlines the work of the Commission over the past year in performing its functions, specifically in relation to the running of the Houses of the Oireachtas, and providing members of the Houses with the services they need to carry out their work as legislators and representing their constituents.

The second annual report on the implementation of the Strategic Plan 2022-2024 is presented with this report. It shows the performance of the Houses of the Oireachtas Service and the breadth of its work in 2023.

Over this period the Service continued to advance its strategic priorities through the delivery of modernised, effective, and responsive services to meet the evolving needs of the Houses and members.

Numerous public events took place throughout 2023, these events helped strengthen public engagement and raise awareness of the work of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The final initiative of Seanad100 - "Minority Voices, Major Changes" programme took place in 2023, with a ceremony hosted in the Oireachtas Library reading room on 22 February, where the Institute of Public Administration publication 100 Bliain de Sheanad Éireann 1922-2022 was launched by the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann.

The Houses of the Oireachtas marked 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement with a range of public engagement events and initiatives during April and May, including with a showcase of Herstory's 'Peace Heroines' exhibition to honour the peace women of Northern Ireland.

In April, the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA) hosted, in conjunction with the Council of the Bar of Ireland, the OPLA and Bar of Ireland Legal Workshop for members.

In October, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) held a post Budget stand in the Coffee Dock in LH2000 further to the publication of its preliminary review of Budget 2024 published on Budget Day.

Work on international parliamentary diplomacy continued to grow in strength over the course of the past year. There were 33 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Plenary and Committee meetings attended.

In April, on invitation from the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD, and the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, Senator Jerry Buttimer, the President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden Jr, addressed a joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas as part of his visit to Ireland.

In September, we hosted the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament (ECPP) at the Convention Centre Dublin. More than 60 Speakers or Deputy Speakers attended the two day conference, which was delivered in partnership with colleagues at PACE.

Notable points from 2023
• Commission's net outturn was €150.4 million.
• A total of sitting 1495 hours across both Houses.
• Introduced a Right to Disconnect Policy,
• Introduced HR People Strategy.
• Introduced Learning and Development Strategy 2023-2024
• An Internal Communications Working Group was established.
• Key roles of an Access Officer, Disability Liaison Officer for staff, a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team and two in house Irish Sign Language Interpreters
• Achieved Autism-Friendly Accreditation from AsIAm.
• Launched first Climate Action Roadmap.
• Hosted the first Oireachtas Colloquium on Bilingual Parliaments.
• Task force on Safe Participation in Political Life.
• Cyber Security remained a key focus for the Service. In 2023, the Oireachtas Cyber Security Strategy was implemented and a Cyber Security Programme Board was established.
• A Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting was held on an off-shore Island for the first time when the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands sat on Árainn Mhór.

Dáil Éireann
The Dáil sat for 100 days, (945 hours).
There were 213 Dáil Divisions.
There were 60,051 Parliamentary Questions and replies processed.
The Dáil Business Committee held 36 meetings.
There were 359 Topical Issues selected.

Seanad Éireann
The Seanad sat for 89 days (550 hours).
There were 105 Seanad Divisions.
There were 371 Commencements matters tabled.

Bills and the Legislative Process
There were 93 Bills initiated in both Houses.
75 initiated in the Dáil, 35 of which were Government Bills and 40 were Private Members Bills.
18 Bills were initiated in the Seanad, 1 Government Bill and 17 Private Member Bills.
There were 4,528 Amendments proposed to Bills.
There were 36 Bills passed by both Houses, all Government Bills
The Houses received 156 EU legislative proposals and concluded consideration on 150.

Debate
There were 3,076 hours of parliamentary debates and there were 37,494 pages reported and published of the proceedings in the Dáil, Seanad and Parliamentary Committee. 4 Dáil Bound Volumes.

Committees
There were 973 Committee Meetings, a total of 1,581 hours.
3,001 witnesses appeared before the Committees.
There were 91 reports presented by Committees.

Public Engagement
554 press releases were issued.
Oireachtas.ie saw 2,179,246 visitors and 5,608,400 website page views.
Houses of the Oireachtas Twitter/X account: 47,332 followers
Leinster House hosted 54,529 visitors.
Leinster House had 28 Protocol Unit Visits. This included 2 Heads of State, 9 Government Ministers, 2 EU Commissioners and 6 Ambassadors on official business.

Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD and Cathaoirleach Senator Jerry Buttimer commented on the Annual Report: 'The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission welcomes the Annual Report 2023. The Report recognises and details all the progress and achievements of the Houses."

"The past year saw the introduction of many different initiatives and services that contribute to the efficient running of the Houses and the evolving needs of Deputies and Senators in carrying out their work."

"A significant achievement in 2023 was the Autism-Friendly Accreditation for the parliamentary workplace. This important achievement sets the standard for all public bodies to ensure their public buildings are open and accessible to all. We will ensure that accessibility continues to be a priority in the day-to-day management and maintenance of the Leinster House complex."

"An important focus of the Commission's work at the present time is the safety and security of members of the Houses when carrying out their work. The threats, intimidation and harassment experienced by members, directed towards female members in particular, is profoundly concerning. Above all else, elected members must be allowed to go about their work as legislators and representatives of their constituents safely and securely, free from any form of threats of violence or intimidating behaviour."

"Our concern for this issue led to the establishment of the Task Force to examine and make recommendations on Safe Participation in Political Life. The report of the Task Force lays out, in the starkest of terms, the scale of the problem and its effect on those subjected to threats and intimidating behaviour. The Task Force presented a series of recommendations to tackle the issue of threats of violence and intimidation against elected members and those standing for election. We will establish an Implementation and Oversight Group to drive implementation of these recommendations. The Commission will give the highest priority to implementing the recommendations as it believes that it is of paramount importance to ensure the safety and security of members, their staff and others involved in political life."