Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My intention was not, and I do not think it is in the amendments, to have the Clerk or Clerk Assistant of the Seanad appointed in that way. There is a difference between them and the Clerk of the Dáil. Even though the Clerk does not have the Secretary General position, he or she has the roles and responsibilities of the Secretary General of a Department and the roles and responsibilities of the head of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. I am not trying to create additional work for the Top Level Appointments Committee; I am trying to ensure that when a Clerk is appointed, given the huge additional tasks, an assistant is also appointed. The Minister listed the tasks during the Second Stage and I was concerned that some of the jobs belonged to others. The Clerk of the Dáil now has overall responsibility - as the Secretary General, via the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - for every aspect of what happens in the functioning and security of the Dáil. If somebody is indisposed, ill or incapacitated and out of that role, someone could step in, in an acting position, during the bureaucratic three- to six-month process of advertising the Secretary General position, from job advertisement to the recommendation from TLAC to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which then makes a recommendation to the Ceann Comhairle, who then gets the Dáil to sign off on it. This acting Clerk will already have been working hand in glove with the Clerk as a deputy secretary general.

The Seanad is different in many ways because its Clerks do not have the role of being in charge of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. I am on record as saying I have a problem with the way the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission is formatted, and I tabled amendments to that effect, but they were ruled out of order. I will not go through them. I will not divide the committee on this issue. I thought it was a practical approach to something that might be a problem in the future. The committee has gone through the last number of months with an acting Clerk of the Dáil. I have not heard any complaint, but it is not ideal. The proposal is to address an issue so that somebody can enjoy the full power and responsibility without having to go through some of the rigmarole that that might otherwise entail.