Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to be here to deputise for my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, in addressing the Seanad on the subject of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Appointments to Certain Offices) Bill 2014. The Bill before us is as passed in Dáil Éireann on 9 July last. The main purpose of the Bill is to change the method of appointing the chief executive of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - the Clerk of the Dáil.

The commission is the governing board which oversees the provision of services to the Houses of the Oireachtas and its Members by the parliamentary administration, the Houses of the Oireachtas Service. It is a statutory corporate body and is independent in the performance of its functions. It is accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas and has responsibility for ensuring value for money. It considers and determines policy in relation to the Oireachtas Service and oversees the implementation of that policy by the Secretary General of the service.

As Senators will be aware, the commission is composed of 11 members under the chairmanship of the Ceann Comhairle. The Cathaoirleach of the Seanad is an ex officio member. There are also seven ordinary members, four from the Dáil and three from the Seanad, who are appointed by the Members of each House, and one representative of the Minister, who would be a Member of one of the Houses. The final position on the commission is allocated to the person who, as stipulated in the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Act 2009, "for the time being holds the office of the Clerk of Dáil Éireann and (who) may also be referred to as the Secretary General of the (Oireachtas) Service". The Act states that the Secretary General is to be the chief executive of the Oireachtas Commission and the officer accountable for the accounts of the commission for the purposes of the Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1866 to 1998.

The Clerk of the Dáil post encompasses functions, as set out in Dáil Standing Orders, as well as specified functions as set out under the Electoral Acts and related legislation. The Clerk of the Dáil is the chief procedural adviser to the House and the Ceann Comhairle, and is also the registrar of political parties. He or she is required to carry out specific functions relating to the Dáil, Seanad, presidential and European election process. He or she is a member of the Constituency Commission, the Referendum Commission and the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Under section 15 of the commission Acts, the person who holds the position of Clerk of the Dáil is also Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas Service. He or she has been specifically allocated a very extensive range of administrative duties under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission legislation. These duties include the following: managing and controlling the staff and administration of the Oireachtas Service; implementing and monitoring the policies of the Oireachtas Commission appropriate to that Service and delivering outputs as determined by the commission; providing advice to the Oireachtas Commission and the Ceann Comhairle on the performance of their legislative functions under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Acts; subject to the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 and the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, managing matters relating to appointments, performance, discipline and dismissals of staff below the grade of principal, or the equivalent, in the Oireachtas Service and assigning responsibility for performance of the functions for which he or she is responsible to members of the staff of the Oireachtas Service, of an appropriate grade or rank, in order to ensure coherence of policy across the service.In addition, under the terms of the Civil Service renewal plan published by the Government last year, the Secretary General and Clerk of the Dáil will be expected to play a key role in raising morale and productivity among staff, creating opportunities for staff to develop their talents, strengthening strategic planning capacity, assigning the appropriate staff to the right areas so they can encourage and develop excellence and drive the modernisation process in the Oireachtas Service and, overall, ensuring that the Oireachtas Service has a strong culture of leadership, excellence and continuous development.

Acting in all of these capacities represents a formidable list of procedural, electoral, administrative and governance tasks for the leading official of the Oireachtas Service. Under current legislative arrangements, the Clerk of the Dáil is appointed by the Taoiseach on the recommendation of the Ceann Comhairle, following consultation by the latter with the Oireachtas Commission. Where the Ceann Comhairle, following such consultation, is satisfied that no member of the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas is suitable for appointment, he or she may recommend for appointment a person who is not on the staff of the Houses. If the Ceann Comhairle, after consultation with the Oireachtas Commission, fails to recommend a person for appointment, the Taoiseach has power to nominate a person from within the staff of the Houses for appointment and, with the concurrence of the Dáil, appoint that person. Where the Taoiseach is satisfied that no member of the staff of the Houses is suitable, he or she may nominate a person who is not on the staff of the Houses.

It can be seen from this arrangement that, in the first instance at least, eligibility for appointment as Clerk of the Dáil is confined to existing members of the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas and that other persons are excluded from the process, unless no member of the staff of the Houses is considered suitable. The previous Government had indicated its desire to change this arrangement. On Second Stage of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill in 2009, the then Minister for State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, who was piloting the Bill, stated the following:

The distinct role of the Civil Service staff and senior management structures of the Oireachtas is specifically recognised in the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959. These structures have served both Houses extremely well and remained in place following the establishment of the Commission in 2003. However, significant changes in Civil Service management systems have taken place in the 50 years since the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959 came into force and it is accepted that the configuration in that Act, particularly in terms of senior management structures, needs to be modernised. In that regard, the Minister is committed to ensuring, in co-operation with the commission, that the administrative structures of the Oireachtas do not become out of step with Civil Service norms in terms of adapting flexibly to the needs and demands of modern management practices.

