Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 35:

In page 51 to delete lines 23 to 26.

This is an insidious little section which states:

In the performance of his or her duties under this section and section 50, the Chief Executive shall not question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy.

The chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority could not, for example, have any view, even if he or she had no inspectors or had a totally inadequate number of inspectors to police these provisions. He or she is not allowed question, or have an opinion on, any matter of policy, although he or she is the chief executive of an important national body charged with upholding legislation on health and safety.

This section is frequently inserted in Bills of this nature. It is an attack on free expression, democracy and on the rights of people to comment on Government policy in order to improve it. I propose that we remove the gag.

This is a mechanism for public interest and information and it is quite wrong that the chief executive should be prevented from commenting on the merits of any Government policy, the utterances of a Minister or the merits of the objectives of such a policy. I hope Minister of State sees that this old provision, which has been grafted on to Bills as a matter of form for many years, is no longer appropriate in an era when people expect the chief executives of public bodies to express their views forcefully.

It is important that an Oireachtas committee be able to summon the chief executive to give an honest appraisal of Government policy, if the Oireachtas so wishes. In the debate on the previous amendment, the Minister of State was concerned to protect the rights of the Oireachtas. Will he again assert the rights of the Oireachtas to allow it to summon the chief executive of the authority to comment on anything the chief executive deems appropriate? He or she should be able to do that, without hindrance, in a public forum dealing with IBEC, the trade unions or anybody else. It is quite wrong for the Government to impose this type of gag.

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