The Public Service Management Act 1997 seeks to secure an appropriate devolution of authority and responsibility within Government Departments from Ministers to their officials. The Act provides a statutory framework for the assignment of specific functions for which the Secretary General is responsible to appropriate officers or appropriate grades of officers within Departments with accountability flowing to the Secretary General for the performance of those functions. The Act reaffirmed that, notwithstanding any assignment (i.e. delegation) of functions of civil servants under the Act, a Minister of the Government is in charge of his or her Department and is responsible for the administration of that Department as provided for in the Constitution and the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, confirming the primacy of the principle of ministerial responsibility.
This assignment for my Department is set out in our Corporate Governance Framework, which is available on the Department’s website www.dcenr.gov.ie. Information as to the assignment of responsibility within the Department is also available at
www.whodoeswhat.gov.ie.
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.