Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I also welcome the opportunity to speak on the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2006. I declare an interest in that I have been a member of the commission since its foundation three years ago. It has been an honour to work with my colleagues and the Ceann Comhairle, who acts as chairman of the commission, to organise and run the Houses.

This has been a period of transition for Oireachtas Members. We have broken new ground in many areas and had to deal with difficult issues on occasion. Overall, it is a tribute to all those involved that we have only seen serious disagreement on one issue on one occasion in those three years.

We had a budget for the past three years of €293 million and it is important to note that we came in substantially under budget, despite the fact that we embarked on many new ventures in that period, taking on additional staff and expenditure. We have bolstered the Oireachtas Library service, something of a swan song for my time on the commission and I am very proud of it. There are now researchers who will be of considerable help and value to Members of these Houses. In the short time the service has been available, I have made use of it on a number of occasions and the people involved are excellent, as is the service they provide. I recommend it to those Members who have not used it yet.

We also provided additional staff for Members of the Houses, with each Member getting a second worker who could act as a PA or researcher, etc. That has worked well for Members and is evident in how they are doing their work. The commission displayed flexibility, tailoring Members' needs and space so they could fit their staff into what was available. The Deloitte report was also important to the commission and made recommendations on which we followed up.

We encountered a difficulty in the past year and a half that has exercised our minds at regular intervals since. In the past 48 hours I have seen some members of the commission around a table on six occasions as we tried to cobble this Bill together. In that context it is important to note what has been agreed. An amendment is being inserted into the Bill tonight and it is important for future commissions that we state what we are agreeing so that a future Ceann Comhairle and commissioners will not find themselves in difficulty when trying to provide money to fund a service.

This difficulty originated in mid-2005 when the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs asked the commission to assume responsibility for translation services for Bills that would come before the House. Traditionally there was a translation section, Rannóg an Aistriúcháin, within the Houses that provided an excellent in-house translation service. As a result of the introduction of new legislation that would place a huge burden on everyone in terms of translation, a home had to be found for this service. The Minister suggested the commission should be the home for this facility but we had difficulty with that idea because it was not within our initial remit and we did not have any competence in the area because the translation section already operated, although it was doing a different, restricted job.

When push came to shove, letters were exchanged and meetings took place to clarify the situation and our responsibilities. There has been such an increase in demand for translation work that people who are competent in translating into the first official language can now offer their services at a premium. Anyone competent enough to do this who sets up a company offering translation services would do extremely well in a short time. I was told today that translation is worth 35 cent per word. I volunteered my services, saying I would do the easy words and would let someone else do the hard ones.

We entered into correspondence with the Minister to clarify the situation. On 6 November 2006, the Minister wrote to the Ceann Comhairle to say he had consulted with the Minister for Finance and, subsequently, brought the issue before the Government. He made it clear at the outset on the Government's behalf that provision of additional resources, if required, would not be an issue. He assured us on behalf of the Government that the necessary funding for translation services, including staff and other costs, would be provided during the next funding period. That was a direct commitment that we would be provided with the additional funds necessary.

Previously, on 27 February we received a letter from the Minister stating he had made it clear on the Government's behalf that provision of additional resources if required was not an issue. He further wrote that we would be aware of the Department of Finance's commitment prior to the establishment of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which is resourced on a three-year cycle, to respond constructively and immediately to any proposals for additional translation staff following such a review and this remained the Government's position. This was a further commitment that there would be funding for a translation service.

We also received an earlier letter on 25 September 2005. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs stated "The Government is of the considered view — as was recommended in the report — that the existing arrangements, whereby Irish translations of Acts of the Oireachtas are prepared by Rannóg an Aistriúcháin...should continue. . . I am authorised in the context to say that we as Government note that proposals that may emerge from such a review" .

A minute of a commission meeting on Wednesday, 21 June 2006 reads:

"The Commission had before it a note on discussions at official level to the effect that the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has indicated that it would be prepared to:

(1) provide a guarantee in writing to meet whatever funding is required to cater for the additional burden imposed by the Official Languages Act. This funding can be explicitly ringfenced in the next Commission Bill".

Therein lies the nub of our difficulty. It was very disingenuous of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs not to mention ring-fencing when the Bill was published. It was stated the commission was explicitly given the responsibility and the implicit direction to provide translations, which is not the case. The Oireachtas commission exists to run the Houses and provide services for Members. Providing translations is a secondary service, which the commission is happy to provide and it is prepared to live with the commitment it subsequently received. However, it was disingenuous of the Minister to make such a commitment without following through on it.

It is crucially important that the final correspondence on this issue be placed on the record. I thank the Minister for Finance and, in particular, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who is also a member of the commission, for his hard work over the past two weeks, especially over the past 48 hours, to resolve this matter. Arising from the toing and froing in which the Minister of State was engaged, a letter dated 7 December 2006 was sent by the Minister for Finance to the Ceann Comhairle and chairman of the commission, which states:

While I appreciate your and the Commission's concern, I think we are all agreed that the €11m approx. amount for translation included in the €393m allocation is a generous one . . .

However, I am happy, in any event, to give you and the Commission my assurance as Minister for Finance that if the €393m allocation does over time look likely to be exceeded because of higher translation costs, then I will of course be willing to address the matter."

That outlines the way forward.

The Committee on Procedure and Privileges is also very important in running the House. The committee met on numerous occasions and commission members were on a sub-committee of the CPP. We sat through many meetings to bring forward proposals on what needed to be done during dissolution periods. We presented a report to the House which was accepted unanimously by Members and referred to the Attorney General. Over the past number of weeks and, in particular, over the past 48 hours, the sub-committee addressed an issue which had to be resolved to implement this report. The Minister of State did a good job in securing agreement for an amendment that will be made to the Bill later and I commend him on that.

The commission is delighted to welcome the Bill and the amendments that will be made later will result in very good legislation, which will provide for the running of the commission over the next three years. We are happy with the allocation of funds and the additional commitment made, allowing us to proceed with our work and provide services over the coming period. It will fall to others, rather than myself, to see that through but I am happy to have been associated with the commission over the past three years.

See this speech in context