The Government is in full accord with that viewpoint. It agrees that current arrangements for the appointment of the Clerk of the Dáil are out of kilter with the general arrangements for the system for senior appointments, notably the Top Levels Appointments Committee, TLAC, system. This system incorporates nomination by boards comprising a majority of members from the private sector with specific skills in management and human resources, and provides opportunities for new blood to be introduced into public service organisations. The Government believes the appointment procedure for the Clerk of the Dáil should mirror the procedure for appointing the normal run of Secretaries General. TLAC makes a selection of persons following a competition for Secretary General, but not in an order of merit. In such instances, the Government is afforded appropriate leeway in which to arrive at the optimal choice.

The purpose of the arrangement proposed by the Government in the Bill would provide the same broad latitude which the Government possesses in regard to Secretaries General at present to the Ceann Comhairle in respect of the Clerk of the Dáil, as the Ceann Comhairle could justifiably be regarded as the public face of the Houses of the Oireachtas. In that light, the Government decided that heads of a Bill be prepared which would provide for the appointment of the Clerk of the Dáil by the Oireachtas Commission on the recommendation of the Ceann Comhairle following an open competition organised by the Top Level Appointments Committee, which would make recommendations for appointment to the Ceann Comhairle.

At the same time, in the context of the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature, the Government was most anxious that due weight would be given to the views of the Oireachtas on what it proposed. Accordingly, in the course of 2014 it referred this proposal to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform for its consideration. In due course, the committee reverted to the Government, indicating that it did not wish to record any conclusions or recommendations on the draft heads. On that basis, the Government has proceeded on the lines it had envisaged.

The Bill has four sections. The first section deals with amendments to the Staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Act 1959. The first subsection of that section defines the 1959 Act. The second subsection provides that the Clerk of the Dáil shall be appointed by the Oireachtas Commission on the recommendation of the Ceann Comhairle, that this recommendation shall be made by the Ceann Comhairle from among the persons selected by TLAC, and that this selection shall be based on an open competition, that is to say one not confined to persons who are civil servants. This subsection also provides for a similar arrangement to be used in the event of the TLAC system being replaced at some time in the future.

In addition to the Clerk of the Dáil post, the Government proposes that arrangements following the enactment of the Bill for the filling of three other posts in the Oireachtas Service, namely, Clerk of the Seanad, Clerk-Assistant of the Dáil and Clerk-Assistant of the Seanad, would be altered. The rank of the officers concerned, not more than the equivalent of principal officer, would be appreciably lower than that of the Clerk of the Dáil and the involvement of the TLAC would not be appropriate. Rather, under the third subsection of the section, the appointment would be made by the Oireachtas Commission on the recommendation of the Ceann Comhairle or the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, as the case may be.

Subsection 4 of section 1 provides for the imposition by the Oireachtas Commission of a time limit on the tenure of persons appointed to the posts of Clerk of the Dáil, Clerk of the Seanad, Clerk-Assistant of the Dáil and Clerk-Assistant of the Seanad following the enactment of this legislation. Subsection 5 of section 1 provides for the exemption of existing postholders from the arrangements which I have outlined. The posts of Clerk of the Seanad and the Clerks-Assistant of both Houses are filled at present. This constitutes the major part of the Bill. There are a number of other items in it, which I wish to bring to the attention of the Seanad.

Section 2 is a technical provision which amends section 13(3)(b) of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003, which provides that a statement of Estimates of the Commission shall be furnished by the Secretary General to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform not later than 30 days before the presentation by the Minister to Dáil Éireann of the Estimates of the receipts and expenditure in that year. It is proposed that the 30 day provision should be removed to allow time for the Oireachtas Service to submit Estimates much closer to the budget in light of the reduced interval between the end of the summer recess and an earlier budget day in mid-October. In 2013 and 2014, the changing of the date of the budget from early December to mid-October compelled the Oireachtas Service to finalise the next year's Estimate in the summer, in advance of half-yearly figures being available. The Service would benefit from the opportunity to finalise figures in September or October in future, when current year expenditure trends are clearer.

Section 3 provides for the performance by a designated official of the duties of the Secretary General of the Oireachtas Commission in his or her absence or when the post is vacant. It fills a lacuna in the existing legislation. Section 4 of the Bill contains standard provisions dealing with the short title, construction and citations. I commend this Bill to the House.