I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The necessity for this Bill arises from opinions expressed in the Supreme Court regarding the powers which the Minister for Local Government was enabled to assume under Section 15 of the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923. The words of the section are as follows:—
(1) The Minister shall have with respect to all persons now employed or hereafter to be employed by any local authority in any office or employment to which this section applies and with respect to the accounts of such persons all the same powers as he now has by law with respect to officers of boards of guardians of poor law unions and the accounts of such officers respectively.
(2) This section shall apply to such offices and employments as the Minister shall from time to time by order prescribe.
In February, 1923, when the section (then known as Section 14) was being discussed by the Dáil, the Minister who was in charge of the Bill made it clear that the intention was to acquire in regard to all local authorities the powers which had, up to then, been exercisable only over poor law guardians. The powers of the Minister over officers of boards of guardians were to regulate their appointment and continuance in office and removal. In addition he had an initiating power to prescribe their qualifications, duties, modes of appointment, the amount, time, and mode of payment of salaries, the districts in which they work, and the security they should furnish for the satisfactory discharge of their duties.
The debate on the section (pages 1810-1834 inclusive—Vol. II, Parliamentary Debates, 1923) shows that there was no doubt whatever that the section was drafted with the object of enabling the Minister to take by statutory order a supervisory power over the decisions of local authorities in regard to all classes of officials or employees supplanting any power specific or otherwise which they possessed up to then. The power subsequently assumed by such statutory order was, however, limited to technical and professional, clerical and supervisory classes as well as persons remunerated by way of annual salary.
The difficulties which this Bill is intended to repair arose as follows: In 1930 the then Minister for Local Government, acting on the powers assumed to have been granted to him under the Act of 1923, issued an order under seal assigning the duties of the vacant position of solicitor to the Kerry County Council to the county secretary. The validity of this action was challenged by the county council. In the first instance the High Court held that the Minister acted within his jurisdiction. An appeal, however, to the Supreme Court indicated in effect that if competent prosecutors had been before them this decision would have been reversed. The court were, apparently, of opinion that the order was invalid on the ground that the general power conferred by Section 15 of the Act of 1923 did not abrogate the specific statutory power given to county councils in relation to officers, and that if the intention of the legislature was to take away such specific powers, the Acts in which they were contained should have been named and specifically repealed in the new measure. The reason, it will be noted, is a general one and applies to other local authorities possessing similar powers. Since 1923 many cases have arisen in which Ministerial control was exercised and to which the general principles of the Kerry judgment apply. The court also expressed a view that Section 15 of the 1923 Act might be considered to be confined to enabling the Minister to carry with him in regard to his control of the new poor law authorities, i.e., the boards of assistance, the powers he previously possessed over staffs of their predecessors, i.e. the boards of guardians.
From these pronouncements, particularly the last-mentioned, arises, therefore, the position that the intentions of the Minister in 1923, expressed clearly in the debates by the Dáil, and accepted as having the widest possible meaning, may be open to challenge on account of a technical defect. One effect is that the sanction of the Minister is not necessary to decisions of local authorities on matter of the appointment, removal and remuneration of staffs other than those engaged in poor law services.
The present Bill deals with this situation by laying down specifically that the powers conferred extend to all offices, and employments whether engaged in poor law administration or otherwise, and that such powers are paramount to any possessed by a local authority. In addition it validates past actions.
The measure which is merely a safeguarding one should not be one for controversy—it does not necessarily represent the permanent outlines of the relations between the central authority and local authorities in regard to staff matters. When it was before the House in 1923 the Minister responsible for it, in stressing its temporary character, stated that permanent legislation would, in course of time, be introduced to replace it. To a certain extent, effect has been given to this intention in the Local Government (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, which deals with the filling of higher posts through the Local Appointments Commissioners, but there are other aspects which have been allowed to remain in the position of 1923 on a temporary basis.
The inappropriateness to present conditions of the poor law regulations adopted originally in 1882 in the light of the conditions of the time is manifest. Those regulations which are the basis of the existing Ministerial powers have not been changed—otherwise than in the scope of their application—for over 50 years, and now need revision. There are matters in respect of which representations have been made; for example, the desirability of bringing the present local superannuation code into line with that followed in the Civil Service and the necessity for giving clearer definition to the retirement age of officials. The whole question is being looked into at present and it is hoped to put before the Dáil in the next session a comprehensive measure which will set out clearly the relations which it is considered for the future should exist in regard to staff matters between the central and local authorities. Such a Bill, unlike its predecessor, will be dissociated from poor law legislation and will be presented as a general local government measure drawn in such definite terms as will give the Dáil every opportunity of considering its implications. For the present however, there is no alternative but to preserve existing powers until such time as new proposals are submitted.
