Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No 6:

In page 18, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:“(5) The Director shall be the accounting officer in relation to the appropriation accounts of the Commission for the purposes of the Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1866 to 1998.”.

As indicated on Committee Stage, this amendment will enhance the perceived independence of the commission by making the director the Accounting Officer for the Vote of the commission. The commission will have its own Vote, although this is not a matter for this Bill but for administrative arrangements which are in train. On the commission’s financial independence, in our system money may be voted for a public body only on foot of a request from the Government. This is set out clearly in Article 17.2 of the Constitution, which states:

Dáil Éireann shall not pass any vote or resolution, and no law shall be enacted, for the appropriation of revenue or other public moneys unless the purpose of the appropriation shall have been recommended to Dáil Éireann by a message from the Government signed by the Taoiseach.

We are all very familiar with this. Within this constitutional imperative, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform’s consent is required for any allocation of public funds and a Minister of the Government – in the case of IHREC the Minister for Justice and Equality – must take political responsibility for the allocation and be answerable to this House for the amount allocated.

There have been calls for the commission to receive its funding directly from the Oireachtas. While this is not possible, we have put arrangements in place to ensure the commission is fully independent while conforming to our constitutional system. Having its own Vote and having its director as Accounting Officer are important further innovations in that regard. There is no departmental involvement in day-to-day expenditure decisions by the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission, and there will be no such involvement in the new body to be established by this Bill.

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