Committee to consider petitions in relation to civil service rules, childcare tax credits and use of lottery funding

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions will tomorrow discuss a range of public petitions received from individual citizens and organisations in relation to concerns around public service delivery.

3 March 2015

The petitions relate to:

• Rules relating to Civil Servants for election to public office and membership of political parties (Thomas Geraghty and the Public Service Executive Union)
• A Childcare Tax Credit (Sonya Boyd)
• Perceived flaws in the Non Principal Private Residence Tax (Brigid Timmons)
• A call to introduce lottery winnings taxation to generate revenue. eliminating USC (Geraldine Morrissey)
• A call for the Legalisation/Decriminalisation of Marijuana (Neil Tolan)

Chairman of the Committee Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD says: “Committee Members look forward to carefully considering petitions received from members of the public on a range of issues, including those related the rules governing civil servants’ political activity; a call for a childcare tax credit; flaws in relation to the property tax for second homes; the use of lottery funding, and a call for the legalisation of cannabis.”

“The Oireachtas petitions system is a direct channel for individual citizens and groups across Ireland to influence the parliamentary agenda. Creating a petition is simple and the process has been designed to be open, user-friendly and accessible to all. There is a standard form which we request all petitioners to complete, which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie and can be completed and submitted online, emailed or sent by post.”

The meeting takes place tomorrow Wednesday 4 March in Committee Room 3, LH 2000 at 4 pm, commencing in private session.

Public proceedings are anticipated to start at 4:30 pm and can be viewed online here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

Get involved and access petitions website.

Ends/

For media enquiries contact:

Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926

Committee Membership

Deputies:
Richard Boyd-Barrett, Independent
Noel Harrington, Fine Gael
Michael Healy-Rae, Independent
Seamus Kirk, Fianna Fáil
Michael P. Kitt, Fianna Fáil
Pádraig MacLochlainn (Chairman), Sinn Féin
Helen McEntee, Fine Gael
Michelle Mulherin, Fine Gael
Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Labour
Patrick O'Donovan, Fine Gael
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Sinn Féin
Sean Kenny, Labour
John Halligan, Independent
Jack Wall, Labour

Senators:
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Sinn Féin
Jimmy Harte, Labour
Tony Mulcahy, Fine Gael
Susan O’Keeffe, Labour
Ned O'Sullivan, Fianna Fáil