Skip to main content
Normal View

Ministerial Functions

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 June 2016

Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Questions (76)

Lisa Chambers

Question:

76. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occasions in each of the years from 2011 to 2016 to date in which the powers vested in her or any other Minister in her Department were exercised, without any express act of delegation, by departmental officials of certain seniority and responsibility, as per the Carltona doctrine. [17474/16]

View answer

Written answers

The Public Service Management Act 1997 provides that the Minister of the Government having charge of a Department shall, in accordance with the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 2013, be responsible for the performance of functions that are assigned to the Department pursuant to any of those Acts. It 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 Act, thus confirming the primacy of the principle of ministerial responsibility.

This responsibility, a central element of the structure of Government, ranges from significant political decision making on major policy issues to routine administrative responsibilities discharged by civil servants on my behalf. In accordance with the Carltona Doctrine generally, powers vested in me as Minister may be exercised, without any express act of delegation, by officials of my Department. As Minister, I remain the ultimate decider of Departmental policy, within the overall context of Government policy.

The arrangements in my Department are set out in its Corporate Governance Framework, which is available on the Department’s website at http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Corporate-Governance-Framework-for-the-Department-of-Justice-and-Equality. Information as to the assignment of responsibility within my 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.

Top
Share