Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

The amendments in the grouping relate to the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. Most of the amendments are technical and arise on foot of amendment No. 4. The purpose of the amendments is to clarify the dismissal arrangements for the staff of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission.

Currently, section 14 of the Bill amends section 20 of the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959. As drafted, the section provides that the dismissing authority for all officers at principal officer level and above in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas shall be the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. The dismissing authority for all officers below principal officer level will be the Secretary General of the office, which is in line with the general principles of the Bill. Section 14 does not currently amend the provisions in section 20 of the 1959 Act, which provides that the dismissing authority in the case of the Clerk of the Dáil, Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, Clerk of the Seanad, Clerk Assistant of the Seanad, the Superintendent and the Captain of the Guard is the Government, following a process of consultation with the relevant chairman of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. This provision is not fully in line with the central principles in the Bill.

Following discussions with the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas and on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General, I propose a new Part 3 of the Bill to address the matter by bringing together a number of amendments on the Houses of the Oireachtas and the commission. In light of the devolved dismissal arrangements envisaged in the Bill, it would be inconsistent with the independence of the Houses to have the Government as the appropriate dismissing authority for the officers in question. The amendment will not result in a significant change in the current policy in the Bill, but will retain certain protections set out in the 1959 and 2003 Acts which relate to the dismissal of Clerk of the Dáil, Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, Clerk of the Seanad, Clerk Assistant of the Seanad, the Superintendent and the Captain of the Guard.

The effect of the amendment I am proposing will be to retain the current safeguards set out in the 1959 and 2003 Acts, which provide that the dismissal of these officers can only take place after a process of consultation while at the same time linking the principle of devolved authority, which is one of the central provisions of the amendment Bill. In line with the provisions of the Bill, the responsibility for dismissal will be devolved to the Minister responsible for appointing a successor, who in the case of these officers is the Taoiseach. The practical effect of the amendment will be that the Government can assign the authority to dismiss the Clerk and Clerk Assistant of the Seanad and of the Dáil to the Taoiseach, who may act on the recommendation of the Cathaoirleach or the Ceann Comhairle, as the case may be, following consultation by him with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission.

In the cases of the Superintendent and the Captain of the Guard, the dismissing authority will again be the Taoiseach, after consultation with the Ceann Comhairle and the Cathaoirleach and consultation with the commission. The rationale for assigning the responsibility to the Taoiseach comes from the fact that the Taoiseach, following a similar process of consultation, is also the appointing authority for each of these officers. This is consistent with the provision in section 7 of the Bill where the Government can assign the dismissing authority to the Minister who has the power of appointing a successor to that civil servant.

No change is proposed in regard to other officers within the Oireachtas, other than that the arrangements for them will reflect the new devolved management structures elsewhere in the Civil Service. This will mean that officers at principal officer level and above will be dismissible by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission — the relevant "Minister" for the purposes of the Act — on receipt of a recommendation from the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, while officers below that level will be dismissible by the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

A consequential amendment arising out of the new part in the Bill is to ensure that the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas is treated in the same way as other Secretaries General for the purposes of the Act. Section 10 of the Bill currently amends section 15(6) of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 to provide that officers either holding a position to which they were appointed to by the Government or holding a position as a Revenue Commissioner, are not subject to the disciplinary sanctions set out in section 15.

Under the Staff of the Houses Oireachtas Act 1959 and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003, the Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas is appointed by the Taoiseach on the recommendation of the Chairman after consultation by him with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. The office holder is therefore not automatically excluded from the provisions of section 15 in the way other Secretaries General are.

Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are technical amendments which provide in section 15(6) of the Act for the explicit exclusion of the Secretary General of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas from the measures set out in that section. This provision will ensure that all Secretaries General are treated in a similar manner. Amendment No. 4 will give effect to the arrangements for dismissals in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas that I have just outlined. This amendment will insert a new Part 3 to the Bill. The remainder of the amendments in this group are technical and are needed to give effect to the provisions which I have set out.

It is proposed to delete section 14 of the Bill. This section provides that the dismissal of a member of staff at the grade of principal officer or above shall only be on the recommendation of the Secretary General. This provision is now replicated as part of the new Part 3 of the Bill. It is proposed to delete section 15 of the Bill in order to move it to the new Part 3 of the Bill. Amendment No. 5 replicates the exact text contained in section 15 and moves it to the new part of the Bill which deals specifically with the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Similarly, I propose to move section 16 of the Bill to the new Part 3 of the Bill. Amendment No. 6 is required to replicate the provisions of this section in the new part to the Bill. I propose amendment No. 7 to provide for the amendment of the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959 in the Long Title of the Bill. I propose amendment No. 8 to provide for the amendment of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 in the Long Title of the Bill.