The Dáil and Seanad sat for a total of 179 days last year – 11 days more than in 2008, new figures show.
Official figures released by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which runs the Oireachtas, show the two houses and committees sat for a total of 2,346 hours in 2009 compared to 2,214 hours the previous year.
The figures compare the first 11 months of 2009 to the same period the previous year. Full 12-month figures are not yet published.
During 2009, 127 bills passed through the Oireachtas up from 90 in 2008.
A total of 94, 657 people visited Leinster House in 2009.
The number of parliamentary questions asked in 2009 was 53, 644, up from 43,861 in 2008. A total of 53 reports were compiled by Oireachtas committees in 2009.
The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, said it had reduced its budget by €33 million for the next three years.
An internal benchmarking study prepared by the commission to compare how the Oireachtas compares with other parliaments showed it “performs well” in several key areas, it said.
“It has a below average number of recess weeks per year, and of the parliaments surveyed has the fourth least number of recess weeks. It has fewer recess weeks than parliaments in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.”
In terms of sitting days, the Oireachtas has more sitting days per year than New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and India’s upper house and more sitting hours per year than Denmark, Canada (lower house), India (upper house), New Zealand and Scotland.
The Oireachtas had the second highest number of parliamentary questions tabled annually across nine parliaments and the highest number of parliamentary questions per member.
On expenditure, the Oireachtas had the second-lowest budget spend per member of bicameral parliaments surveyed.
It had the joint highest number of visitors to parliament per head of population.