Micheál Martin
Question:1. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if the responsibility of delegation orders are within his remit; if he has signed any recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48013/12]
View answerTuesday, 18 December 2012
Questions (1)
Oral answers (20 contributions)
Delegation of functions orders are made by the Government at the request of the Minister concerned. At my request, on 22 March 2011, the Government made an order delegating my statutory functions in relation to the Central Statistics Office under the Statistics Act 1993, the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005 and the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 to the Government Chief Whip and Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe.
I am particularly interested in learning whether a delegation of powers order has been signed in respect of the most recently appointed Minister of State, Deputy Alex White.
That was signed this morning.
That being the case, it raises the question of why it took in excess of one year to sign the delegation order in respect of the former Minister of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall. It seems extraordinary that the Taoiseach could act expeditiously, as he has on this occasion, but it took in excess of one year to sign the delegation order in respect of Deputy Róisín Shortall. Did issues arise in respect of that delegation order?
We are dealing with questions to the Taoiseach.
Yes, but the Taoiseach is the signatory of the orders. What were the events, if any, that precluded the Taoiseach from signing the order in respect of the former Minister of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall? Did the Taoiseach have discussions with the Minister for Health or the Tánaiste? Did people advocate against signing the delegation order? When it was eventually signed, why was primary care not included in the delegation order?
I take it that all Ministers of State have had their delegation orders signed. Are any areas of responsibility described by the Taoiseach in the initial appointment not covered by the delegation order signed?
It was not a case of reluctance to sign the delegation order. Primary care does not have a statutory legal base. It is a difference between statutory legal basis, policy issues and administrative issues. The fact that it took some time to get this correct in respect of the previous Minister of State was also an issue in respect of her successor, Deputy Alex White. This meant it was a continuation of officially carrying on the delegation order given to the previous Minister of State. It was not a case of deliberately delaying. Primary care is not a statutory power; policy and the administration of primary care were the subject of the delegation order for the Minister of State. That continued with the current incumbent.
The Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, has functions relating to the Central Statistics Office, including signing statutory instruments, replying to parliamentary questions on statistical matters and receiving regular briefings on statistical matters from the staff of the Central Statistics Office. The Minister of State is also responsible for reaching agreement with the National Statistics Board on guiding the strategic direction of the Central Statistics Office.
The Statistics Act 1993 provides that the director general of the CSO is completely independent in the exercise of functions relating to statistical methodology and standards, the content of statistical releases and publications and the timing and methods of dissemination of these releases and those publications. Clearly, there are specific functions delegated to the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs who is accredited to the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Ministers of State are appointed by the Government and their general role and responsibility is to assist Ministers in the running of their various Departments. In many cases, that particular assistance is related to policy issues and, therefore, formal delegation of statutory powers is not, or may not be, necessary, depending on the policy issues the Minister of State deals with.
If I understand the Taoiseach properly, his initial response to the question did not name the new Minister of State with responsibility for primary health care, Deputy Alex White, as someone for whom a delegation order had been signed. He then conferred with the Minister for Health and said this had been done this morning. I think that is correct. Is it not?
Yes, it was approved by Cabinet this morning.
Just in the nick of time.
Or just in time for Saint Nick.
He then went on to say that in the case of a Minister of State having responsibility for primary care there is no need to sign a delegation order. If there was no need to sign a delegation order for Deputy White why did the Cabinet approve it this morning?
To be sure to be sure.
Was there no need for a delegation order for the former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, who resigned when the Minister for Health interfered with a list of primary care centres to add locations in his own constituency after the list had been completed? We need consistency.
I understand that I am only learning here, but can the Taoiseach help me through this? No delegation order was signed for Deputy Shortall during her entire term in office. The Taoiseach says it was not necessary but yet he signed one this morning for the new Minister of State, Deputy Alex White.
There is no mystery here. A delegation order was signed for the previous Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, with regard to her duties. Some of the duties were administrative and did not require a delegation order. Some of the duties were dealing with issues that did require a delegation order.
The same applies in the case of the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White. The administrative end of the work he is dealing with does not require a statutory declaration but he also deals with opticians and dentists in the case of fluoridation-----
And primary care.
And primary care, yes. The areas of opticians, dentists and fluoridation do require a statutory delegation order. Government approved of that this morning and signed it for Deputy White.
The administrative end of primary care, or the administrative areas associated with any other issue, do not themselves require a statutory declaration.
But one is required for primary care centres.
Not in itself, because it is not a statutory function. It does require a statutory declaration to deal with questions about opticians, dentists and fluoridation.
The Minister of State also deals with the area of primary care and the administration of that, including primary care centres.
He should have gone to Specsavers.