Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 January 2013
33. Deputy John Browne asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans for political reform in 2013; the proposals he has for constitutional amendments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2801/13]
View answerSignificant progress was made in 2012 on the commitments for political reform contained in the Programme for Government falling into my area of responsibilities, including for example the most significant reform of the Ombudsman legislation in the last thirty years. I expect that progress will be further intensified in relation to a number of key reform priorities in the course of 2013.
The Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2012 is currently at an advanced stage of drafting by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and is due to be published in the spring Oireachtas session. This legislation will provide a comprehensive statutory framework for inquiries carried out by the House(s) of the Oireachtas consistent with the current constitutional framework.
Drafting of the Public Interest Disclosure Bill is also at an advanced stage which will provide comprehensive protections for whistleblowers in the workplace. The Bill is included in the Government’s programme of legislative priorities for the current Oireachtas session. The pre-legislative scrutiny of the Government’s proposals for the reform and extension of FOI by the Oireachtas, Finance, Pubic Expenditure and Reform committee has commenced and drafting of the Bill is also underway in parallel, with the objective of publishing the Bill by the end of this quarter. This legislation will also deal with the issues of confidential communication with public representatives.
Following the publication of the Final Report of the Mahon Tribunal in March 2012, I committed to examining how the existing legislative framework for ethics could be reformed. Substantial preparatory work has been carried out by my Department in relation to this significant legislative project to date. I propose to advise Government of the proposed legislative approach in the coming months and expect to initiate a wider consultative process at that time.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists and rules governing the conduct of lobbying. The Final Report of the Mahon Tribunal also recommended the introduction of lobbying regulation and a code of practice governing the conduct of lobbying. My Department has engaged in extensive consultation on these matters over the past 12 months with stakeholders. I published a policy paper last July setting out my broad policy proposals and the General Scheme of a Bill was circulated to Government Departments at the end of last year for their observations. It is my intention to bring the final proposal to Government shortly for approval to commence drafting of the Bill.
The Government Reform Unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is currently preparing a policy paper on civil service accountability which will examine the current legislative framework underpinning civil service accountability, as well as the current administrative accountability arrangements in place. To inform this policy development, a consultation process is being undertaken, initially including academics, civil servants and international commentators. Following publication of the policy paper, this consultation process will be expanded to include a broad spectrum of stakeholders and other experts.
As part of the reform of the political expenses regime, in the context of the Expenditure Estimates for 2013, I announced further changes to the system of allowances and expenses payable to members of the Oireachtas. There has been a 10% reduction - 25% in the case of Dublin members - in travel and accommodation expenses and the public representational allowance will be vouched and the vouched amounts reduced. It also intended to reduce by 50% the number of pre-paid envelopes available to members and the unvouched elements of the secretarial scheme.
The Government has also decided that a 10% reduction will be applied to the Party Leaders’ Allowance rates payable to qualifying leaders of political parties and to qualifying independent members. In addition, I announced my intention to amend the legislation to improve the transparency of the allowance by providing for auditing provisions to apply to independent members in receipt of such payments.
The 10% reduction will be applied to the rates of the Party Leader’s Allowance in parallel with the other changes announced to the Party Leaders Allowance in my address to Dáil Éireann on the Expenditure Estimates for 2013, and my Department has already commenced preparations on the changes to primary legislation necessary to effect these changes. In addition, as I announced in the Expenditure Estimates, severance payments to Ministers and other Officeholders will be abolished.
I do not intend at this time to bring forward my proposals on constitutional reform in so far as my own area of responsibilities are concerned.
