Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for those remarks and for welcoming me back to the House today. I am delighted this issue has been ventilated in the way it has over the past week or so. In this regard, I took the Commencement matter and took this Bill through the Dáil last week. This issue was discussed at length yesterday on Second Stage in this House and was discussed again today. That is positive and can only be good. I can certainly say I have learned a lot about this issue in the past short while and look forward to progress in the period ahead.

I want to put in context for the record what my role is and what that of the commission is. As Members know, under the legislation that governs all this, the scheme for secretarial assistance is the mechanism under which secretarial assistants and others are engaged. Under the scheme, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has the power to regulate the provision of secretarial facilities to Members and qualifying parties. As Members know, secretarial assistants are employed by Members and by qualifying parties but are paid by the commission. The commission also regulates the number of staff employed under the scheme and has oversight of the operation of the scheme. Under the 2003 Act, the commission must obtain the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before reaching an agreement with any person on rates of pay, conditions of employment or superannuation rights.

This relates to the point of Senator Higgins on the exact role of secretarial assistants. Section 4 of the 2003 Act is very explicit as to the functions the commission shall perform in relation to the provision of secretarial facilities. It makes it clear that it is a function of the commission to obtain the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before reaching an agreement.

The essential purpose of the Bill is to provide the budget for the next three years for the running of the Houses of the Oireachtas, which budget amounts to €462.5 million. As I stated yesterday in my remarks on Second Stage, there is adequate provision within that budget for further improvements in the service the commission provides to all of us as Members. I acknowledge that service has improved quite a lot, certainly in the time I have been in the House. There is capacity to resolve this issue. Of that, I am certain.

I want to put on the record again my appreciation for the work of our secretarial assistants.Obviously, in the case of Senators, there is the particular issue that they have only one member of staff and the grading there is secretarial assistant. In my case, I have both an SA and a PA, but the work they do is extraordinary and highly valued.

Many specific points had been made about regrading and about the level of remuneration change that is warranted. Senators will understand that it would not be appropriate for me to get into the detail of what might be appropriate because my role will be to consider a proposal that the commission makes to me, ultimately. It is a matter for the commission now, having regard to the HR strategy that it wishes to pursue, its workforce planning requirements and the cost of running the Oireachtas over the next number of years. If it is open to the commission to conduct a job evaluation, for example, that is a matter for the commission. The commission needs to consider all of these issues now and to come to me with a proposal over the period ahead.

The important point is that there is a process under way. New life has now been injected into that process, and that is undoubtedly the case. We now have a date for an engagement at the WRC, which has written to both SIPTU and the commission, and it has invited both parties to come before it on 28 January. I look forward to that taking place and then, hopefully, to proposals being put to me at an early date for my consideration.

I want to be clear that this issue has certainly not been on my desk in my tenure as Minister, which is just under a year and a half at this point in time. The role of the Department will be, ultimately, to advise me when a proposal is put. Of course, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will always have views on issues relating to pay but we are not talking here directly about public servants. I hear the points that have been made about relativities and knock-on consequences and so on. What I have asked my officials to do now, as I said yesterday, is to engage positively with a view to bringing about a resolution to this issue. I have asked that I would be kept informed step-by-step so that, whatever contact there is between the commission and my Department, I will be kept abreast of that and, obviously, will have an opportunity to feed in my own personal views and to make an input in regard to that issue as well.

I also want to acknowledge that the Members of this House who are members of the Government parties have been raising this issue consistently as well. They have raised it directly with me through my own party and the other parties in government, and they feel equally strongly in regard to the issue.

I am not in position to accept the recommendations that have been put forward because I believe we have to recognise there is a process under way and we have to let the process take its course. It would be inappropriate of me to accept recommendations, for example, that speak to a particular proposal around regrading and so on. That is me, as Minister, getting into the detail of the issue, which I do not think is appropriate or warranted. I have confidence in the process and I have confidence that there will be a resolution to this issue over the period ahead. The reassurance I want to give to Senator Higgins and all of the Senators is that I am not going anywhere. I am at their disposal at any time to come in and to give an update to this House on my role and how I am I discharging my own responsibilities in regard to this issue.

My role is very clear under section 4 of the Act. My officials are now very well aware of the views of the Members of this House and the views of the Members of Dáil Éireann, and they know I am taking a particularly keen personal interest in this issue. Again, I want to restate what I think is an important political signal, which I am happy to send again, and that is that I want this issue resolved. I recognise that the nature of the work that our secretarial assistants have been performing has changed very significantly in the time that I have been a Member of Dáil Éireann. The complexity has changed, the volume has changed and the nature of the job and the demands have intensified. There is no question about that. As Senator Gavan acknowledged, I made the point about a lack of job security. There is undoubtedly a lack of job security for the members of our staff who rely on our tenure for the continuation of their work.

That is as much as I wish to say at this point. It is a matter for the Members if they wish to call votes on the particular recommendations. I am happy to clarify any other point or any other aspect of it. There is a process under way and we now have a firm date. I am happy to commit to coming back to this House again at a future date to give an update on my own role, but it is now a matter for the commission to consider this issue alongside all of the other issues that it has to consider. There will always be points of detail that it has to consider. I see the role of my Department as being there to support the work of the commission in bringing this matter to a resolution. My officials will keep me informed every step along the way and then, as soon as proposals are put to me, I will discharge my responsibility in an efficient manner under the Act.