Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a serious point, that is all covered by the Civil Service code of conduct. The Deputy can be assured that there will be no party political work and no involvement in any electoral matters or referendums which would bring us into conflict with the McKenna judgment.

As to legislation on NESC, the heads of a Bill will be brought forward but it is not a legislative priority for Government at present. The National Economic and Social Development Office, NESDO, was initially created under the National Economic and Social Development Act 2006 as a body corporate with three constituent parts, the NESC, the National Economic and Social Forum, NESF, and the National Centre for Partnership Performance, NCPP. The NESF and the NCPP were dissolved by order leaving the council as the only remaining body. Consequently, the framework of the 2006 Act is no longer necessary. As I stated in my reply, the absence of specific legislation does not impede the NESC in carrying out its mandate. Some time was taken to reflect on the role and working methods of the council following the end of the term of the previous council in 2016. This included consultation with outgoing members. There have been a number of changes aimed at making the council more effective. For example, the current council, which was appointed in May 2017, has fewer plenary meetings to allow more focused in-depth discussion of issues under consideration through working groups and committees. While council representation continues to include the various sectors, its overall membership has been reduced from 34 to 28 to ensure more efficient meetings while capturing a broad range of views. It is appropriate to allow these decisions to bed down in advance of finalising any legislative proposals.

Members are appointed under the Act and the National Economic and Social Council (Alteration of Composition) Order 2010. Each of the following sectors nominate representatives to the council in accordance with the legislation: business and employer interests, ICTU, farming and agricultural interests, community and voluntary sector and the environmental sector. The new council has three nominees per sector. The legislation also provides for six public servants to be appointed, which appointments have been made, and between seven and eight independent members, of whom three have been appointed. In October 2017, I made three appointments to the council on the basis of nominations received from farming representatives. The other members of the council were appointed by the previous Taoiseach in May 2017. I plan to make four further appointments to the council following the conclusion of an open process which is currently being conducted by the Public Appointments Service.

As to legislation which may be required from my Department in the event of a hard Brexit, we do not envisage any legislation being required of my office. However, it may the case that legislation would be required of other Departments, most notably the Departments of Finance and Justice and Equality. The new agency which Deputy Burton asked about will be under the auspices of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. As the Department deals largely with housing, planning and development, that is the right home for the agency. It is intended that the body will acquire State land, bring it together and develop it, mainly for housing, but also, perhaps, for mixed use. We have seen similar models in the past with the redevelopment agencies in Limerick, Ballymun and the docklands, the last of which initially worked well and before it went very bad. Something based on that model would not sit appropriately in my Department and is best placed in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

The modern iteration of social partnership involves consulting with and involving unions, employers and their representatives in major economic decisions and decisions which affect the labour market. That is very much alive and something which is done through a number of mechanisms. The Labour Employer Economic Forum, or LEEF, meets this week and I will chair the meeting. The meeting will be on Brexit and Project Ireland 2040 and will get input from unions and employers in respect of the latter. I am very heartened by the support of IBEC, Chambers Ireland and the IFA for Project Ireland 2040 and am very pleased that they came out so quickly in support of it. There was, I suppose, a mixed welcome from some of the trade union groups. For example, the INMO nursing union is very supportive of the health element of the plan. We are also able to engage with the social partners through the national economic dialogue, which occurs in the run up to the budgetary cycle. That has been very useful in helping us to frame the budget. There is also a social inclusion forum, which is a wider forum used to consult social partners.

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