Vol. 433 No. 7
74 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he has any plans to amend the Ministers and Secretaries Acts to alter the doctrine that Ministers are responsible for all acts of all civil servants in their Departments on official business and to allow for a formal delegation of functions.
The corporation sole doctrine derives from section 2 (1) of the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. Legal opinion holds that while, under the corporation sole principle, a Minister is responsible for the actions of his civil servants carried out in the course of their duty, he is not responsible for all the wrongful acts or defaults of such civil servants.
The corporation sole principle was enshrined in statute for good reasons: first, to secure continuity of title, and to obviate the need for the transfer of State property, rights and obligations from a Minister to his successor; and second, to secure that persons contracting with the Government through any of its Departments should have the ordinary remedy of action available in case of breach of contract.
I believe that the corporation sole doctrine has served this country well; it has not prevented individual civil servants from bearing appropriate responsibility for their acts. I am, however, anxious to ensure that management in Departments at official level should be able to manage more effectively; I am not, therefore, ruling out the possibility of a change in relation to formal delegation in the light of developments, for example, in regard to administrative budgets.
