andMr. Enright asked the Taoiseach if the procedure whereby Deputies direct representations to the Secretary of his Department is now being altered to channel representations to him (or his Ministers of State).
2.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Representations by Deputies.
1.
andMr. Enright asked the Taoiseach if there has been any recent change in the issue of replies to Deputies' queries by his Department.
3.
asked the Taoiseach if he has issued a directive, or other oral or written instruction to the Secretary of his Department, that all queries and representations by Deputies must be through his private office; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 2 and 3 together.
There has been no change in my Department in the procedure for dealing with representations by Members of the Oireachtas.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Does that mean that questions addressed by Members of the Oireachtas to the Secretary of the Taoiseach's Department are and will continue to be answered by the Secretary of that Department?
Yes.
When I contacted one of the Departments last week I was told by an official that he was politely reminded that any inquiries in future from Deputies would have to go to and through the Minister's office. I should like to know if that is a Government directive or if it is a directive on behalf of the Minister concerned?
I am not aware of what the Deputy is referring to but there is no Government directive. Each Minister is responsible for his own Department for replying to representations and for the manner in which representations to his Department are dealt with.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Is the Taoiseach aware that letters addressed to Secretaries of some Departments are not being answered by those officials but by Ministers, or Ministers of State, attached to those Departments?
I am not so aware.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Would the Taoiseach disapprove of that practice if it is a fact?
It is a matter for each Minister to decide how such things should be dealt with in the confines of their own Departments. It would be my general desire that the normal established procedure should be adhered to.
(Cavan-Monaghan): I respectfully suggest that the Taoiseach check up on this matter. I am confident he will find that the position is as I have outlined, particularly since the additional Ministers of State were appointed.
I should like an assurance from the Taoiseach that when I telephone or send a letter personally to a civil servant who is in charge of a section or a deputy head of a Department, or the Secretary of a Department, that official will reply to me. I want an assurance that I will have freedom to contact Departments without being told that my inquiries and representations in future must go through the Minister's office. The officials may not have been given a directive in this regard but they have been politely reminded that this is the proper thing to do from now on. Will the Taoiseach make the Government's position clear on this point?
I made the position clear that each Minister is responsible for the administration of his Department according to the statutes.
That is not what I am asking. I want freedom as a public representative to have the same democratic right to go to a Department, have a business relationship with a civil servant and deal with him as appropriately as I can on behalf of my constituents without interference from Government Ministers who are muddling up the scene.
We have had sufficient supplementaries on these questions. We must proceed.
I should like to know why the Chair is protecting the Government.
We cannot have this question of protecting again.
The Chair is protecting the Government.
(Cavan-Monaghan): The Taoiseach gave an assurance to me and I want the position clarified. Did I understand the Taoiseach to say that as far as he was concerned there was no change in his Department? Did I understand him to say that letters addressed to the Secretary of a Department should be replied to by the Secretary and not by Ministers of State or the Minister?
The Deputy knows well that it is a matter for each individual Minister. The practice has varied from time to time in different Departments. Ministers of the Government of which the Deputy was a member have had their own way of dealing with it.
(Cavan-Monaghan): I do not think so.
What about Dick Burke?
He inherited it but it was changed.
Different Ministers have from time to time dealt with this matter in a different way. The question is addressed to me and I am telling the House that as far as my Department is concerned the procedure which has always existed there will be adhered to. If the Deputy wishes to raise this matter with other Ministers I suggest that he table a question to them.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Surely the Taoiseach has an over-riding control and should see that the proper practice continues.
These questions are making work for all the junior Ministers.
It is a change from playing fox and geese in their Departments.