Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 are related and may be taken together by agreement. Agreed.
SECTION 3.
I move amendment No. 5:
In page 3, subsection (2)(a), line 32, to delete "(other than Regulation 4(1) thereof)" and substitute "(other than Regulations 1,2,4(1) and 6 thereof)".
This amendment is necessary because section 3 (2)(a) repeals the Garda Síochána (Association) Regulations 1978 which established the GRA except for one of its provisions, regulation 4 (1) which reads:
An association to be known as the Garda Representative Association is hereby established for the purpose of representing members of the Garda Síochána holding the rank of Garda in all matters affecting their welfare and efficiency.
It is desirable to retain the standard titling and interpretation provisions of the 1978 regulations 1 and 2 which read, "these regulations may be cited as the Garda Síochána (Associations) Regulations 1978" and "the Interpretation Act, 1937, applies to these regulations".
It is desirable that regulation 6 of the 1978 regulations also be retained. This provision allows the association establish, pursuant to the regulations, to conduct its own affairs in accordance with the constitution or rules made by the association subject to the provision of these regulations. Rules or a constitution adopted by an association may cover matters other than those provided for in the Act. The important thing is that such a constitution or rules are subject to the provisions of the Act.
The second amendment is necessary to include Statutory Instrument No. 222 of 1996 among the regulations being repealed. This Statutory Instrument was made in July 1996 subsequent to the publication of this Bill in April 1996. This instrument changed the date of district committee elections of the GRA from September to March every third year beginning in March 1997. The reason was that the Schedule to the Bill in paragraph 4 (6)(a) provides that these elections will, in future, be held in March and it was not desirable or sensible that elections should be held in September of this year as required under the existing regulations when, as soon as the Bill was enacted, the elections would be required to be held again in March 1997. The purpose was to delay the elections until the changes in the rules governing the structures and organisation of the association proposed by the Bill were in force.
The 1996 Statutory Instrument is the subject of a court challenge by the GRA. Members will know that I introduced that Statutory Instrument on the basis that we were in the middle of this legislation and it seemed totally impractical and inappropriate that elections should proceed for a three year period within months of the enactment of this legislation.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 6:
In page 4, subsection (2), between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:
"(e) the Garda Síochána (Associations) (Amendment) Regulations, 1996 (S.I. No. 222 of 1996),"
Amendment agreed to.
Section 3, as amended, agreed to.