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

[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".

24) Act 1936, which abolished the Seanad, made the concept of money bills moot and so also deleted Article 35.

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.