Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 June 2016
140. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of occasions in each of the years from 2011 to 2016 to date in which the powers vested in him or any other Minister in his Department were exercised, without any express act of delegation, by departmental officials of certain seniority and responsibility, as per the Carltona doctrine. [17469/16]
View answerBy virtue of the Constitution as well as the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924, Ministers are responsible and accountable to the Oireachtas for the administration of Departments of State. In practice, except in respect of certain powers and issues of significant importance where the Minister is required to act personally, the powers and duties of Ministers are normally exercised under the authority of the Minister by responsible officials of his or her Department. This is known as the Carltona Doctrine which has been formally acknowledged as law in Ireland by the courts.
The Public Service Management Act 1997 sets out a formal structure for assigning responsibility and accountability within the civil service without amending the 1924 Act as regards the responsibility of Ministers. The management structures set out in the 1997 Act operate ‘under the Minister’ and contain a number of safeguards that are designed to maintain the authority of the Minister in relation to the Department. The 1997 Act neither supplants nor affects the Carltona Doctrine. The governance framework for my Department, which will require updating following the completion of the transfer of functions process currently underway between my Department and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, is published on the Department’s website at the following link: Department of Environment Community and Local Government Governance Framework.
Given their variety and number, statistical information is not maintained in respect of each occasion on which powers vested in me are exercised by my officials pursuant to the Carltona Doctrine.
