Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Darragh O'Brien. Section 1(4) applies with equal force to all four Houses of the Oireachtas officer posts under consideration in the Bill. In taking this approach the Government has in mind that the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, under the chairmanship of the Ceann Comhairle, would have the latitude in the future to take decisions on the tenure of the relevant postholders which would be in the best interests of an effective and efficient Oireachtas Service. It does not see any justification for making a distinction between the Clerk of the Dáil and the other three posts. It is very conscious that if the amendment were to be accepted, there would be an anomalous position, whereby the occupant of the Clerk of the Dáil post would have a seven-year tenure, while those appointed to the other three posts after the departure of the existing occupants would potentially have a much longer tenure, until they reached normal retirement age. The Government strongly believes this would lead to much inflexibility in the management of the staff resources of the Oireachtas. It would also be at odds with practice in the public service generally. The Government and its predecessor are on record as wishing to afford the Oireachtas Commission the opportunity to operate an homogenised management structure in the service. Explicitly mentioning in legislation the authority of the commission to specify lengths of tenure for the four main officer of the Houses posts is a significant step in this direction.

The Government believes its proposals will amount to a significant transfer of power from the Executive to the Legislature, as in the Oireachtas Commission. The Taoiseach is heavily involved in the process. The commission is representative of parliamentarians and will be fully attuned to their needs and demands. I draw Senators' attention to the fact that under the terms of the proposed legislation successful nominees for the posts of Clerk of the Seanad, Clerk Assistant of the Dáil and Clerk Assistant of the Seanad will be confined to serving members of the Oireachtas Service. This gives me very solid grounds for expecting that the successful candidates will have a wide experience of parliamentary and electoral procedure and the work of the various commissions such as the SIPO and the Referendum Commission, with which they are associated. The Government does not share the concerns expressed about adverse consequences for the work of these commissions or the conduct of elections. When the tenure of the holder of any of the three posts I have mentioned ends, the commission will be at liberty to decide whether to maintain the postholder in his or her posting or transfer him or her to a post in the Oireachtas. A significant number of posts in the service are of equivalent rank such as principal officer or assistant principal officer. In the light of the points I have made, the Government is not prepared to accept the amendment.