Alan Shatter
Question:1 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform whether it is proposed to introduce legislation to prohibit nepotism in the appointment of persons to public office and their employment in ministerial offices.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Appointments to Public Office.
A large number of appointments to public office occurs in the lifetime of any Dáil. These range from the 166 secretarial assistants, individually appointed by Members of the House, to members of State boards, the Judiciary and some appointments in semi-State companies. Included in the total would be the personnel appointed by political parties, either out of their Oireachtas entitlement or with salaries paid for from the moneys paid to political parties by the Exchequeer for research and other purposes — which in 1993 amount to £90,645 in the case of Fianna Fáil, £38,990 in the case of the Labour Party, £256,658 in the case of Fine Gael and £127,512 in the case of the Progressive Democrats.
I have no plans to introduce legislation which would debar family members who are otherwise appropriately qualified for appointment to posts serving Government, Ministers, TDs or political parties. It should be borne in mind that these appointments will cease with the departure from office of the Government or Ministers concerned.
As this is the first time the Minister for Equality and Law Reform has taken Question Time may I formally wish him well in his portfolio. That does not mean, Sir, that I will not make life a little bit difficult for him from time to time.
I do not doubt it.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Will the Minister agree with me that in the context of this Government, and particularly the Labour Party members of the Government, that an unprecedented number of family members have been given positions by senior and junior Ministers? Would he further agree that the main contribution this Government has made to date in solving the unemployment crisis is to provide positions in ministerial offices? Will he indicate to the House if, as Minister for Equality and Law Reform, he has intervened to ensure that non-family members, people who are not related to current Ministers, have been given equality of opportunity in applying for the jobs that have been allocated to family members by his colleagues in Government?
I would not agree with the conclusions that the Deputy draws. The position has always been that these appointments are made by the individual TDs concerned and in many cases the appointments were made by them when they were still TDs and continued when the Deputies became Ministers.
Each case has to be considered on its merits. There are no procedures in place at present for an examination to take place for appointment as a TD's secretary. Perhaps there should be. Perhaps there should be a review of the appointment of secretaries in all political parties to see what connection they may have with their Ministers or what secretaries were retained on the change of Government and those who were not. It could then be considered whether any arrangements for a selection process could be devised for those secretaries.
Will the Minister confirm that the majority of those appointed by both senior and junior Ministers were either sisters or daughters of the Minister and were not previously employed by them as secretaries or in another formal capacity? Would the Minister further agree that the manner in which the relationship between Ministers and those whom they have appointed emerged was somewhat unfortunate in that when parliamentary questions were tabled the true relationship was not in most cases disclosed in the written replies given, that at the very least that was disingenuous and undermined the claim made by members of this Government that they were going to change Irish politics to a more open and straightforward style of politics?
I think the question is a rather regrettable jibe at the Leader of the Labour Party. It was no secret to anybody that the Tánaiste employed his sister, Maeve, as his constituency secretary for the past ten years while he was a Member of the Dáil. A similar situation certainly applies in the Fine Gael Party in many cases and perhaps in other parties as well, but the matter has not been examined. She continued to act as his secretary in the constituency when he became a Minister. I do not know if a suggestion was made that she should have been sacked from that position because he was appointed a Minister.
In any case the question put to me is whether I intend to introduce legislation to debar family members from taking up appointment, but I do not think that will be appropriate. It could well be that at some future date — unlikely, I know, but you never know — should Deputy Bruton become Taoiseach the question would arise whether he would be debarred from appointing his brother, if merit so required, as a Minister or a Minister of State. I do not think anybody maintains that suggestion. Perhaps all parties should have a look at appointments of secretaries in this Dáil and in previous ones and if the question arose of establishing a system of merit for secretaries. That certainly could be considered.
In the context of the Minister's juxtaposition of Deputy Bruton appointing his brother to ministerial office at some stage, which hopefully will come about, I presume the Minister agrees there is a difference between the status of a Member of this House, someone who has been elected to this House, and the status of someone who has not gone before the electorate and been elected but simply happens to be a sister, brother, daughter or son of a Minister?
Quite simply, he is elected. However, as against that, 166 Members are elected to this House, but the number of Ministers is fewer than that and consequently the person making the appointment makes a selective decision from among those elected. The Deputy must well know that the question of debarring a person who happens to be a relation from office is not the point, but whether they are appropriate, qualified and suitable for the office. In the case of secretaries nobody knows better than the TD who is best qualified to run the affairs in their constituency during the period that the TD serves because these secretaries are expected to give round the clock service. In some cases that may be a member of a family, but in most cases it would not be.