Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 3, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:

"(9) No compensation upon leaving office shall be payable to the Director General or any other officer or employee unless the terms of the compensation are approved by a committee appointed by Dáil Éireann for the purpose.".

We discussed this matter on Committee Stage. The purpose of the amendment is to control golden handshakes for senior staff within any organisation. This has blown up as a result of the significant and generous golden handshake provided to the former director general of FÁS. There is an argument as to whether the guidelines laid down were adhered to. It is a matter of significant discussion as to whether the Department's guidelines on additional payments were followed before the termination of contract and whether it was a resignation etc. I will not rehearse all that. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that such a debacle would not arise in future. Has the Minister of State reflected further since he spoke on this issue on Committee Stage? In the interests of clarity and for the purposes of accountability, such a clause represents a useful enhancement of the provisions in the Bill.

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