Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 12, line 44, to delete "or".

Following discussions with the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas and the advice of the Office of the Attorney General, I have agreed to provide a separate part in the Bill, Part 3 — Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, to bring together a number of amendments which relate directly to the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. In particular, this will set out the tenure arrangements for the staff of that office. The changes, which I am proposing will not result in any significant change to the current policy under the Bill, but will instead clarify the position on the dismissal arrangements for certain key Oireachtas staff, by retaining certain protections currently set out in the legislation affecting these staff. I will explain the background.

A process of consultation currently applies in respect of the dismissal of certain officers in the Houses of the Oireachtas, namely the Clerk of the Dáil, the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, the Clerk of the Seanad, the Clerk Assistant of the Seanad, the Captain of the Guard and the Superintendent. This process is outlined in Acts of 1959 and 2003, which relate to the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Under these Acts, a dismissal of established Oireachtas officers may only take place following a recommendation to the Government from the relevant Chairman, such as the Ceann Comhairle in the case of the Clerk and the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, the Cathaoirleach in the case of the Clerk and Clerk Assistant of the Seanad and both Chairmen in the case of the Captain of the Guard and the Superintendent, following consultation with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. Following discussions with the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and the advice of the Attorney General, I have agreed that the current process of consultation relating to these officers should be retained in the Bill in recognition of the independence of those officers.

The effect of the amendment will be to apply to dismissals in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas the principle of devolved authority, which is one of the central provisions of the amendment Bill, and at the same time retain the process of consultation which is already set out for these officers in the 1959 and 2003 legislation. The proposed amendment supports the significant changes which were introduced as part of an overall series of reforms envisaged under the 2003 Act which is aimed at having a more accountable and better resourced parliamentary system. One of the key aims of the Act is to provide for a handover of the authority and responsibility for the provision of services to the Houses of the Oireachtas and their committees to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. This new arrangement for the Houses of the Oireachtas is in line with arrangements in a number of other parliaments in the EU and elsewhere and reflects the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers.

The amendment in this Bill is in line with the central thrust of that Act, which effectively transfers the authority and responsibility for the management of staff to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in a manner which is consistent with their constitutional position. The amendment will provide that the power to dismiss the Secretary General, who is also the Clerk of the Dáil, and the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil may be assigned by the Government to the Taoiseach, who may act on the recommendation of the Ceann Comhairle after consultation by him with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. Similarly in the case of the Clerk and Clerk Assistant of the Seanad, the dismissing authority may be also be assigned by the Government to the Taoiseach, who may act on the recommendation of the Cathaoirleach after consultation by him with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. In the case of the Captain of the Guard and the Superintendent, the dismissing authority will again be the Taoiseach, after consultation with the Chairman of Dáil Éireann, the Chairman of Seanad Éireann and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission.

There is no change proposed for other officers within the Oireachtas, other than that the arrangements for them will reflect the new devolved management structures elsewhere in the Civil Service. This means that officers at principal officer level and above will be dismissible by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission — the relevant Minister for the purposes of the Act — on receipt of a recommendation from the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, while officers below that level will be dismissible by the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The proposed amendment therefore provides that the Government can assign the authority to dismiss specific officers in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas as envisaged under the Bill. In addition, it allows the process of consultation which is provided for under the 1959 and 2003 Acts to be retained. The amendment represents no change for the dismissal of the majority of civil servants within the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, whose dismissals will in future be managed as envisaged under the Bill and in exactly the same way as other established civil servants.

The provisions which I have outlined will be given effect by the text of amendment No. 22, which amends section 20 of the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959. A further consequential amendment arising out of the new part is to ensure that the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas is treated in the same way as other Secretaries General for the purposes of the Act. Section 10 of the Bill currently amends section 15(6) of the Act to provide that officers either holding a position to which they were appointed by the Government or holding a position as a Revenue Commissioner, are not subject to the disciplinary sanctions set out in section 15. Under the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959 and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003, the Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas is appointed by the Taoiseach on the recommendation of the Chairman after consultation by him with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. The office holder is therefore not automatically excluded from the provisions of section 15 in the way other Secretaries General are.

I propose to provide in section 15(6) of the Act for the explicit exclusion of the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission from the measures set out in that section, in order to ensure that all Secretaries General are treated in a similar manner. It is necessary to make the technical changes provided for under amendments Nos. 11 and 12 to effect this change and to provide for the insertion of a new subparagraph (6)(c) into section 15 of the 1956 Act.

The remainder of the amendments in this grouping are technical and are needed to give effect to the provisions which I have set out here. Amendment No. 19 deletes the current section 14 of the Bill which provides that the dismissal of a member of staff at the grade of principal officer or above shall only be on the recommendation of the Secretary General. This provision is now replicated as part of the new Part 3 of the Bill. Amendments Nos. 21 and 22 delete the existing sections 15 and 16 of the Bill, while amendments Nos. 23 and 24 are required to move the existing sections 15 and 16 of the Bill and replicate them in the new Part 3 of the Bill.

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