The Dáil session beginning today after the six-week Christmas recess will continue for only six weeks because of a three-week break for St Patrick's Day and Easter in March and early April.
The House is expected to rise on March 10th for St Patrick's Day and is unlikely to resume until April 5th, after Easter. The Government Chief Whip, Mr Tom Kitt, said in a statement last night that 11 Bills would be published during the new term.
These will include the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare and Pensions (Amendment) Bill, which will give effect to last month's Budget and its social welfare package.
However, legislation to reform the defamation laws and to provide for the demutualisation of the Irish Nationwide Building Society was not on the list of Bills circulated last night by the Government.
The Green Party TD, Mr Dan Boyle, claimed the legislative programme was "modest in the extreme" and the least ambitious since the Government was re-elected in 2002.
"Despite the Taoiseach's glowing praise for lack of democratic accountability in the planning process in Shanghai during his recent visit to China, this programme shows no sign of the promised Critical Infrastructure Bill," he said.
"What we seem to have here is either a Government which has run out of ideas or, for fear of courting unpopularity, only seems willing to bring about a minimum amount of new legislation."
However, Mr Kitt insisted that the Coalition was still on track to achieve the legislative agenda set out in the Programme for Government and noted that 33 other Bills were currently being processed by the Oireachtas.
"The pace of legislative reform since this Government took office will be maintained," he said.
Legislation to be introduced in the new Dáil session includes Bills to put the employment permit regime on a statutory footing and to reduce expenditure on tribunals of inquiry by setting out legal fees in Government regulation.
Mr Kitt said the Employment Permits Bill would lay down the conditions relating to the application and granting of permits, the grounds for refusal and an appeals mechanism.
"There will be penalties applicable to the employer or the employee for breaches of the legislation," he said.
The new legislation will also include a Bill designed to make the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse more effective and reduce its costs, and a separate Bill to establish the Abbotstown sports campus on a statutory footing.
There will also be a Bill on investment funds and company law.
