Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 June 2016
276. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of occasions in each of the years from 2011 to 2016 to date on which the powers vested in her or any Minister of State in her Department were exercised, without any express act of delegation, by departmental officials of certain seniority and responsibility, as per the Carltona doctrine. [17473/16]
View answerThe Public Service Management Act 1997 states that a Minister is responsible for the performance of functions assigned to his/her Department and that the Secretary General of a Department has the authority to assign responsibility for functions performed on behalf of the Minister to appropriate officials within the Department. Under the terms of the Public Service Management Act “Assignment of Functions” arrangements are in place under which clear lines of authority for certain areas of work are assigned to each Assistant Secretary who in turn reposes certain authority in each of his or her Principal Officers. These arrangements are captured on www.whodoeswhat.gov.ie.
The Carltona Doctrine, which permits a function of the Minister to be carried out by an appropriate official on behalf of the Minister, without any express act of delegation, unless the context makes it clear that this is something that can only be done by the Minister personally, is a general principle that underpins the operation of Government Departments. The legal principle underlying this practice was formally established by the UK Courts in 1943 and was ultimately recognised by the Irish Supreme Court in Tang v Minister for Justice [1996] 2 ILRM 46 and Devanney v Shields [1998] 2 IR 130. The Carltona Doctrine principle is applied in the day-to-day workings of all Government Departments.
As Minister, I have ultimate responsibility for the performance of all the functions of my Department, ranging from significant political decision making on major policy issues to routine administrative responsibilities discharged on my behalf by Departmental officials. Responsibility for certain functions assigned to my Department is currently being delegated to the new Ministers of State, Deputies Pat Breen and John Halligan.
Finally, certain officers of my Department exercise statutory functions in their own right such as the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Registrar of Companies, the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission and so on where such functions are set out in legislation.
