I beg to move the following new Article:—
"After Article 25, and to conclude Section II, Sub-Section (A), to insert the following Article:—
"During the period elapsing between the dissolution of the Chamber/Dáil Eireann, or the expiration of its term of office and its re-assembly, and also during any period when the sessions of the Parliament/Oireachtas have been adjourned or terminated, a Committee of twenty-four members shall be setup for the purpose of dealing with urgent matters, even in extreme cases, where legislation would normally be necessary, for supervising the exercise of executive and administrative powers, and for protecting the rights of the representatives of the people. In cases where legislative powers shall have been exercised by such a Committee, such legislation shall be submitted to the Parliament/Oireachtas immediately on its re-assembly, and shall lapse if it does not, within one month, receive the necessary assent of the Parliament/Oireachtas.
"This Committee shall be known as the Committee of Public Safety, and it shall be constituted of sixteen members from the Chamber of Deputies/Dáil Eireann and eight members from the Senate/Seanad Eireann. The election for each Committee of Public Safety shall be held before any and every dissolution or adjournment, or termination of session, and the election in each House of the Parliament/Oireachtas shall be held upon the principles of Proportional Representation. No member of the Executive Council, and no persons acting as assistants to members of the Executive Council, may act on the Committee of Public Safety.
"Immediately after its formation the Committee shall elect a Chairman from among the members elected by the Chamber of Deputies/Dáil Eireann, and a Vice-Chairman from among the members elected by the Senate/Seanad Eireann. Such Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall immediately on the re-assembly of the Parliament/Oireachtas make full and detailed report to their respective Houses of the work of the Committee of Public Safety since the last meeting of that House.
"Provided always that the Committee of Public Safety shall not have power to deal with any of the following matters:—
"(a) The election of any members of the Executive Council.
"(b) To suggest any amendments to the Constitution.
"(c) To impose any new taxes, or to change in any way the financial provisions enacted by the Parliament/Oireachtas.
"(d) To give consent to any direct participation in war.”
I have no right to say that this Article might or might not form part of the draft Constitution if the matter in it had been brought to our attention a little earlier. I certainly would have proposed it had my attention been called to it a little earlier. In reading down Constitutions that have been passed in the past three or four years in Europe, I have noticed that a provision of this kind is in every one of them and the wording of one of them has been used as the basis of this Article here. I will briefly explain the substance of it. It is this:—That between the meeting of one Parliament and the next, or between one Parliament and its re-assembling after a vacation, the Executive power is deposited in the hands of the Executive, but there is no legislative power whatever and there may be very important legislative decisions of very great moment necessary to be undertaken. Such occasions have arisen recently in Europe and the result has been that this, which is quite frankly, a constitutional innovation, has been debated and has been put into effect there, and it has proved of very great benefit; in several countries it has proved that a legislative committee has been of very considerable assistance to the Executive. In one such country the Committee has been called a Recess Committee. I have called it a Committee of Public Safety, using in that expression a certain form of words used by the late Commander-in-Chief when making some such proposal of this kind. I think possibly the word Recess would be much better; the matter of the title is indifferent; it is the matter of the substance I am dealing with. The matter of substance is that before the Chamber of Deputies shall be dissolved and before the Parliament shall be dissolved, or before it shall adjourn for any length of time, a small committee of twenty-four shall be elected by both Houses in the proportion of sixteen from the Chamber of Deputies and eight from the Senate, and that this Committee shall meet at such period as it shall decide and act, together with the Executive, and give it such assistance as it may require, and that certain powers should be vested in that Committee—that it should, as the amendment reads, be set up for the purpose of dealing with urgent matters even in extreme cases where legislation would normally be necessary for supervising the exercise of executive and administrative powers, and for protecting the rights of the representatives of the people. There are certain matters which should be excluded trom the authority of the Committee. They would include (a) the election of any members of the Executive Council; (b) to suggest any amendments to the Constitution; (c) to impose any new taxes or to change in any way the financial provisions enacted by the Parliament/Oireachtas; and (d) to give consent to any direct participation in war. In all other matters dealing with urgency the powers of the Dáil would be deposited in the Committee, so that in effect the Committee is a link between both Houses of the Legislature from one meeting until the next meeting. The Chairman would be selected from the Lower House and the Vice-Chairman from the Upper House. When the Parliament re-assembles the Chairman and Vice-Chairman would report to their respective Houses on the work done by that Committee, and if it should happen, as might be the case, that they were not elected during the period, they simply make their report and they conclude at that. The value of this—and I urge it upon the careful attention of this Dáil—has been proved as a democratic measure giving support to the Executive and practically keeping the powers of the Legislature in constant and continuous session.