A long and tedious routine session is livened up on occasion when a member brings an unexpected concern to the floor. Ola Salem takes a look back at some of the debates that have taken place during the past two and a half years, since the current council was formed, that surprised those present and people who read the news the following day.
Faith healing to end sorcery
Hamad Al Rahoomi (Dubai) first asked that mosque imams be able to legally practice faith healing, then asked for a faith healer to be introduced to hospitals.
While the UAE Islamic Authority did not reject the notion entirely, they said it was not possible owing to legal restrictions. However, the Minister of Health, Dr Abdulrahman Al Owais, rejected the idea.
Mr Al Rahoomi said the matter should not be overlooked because having faith healers would close the market for sorcerers and charlatans in the country.
The two parties agreed with Mr Al Rahoomi that faith healing was important, but that such a request was not possible.
Dr Al Owais was particularly firm that the ministry would not introduce it to state hospitals because all services in health care were to be science-based. He asked that the council not bring up the subject again as it could encourage bad practices.
A number of readers found the requests odd and questioned the need to raise such an issue in the FNC.
Right to breastfeeding
In an attempt to encourage more mothers to breastfeed, the FNC almost took away a mother's personal right of choice in the matter when the council added a clause to the Child Rights bill that stated that every child had the right to nurse.
Although the law was passed, members are still debating the exact meaning and repercussions of the clause.
There are no punishments mentioned for those who do not breastfeed, but lawyers insist that such a clause could later be used against women, in divorce or custody cases for example. The Minister of Social Affairs, Mariam Al Roumi, shared similar fears.
Polygamy as a solution to "unhappy" unmarried women
Many women found Ahmed Al Amash's (RAK) comments offensive when he argued that Emirati men needed higher housing allowances if they were married to more than one woman.
The issue was not so much with the request as it was with the reasoning behind Mr Al Amash's making it.
Mr Al Amash said that because men could not afford to marry more than one woman, this led to a rising number of unmarried women in the country who he claimed were unhappy and costing the country while not producing anything.
He said that men who married more than once were suffering financially and were burdening the country economically as well.
He said the solution would be to increase their housing allowance, because "sticking to one wife only creates a bigger problem". He added that marriage gave women the protection they needed to keep them from turning to sin.
UAE Minister of Health not getting his health checks
While FNC member Marwan bin Ghalita (Dubai) was telling the Minister of Health, Dr Abdulrahman Al Owais, about the importance of health checks and convincing him to adopt a new system to mandate it for all residents, the minister admitted that he neglected his own health check-ups. He said that there was a lack of knowledge of the importance of health check-ups, and he was one of those who did not have such knowledge.
Expensive luxury goods
During an intense debate on the state of the economy, Afra Al Basti (Dubai) brought up a question that had been on the minds of many fashion addicts: why are luxury goods so expensive in the UAE, a tax-free country. Ms Al Basti said, as a result, Emiratis were spending large sums abroad on these items where they were less expensive. She said the money should go towards the UAE's economy instead.
The Minister of Economy, Sultan Al Mansouri, said prices in the UAE were often high because of the costs of shop rentals.
He said most retail outlets were in shopping malls where leasing fees were expensive.
osalem@thenational.ae