Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to see a bit of consistency with the gravity of the situation because I agree with proportionality and the graduated approach in the legislation.

The Schedules to the Bill deal with categories. Category A refers to persons to whom people are to refer reports. It deals with Deputies, MEPs, the Attorneys General and special advisers.

According to the Schedule, the chief executive of a local authority, the person to whom the statement on an ad hocdisclosure is to be furnished, is the cathaoirleach. I wonder about this because, in the normal rankings, in some counties the cathaoirleach is only in office for one year. He or she is only getting into the swing of things when he or she has to move over to allow a party colleague or somebody else from another party to become cathaoirleach. It should be remembered, therefore, that an individual will not be in the position of cathaoirleach permanently. Technically they are in place are volunteers. They are elected representatives and their filling of the role of cathaoirleach could be coming close to an end.

Could this provision place an excessively onerous responsibility on a cathaoirleach? I wonder if another body such as the Local Appointments Commission could be involved. It is a little too close to the bone for a cathaoirleach to be put in what could possibly be a difficult position. In fairness to them, if cathaoirligh required legal advice on what to do, they would have access to it. As the Minister knows, there is never a shortage of money in local authorities to be spent if management wants legal advice, but a member dare not seek it or expect to have it paid for. Actually, the same happens in the Oireachtas. The Executive can receive all the legal advice it wants from the Attorney General, but if we ever ask to see it to challenge, verify or check it-----

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