I move the following recommendation:—
In page 8, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:—
"Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either House within the next 21 days in which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the regulation."
I do not exaggerate when I say I was pretty alarmed at the notion that regulations would be made by the Minister for Finance under this Bill, without their being laid before each House of the Oireachtas. I want, first of all, to disabuse the Minister's mind of any idea that this Bill is in any way comparable in its application with the Civil Service (Superannuation) Act. There is all the difference in the world between people who hold office at the will and pleasure of the Government, such as civil servants, and people who are established under the Constitution to hold office completely independently of the Government and who can be displaced and removed only under the most strict conditions laid down in the Constitution.
Article 35 of the Constitution provides:
All judges shall be independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and subject only to this Constitution and the law.
The intention of this recommendation is to provide that the judges will not in any way be subject to the Minister for Finance and that if regulations have to be made they shall be made by the Minister for Finance and thereafter appear before Parliament, so that Parliament can decide whether or not they should be made. The fundamental principle is that the judges in relation to their superannuation or in relation to any other matter shall not be subject to the Minister for Finance. That is the main purpose of the recommendation.
In Section 6 of the Bill, we find that the Minister for Finance may make regulations relating to whether or not judges of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Circuit Court can avail themselves of the provisions of the Bill. He can make regulations with regard to notification by a person as to whether or not he wishes to avail of the provisions. He may also make regulations as to whether or not a judge is of sound health. Those powers should not be vested in any Minister of State over any judge who is supposed to be independent of the Executive. If such power is necessary, it should be by regulation to be made by the Minister and reviewable by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Section 7 runs for nearly three pages of the Bill and deals with the allocation of pensions for the future. That matter is all to be dealt with by regulation, so that the whole of the superannuation code relating to the allocation of pensions by judges will be dealt with by regulation to be made only by the Minister for Finance. That is undesirable and it is something with which this House most certainly cannot agree.
In that connection, I would point out that without exception every superannuation scheme made under the authority of Parliament is laid before each House of the Oireachtas. Every amendment to every such superannuation scheme is laid before each House. This is going altogether too far and I am sure the Minister will agree that it would be claiming too much for a Minister of State—I do not say this in relation to any particular Minister —to say he should be given very far-reaching powers which he is supposed to exercise by regulation.
I believe the necessity for the recommendation is so obvious as not to require me to say anything further on it I very genuinely hope the Minister will accept it. I trust I was not unduly lengthy in what I have said, but I believe the recommendation is so clearly necessary that the Minister will in fact accept it.