The Government announced today that there will be an additional four Dáil sittings before TDs rise for their six-week Christmas holidays.
These will take place on the last two Fridays in November and the first two December. Business will conclude at 4.30 p.m. each day.
The Government chief whip Ms Mary Hanafin said today the Government had also scheduled a number of late sittings before the break, which begins on December 18th.
Business is not due to resume until January 27th.
The additional sittings come after the controversial mid-term break on the week of the October bank holiday, four sitting weeks after the end of the 13-week summer recess.
Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens have since all released published proposals to extend sitting times as part of their wider Dáil reform programmes.