Seanad debates
Tuesday, 1 July 2003
Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage.
The Minister for Finance has said a number of times that one civil servant from Leinster House is to be a member of the commission and I have no problem making the point again. The sole non-politician is the person who has been in charge of the staffing and financial business of the Houses for years. He is already the Accounting Officer for its Vote and formally designated as the Civil Service head of the office. The fact that he is also the Clerk of the Dáil is neither here nor there, he is a member of the commission because he has been the head Accounting Officer. He will not be a member of the commission as the Ceann Comhairle's adviser, he will be there as the chief executive officer to serve all members of the commission. He is not there as the Dáil's man. If the situation arose where this House insisted that the Seanad's lady should be a member of the commission, there would also be a case for having the Dáil's man on it.
No comments