Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

Section 40 provides for the establishment of the office of the chief inspector of social services as a statutory office within the authority and for the holder of that office, the chief inspector of social services, to be an employee of the authority. Specifically, the section provides that the chief inspector shall be appointed by the authority in accordance with the provisions of section 26 which deals with employees of the authority. The authority will determine his or her remuneration, terms, conditions and period of office with the approval of the Minister, given the consent of the Minister for Finance. It is further provided that the authority may dismiss the chief inspector on specified grounds.

The proposed amendment would make the Minister responsible for appointing chief inspectors, other than the first chief inspector. The Minister believes this to be inappropriate given that the chief inspector will be an employee of the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, albeit an employee with specific statutory functions. For this reason the Minister decided not to accept the amendment.