Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his comprehensive explanation. Senators will be aware that we passed all Stages of the Bill in this House before the summer and that we had amended it to include a new issue in the Dáil, which is what brings me back to this House. I understand we will take the 13 amendments before the House in four groupings.

A total of 13 amendments were proposed and approved on Committee and Report Stages in the Dáil. The most substantive aspect of the amendments proposed related to the introduction of a new part 7A which will enable me, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to provide by regulation for a new sick leave arrangement for the public service. The regulation made under this legislation will reflect the binding recommendation of the Labour Court from 2012. The regulation will be laid before both Houses. The final part of the Labour Court determination was only presented to the Labour Court on Monday and we are waiting for its final binding decision in regard to one aspect of that. I will provide information on the substantive provisions relating to sick leave, which is what I believe people will want to speak about, when I am speaking to the second group of amendments.

The first group we are discussing includes amendments to the definition of public service body in the principal Act, the repositioning of the definition of public service body applicable to redeployment and consequential amendments. There are six amendments in this group. These relate to what was the original Bill we discussed.

Amendment No. 1 provides for the reinstatement of the definition of "public service body" which will apply to the recruitment and appointment function of the Public Appointments Service, PAS, in section 2(1) of the principal Act. The earlier version of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) (Amendment) Bill 2013 introduced two definitions of "public service body" into section 2(1) of the principal Act. The first definition was to apply in respect of the recruitment and appointment function of the PAS and the second was to apply in respect of redeployment. In the interests of clarity and transparency, it is considered that one definition of "public service body" should appear in section 2(1) of the principal Act, relating to the recruitment and appointment functions of the PAS, and that the definitions applicable to redeployment and to the new sick leave remuneration should appear in their own Parts of the Bill, that is, Part 6A and Part 7A, respectively. It will be easier for people wanting to know exactly what the law is to read it in a joined-up, whole way, so to speak.

The definition has been amended slightly since the last version of the Bill to reflect two technical amendments. The first specifies that the definition applies "other than for the purposes of Parts 6A and 7A". This is because broader definitions of "public service body" will apply in respect of Part 6A, which concerns redeployment. Part 7A, as I said, will concern sick leave remuneration.

The other technical amendment refers to "an education and training board" rather than to "a vocational education committee", VEC. This is to reflect changes introduced by the enactment of the Education and Training Boards Act of 2013.

Amendment No. 4 seeks to reposition the definition of "public service body" that applies in respect of redeployment from section 2 of the principal Act to Part 6A of the principal Act alongside the other definitions applicable to deployment. This is simply replacing it in order that it can be read more clearly. This definition of public service body applicable to redeployment is broader than the definition applicable to the recruitment and appointment functions of the PAS under section 2(1). It is the definition of public service body that appeared in the earlier version of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Bill 2013 except for one technical amendment. To reflect changes introduced by the Education and Training Boards Act of 2013, the definition refers to "an education and training board" rather than "a vocational education committee".

Amendment No. 5, a technical amendment necessitated by amendment No. 4, involves the renumbering of the section beginning " 'recognised trade' ". Amendment No. 6, again a technical amendment necessitated by amendment No. 4, involves the renumbering of the section beginning " 'redeployment day' ". Amendment No. 7, a technical amendment again necessitated by amendment No. 4, involves simply renumbering of the section beginning " 'a reference' ".

Amendment No. 12, the final amendment in this group, seeks to exclude commercial State bodies and their subsidiaries from the definition of "public service body" in both Part 6A, which concerns redeployment, and Part 7A, which concerns sick leave remuneration, through the extension of the application of Schedule 3 to Part 6A and Part 7A.

That is the first group of amendments. They are, by and large, technical in nature simply to allow for the more substantive arrangements that will apply to sick leave, which will be the next group we will discuss.