The Oireachtas Housing Committee is in session without its chairperson Maria Bailey.

The Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire is set to meet the Taoiseach today following her abandoned legal action.

In recent days, she withdrew her claim against a Dublin hotel after she fell off a swing at the property.

Deputy Bailey has been roundly criticised by Cabinet Ministers for bringing the case.

"Compensation culture"

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, the Business Minister Heather Humphreys took a swipe at what she called Ireland's 'compensation culture' – and was backed up by the Taoiseach.

“If you trip or you fall you have to ask yourself why it happened,” she said. “And more often than not the answer is, because of your own carelessness.”

"Explaining"

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said Deputy Bailey has a lot of explaining to do before she can take up her position again.

“I found it very, very difficult to believe or accept the version of events that Maria Bailey put on the record,” he said.

“I am not going to make a judgment until I hear the outcome of the meeting with Leo Varadkar but I do think she has an awful lot of explaining to do if she is to come back and resume business as normal.

Action

On the Hard Shoulder yesterday, the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the people would ultimately decide Deputy Bailey’s faith in the next election.

He called on the Taoiseach “take action” and ask her to stand down as chair of the housing committee.

Mr Varadkar has said he will meet with Deputy Bailey today to discuss the controversy.