The Government will come under pressure today to reveal the circumstances in which it will continue to allow the US military to use Shannon Airport when the Houses of the Oireachtas resume sitting after a six-week Christmas break.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, will this evening defend the Government's position of allowing US troops, supplies and weapons land at Shannon en route to the Gulf region.
He will oppose a Private Members' motion - the first from the Technical Group comprising the Green Party, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party and Independents - which calls for the withdrawal of landing and refuelling facilities at Shannon for US military personnel.
The Shannon debate will be the first major exchange in a Dáil term that will see intense competition among Opposition parties as they try to put pressure on the Government over cutbacks in services and other issues. Debate on the Finance Bill and Social Welfare Bill - which implement the measures announced in the December Budget - will take up much parliamentary time between now and the Easter break in mid-April.
The Dáil and Seanad have not sat in plenary session since December 18th, although Oireachtas committees have been meeting for the past three weeks.
The new session will also deal with legislation to stop TDs and Senators from sitting on local authorities. The Local Government Bill is expected to become law by the summer.
The Government is committed to publishing a Bill before Easter to set up the Abbotstown Sports Centre Authority "to provide for the development and management of a sports centre at Abbotstown". However, while the Aquatic Centre at Abbotstown will begin operation within months, there is no Government agreement on what other elements - such as a stadium - will be included in any such sports centre.
The Government is also preparing a Bill to change the 1997 Freedom of Information Act. There is some speculation this may row back on the provision in the 1997 Act which allows access to details of Cabinet decisions as recently as five years ago. This provision is due to come into effect in April unless the Government moves to abandon it.
There will be Bills published to reform the regulation of auditing, the employment permit system for foreign workers and maternity leave. The Minister for the Environment will publish a Bill to set up a Private Residential Tenancies Board to improve the rights of tenants. The Proceeds of Corruption Bill - setting up a new agency to seize such proceeds - will also be published.
Socialist Party deputy Mr Joe Higgins said he would be using today's debate on Shannon to demand "exactly what the Government knows about weapons and munitions of war travelling through Shannon. I will demand details of all US military planes and civilian planes hired by the US military in terms of exactly what weapons have passed through Shannon. I will want to know if any inspections have been carried out by the Irish State on any planes".
He said everyone knew "that the coming war is to secure the future oil reserves needed by US capitalism and to warn the poor of the world that they must not challenge the hegemony of the main imperial power on earth, the United States".