First I should like to thank the House for the welcome given to the Bill. It is a very important measure, even though it is a simple one, because of the services which can be provided under it when it becomes an Act.
Deputy Kavanagh was quite right in what he said about the many frustrations among the employees of local authorities because of the long delays in dealing with wage claims, and other claims, which have to be processed by the city and county managers. The managers are hamstrung inasmuch as they have no staffing facilities to enable them to deal with the large volume of claims coming before them under the local authority conciliation and arbitration scheme. Some assistance was needed, and that assistance can now be provided when this Bill becomes an Act and an establishment order is made, establishing a body to provide such services.
Some of the points raised merit some reply and some explanation. I will deal with them very briefly. Deputy Donegan raised the question of whether the City and County Managers' Association could, in fact, be sued. At the moment the managers could be sued as individuals but, of course, when the corporate body is set up, any charges that are made against the managers could be made against the corporate body so, in that way, the managers are being protected.
I should point out here that any person who is aggrieved by a decision of a city or county manager dealing with staff matters and wages and salaries has the right to appeal to the Minister under the Local Government Act, 1941. There is no question whatsoever of taking away any of the functions of the local authorities as they exist at present. I dealt with this point fairly fully in my introductory speech. The only purpose we have in mind is to provide special services to facilitate the efficient operation of the conciliation and arbitration scheme for local authorities.
On the question of the recoupment of expenses, each establishment order will provide for matters of this nature. The establishment order will, of course, come before each House of the Oireachtas. If anyone wishes to object, the orders can be annulled by resolution either in this House or in the Seanad.
This brings me to Deputy Tully's point about the 21 days. It is only fair to point out that, although this House may sit for three days a week and sometimes four, if the resolution is being moved in the Seanad, which does not sit regularly and, if we were to wait for 21 days, the period could be quite long. I think it would be unreasonable to suggest any change in that regard. Seven days is ample notice bearing in mind, of course, that if there were a long delay in regard to this matter of a resolution annulling an establishment order, the corporate body would not be able to do any business because no body would deal with it if that were hanging over its head. This could prove a great disadvantage if it were allowed, and I would suggest to Deputies that they should accept, as the Seanad did, the seven days provision.
The number of staff required to operate the corporate body, which will provide services for the city and county managers, will not be very big. The staff will be of great assistance to the managers not alone in providing them with information but also in carrying out many of the negotiations and in acting at the Labour Court on behalf of the managers. They could bring the discussions right up to final stage and present the matter to the managers for decision. This would enable managers to carry on with the very onerous day to day responsibilities which they have in their own areas and in that way, the Bill will add greatly to the more efficient running of the counties of those managers who are now involved in this type of work. It is not the purpose in setting up the corporate body to provide staff for the City and County Managers' Association. It will provide staff for the general body of local authorities and help them carry out the functions and negotiations I have mentioned. As Deputies well know, managers have responsibility for dealing with all staff matters.
An obvious question to ask is: what other type of bodies may be set up? When introducing a Bill of this nature it is common sense to introduce the Bill in fairly general terms. I have no intention at this time of establishing any body under this Bill other than the one I have been dealing with. It would be foolish, however, not to avail of the opportunity of including provision in this Bill to enable some other services to be provided for local authorities at a future date, if this is considered necessary and beneficial to them. The Minister may wish to have some service provided for him which could be done efficiently and effectively by a corporate body. It could happen, for instance, that local authorities in future may require a computer service and a corporate body could be set up to establish such a service and make it available to local authorities as a whole.
