Eoin Ó Broin
Question:647. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the restrictions currently in place for civil servants and public servants contesting local government elections. [27060/23]
View answerTuesday, 13 June 2023
Questions (647)
Written answers
Section 13 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides for disqualifications from local authority membership. This includes, under Section 13(1)(g), a member of An Garda Síochána or a whole-time member of the Defence Forces.
Section 13(1)(h) provides that a civil servant who is not by terms of employment expressly permitted to be a member of a local authority shall be disqualified from local authority membership. The Department of Finance circular 09/2009 Civil Servant and Political Activity (ref.: E109/33/09) clarifies that civil servants in the craft, state industrial and manual grades and grades below clerical grades may stand for election to local authorities. The circular further clarifies that civil servants in the clerical grades and non-industrial grades with salary maxima equal to or below the Clerical Officer maximum may stand for election to local authorities, subject to permission being given by their Department. In addition, the circular states that special advisers and other personal appointees of Ministers, Ministers of State, Parliamentary office holders and the Attorney General, holding temporary unestablished positions may contest local elections. The circular may be found at the following address: circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/finance/2009/09.pdf.
Section 13(1)(h)(i) of the 2001 Act provides that a person employed by a local authority, the HSE or the Child and Family Agency and is not the holder of a class, description or grade of employment designated by the Minister by order under section 161(1)(b) of the 2001 Act shall also be disqualified from membership of a local authority.
In 2004, the then Minister for Environment, Local Government and Heritage, under Section 161 of the 2001 Act, signed the Local Government Act 2001 (Section 161) Order 2004 which provided that the disqualification set out in Section 13 would not apply in respect of “every class, description or grade of employment the maximum remuneration for which on the last date for receipt of nominations at a local election does not exceed the maximum remuneration for the grade of Clerical Officer”. (Section 161 of the 2001 Act refers to restrictions on local authority employment and membership of a local authority). A circular issued to local authority employees in this regard in May 2009 (ref.: LG(P) 06/09).
Section 13(1)(h)(ii) of the 2001 Act provides that a person employed by the Health Service Executive and at a grade or of a description of employment designated by order of the Minister for Health and Children shall be disqualified from local authority membership. The making of such an order is a matter for the Minister for Health.