John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, to delete lines 11 to 16 and substitute the following: " "deposited map” means the map—

(a) deposited on behalf of the Minister at the offices of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government situated at the Custom House in the city of Dublin, on 25 July 2018 for the purpose of the Cork boundary alteration,

(b) described as having been deposited for that purpose, and

(c) sealed with the official seal of the Minister;".

Amendment No. 1 is a drafting amendment to the section, to insert an additional reference to the map as having been deposited in the Custom House on 25 July 2018 for the purpose of the Cork boundary alteration, and to reverse the order of the two paragraphs describing the deposited map in the published definition.

Amendment No. 2 provides for the amendment of the reference to section 17 in the definition of "financial settlement" to section 23, which is the appropriate section number based on Government amendments Nos. 69 to 72, inclusive.

Amendment No. 3 provides for the insertion of a new definition of "staff transfer plan" in the interpretation section. This relates to the new section 13, dealing with staff transfers and plans which is proposed for insertion in the Bill by amendment No. 25.

Amendment No. 25 proposes to insert a new section 13 about the staff transfer plan into the Bill before the existing section 13 dealing with the transfer of staff. The new section deals separately with the staff transfer plan that the two local authorities will need to jointly prepare to facilitate the transfer of staff from the county council to the city council. Section 13(1) requires the two chief executives to jointly prepare a plan referred to as the staff transfer plan in the Bill, which was added as a definition to section 2 by amendment No. 3.

It was added as a definition to section 2 by amendment No. 3. It sets out the numbers and grades who prior to the transfer day were assigned to the performance of functions in the relevant area, whether fully or partly. The proposal is to transfer staff to meet the staffing requirements for the relevant area.

There are different subsections relating to amendment No. 25. Subsection (3) requires that any disagreements on the preparation of the plan are to be referred to the oversight committee which will make a recommendation to the chief executives. f Ithe chief executives fail to act in accordance with such a recommendation the Minister may give a direction on the matter under subsection (4), and in doing so, subsection (5) requires the Minister to have regard to the proportion that the population of the transferring area represents of the existing population of Cork County Council.

Subsection (6) requires the chief executives to comply with any such direction given by the Minister. Subsection (7) provides that a staff transfer plan may relate to classes of staff by reference to their grade or the operation of services by the local authority. Subsection (8) requires the two local authorities to notify the oversight committee of the making of the staff transfer plan. Subsection (9) provides that the chief executives can make more than one staff transfer plan.

Arising from the new section 13 inserted into the Bill by amendments Nos. 25 and 26, which replaces subsections (1), (2) and (3) and the published section 13 dealing with the transfer of staff with a single subsection which provides that the chief executive of the county council shall, after consulting with the city council chief executive, designate for employment by the city council the members of staff required to implement the staff transfer plan prepared under the previous section but for the purpose of meeting the staffing requirements in relation to the relevant area. Once the staff transfer plan is in place, indicating the numbers and grades required to transfer, the designation of the individuals concerned will be by way of volunteers initially and then on a last-in, first-out basis to make up any shortfall.

Amendment No. 27 reduces the notice period in the published section 13 (4) from five months to three months, or any shorter period agreed with the staff member concerned, and this reduction is being proposed at the request of both local authorities. Amendment No. 28 amends the published section 13 (5) because it is a county council chief executive function to make staff transfer designation.