Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 18 Jul 1973

Vol. 267 No. 8

Committee on Finance. - Presidential Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 1973: Second Stage.

Minister for Finance (Mr. R. Ryan)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Provision is being made in this Bill to increase the personal remuneration of the President. Provision is also being made for certain improvements in the superannuation provisions that apply to a President or to the widow of a President.

The governing provisions in regard to the remuneration of the President are contained in Article 12.11.2º of the Constitution which requires that the allowance payable to the President, as well as the emoluments, should be determined by law.

The existing legislation was enacted in the Presidential Establishment Act of 1938 as amended by the Presidential Establishment (Amendment) Act of 1947. Under section 1 of the 1938 Act as amended, a total sum of £11,500 was prescribed as the emoluments and allowances to be received by the President. The personal remuneration of the President is included in that sum.

On 13th March last, our predecessors in Government decided that the President should receive personal remuneration at a rate 10 per cent in excess of the salary currently payable to the Chief Justice and they made other decisions relating to the pensions payable to ex-Presidents and their widows. This Bill gives effect to those decisions.

The former Government also intended that in future Presidential entertainment expenses should be borne on the Miscellaneous Expenses Vote of the Department of Finance. Having regard to the constitutional provisions relating to the emoluments of the President, the Government consider that it would be inappropriate to charge such expenses as proposed by our predecessors. The arrangement whereby the allowances and emoluments of the President consist, in accordance with the Constitutional provisions, of two separate elements; first to meet the expenses of the President's domestic establishment and, second, the personal remuneration of the President, will therefore stand. The subvention to cover the expenses of the domestic establishment has been unchanged at £6,500 since 1947. It is now being increased to £15,000.

The £15,000 is intended to do no more than to enable the President to meet the essential expenses of his office. It is intended to cover the expenses including wages of the domestic establishment required in connection with his performance of the duties of President and second the cost of official entertainment. I can assure the House that the provision of £15,000 has been the subject of careful estimation, and that it represents no more than is considered necessary to enable the President to discharge his official obligations in a fitting manner.

A fundamental change is being made in the basis of the personal remuneration of the President. It is being provided that the President's personal remuneration, the salary proper of his post, will in future be determined at a rate of 10 per cent in excess of the salary currently payable to the Chief Justice. Whenever the remuneration of the Chief Justice is increased, an increase in the President's rate of personal remuneration will follow automatically.

A link between the remuneration of the President and that of the Chief Justice was recognised when the rate of pay of the first President was being determined. At that time, the President's rate of personal remuneration was fixed at £5,000 which was £1,000 or 25 per cent above that of the Chief Justice. The differential of 10 per cent to which it is now proposed to give legislative effect is not as high as that which obtained when the personal remuneration of the President was fixed in 1938. It is considered, however, that in present-day terms a differential of 10 per cent represents an appropriate margin. When this Bill comes into operation the President's personal remuneration will be fixed at £11,413 a year.

The existing rate of pension for a former President is £1,200 a year and for the widow of a former President. £500. These amounts were fixed 35 years ago under the Presidential Establishment Act, 1938, and clearly need revision having regard to present-day values.

The Bill provides that a former President's pension will at any time be equal to half the rate per annum of the personal remuneration of the President at that time and a President's widow's pension will be equal to a quarter of the rate per annum of the personal remuneration of the President at that time. In general, pensions in the public service are subject to a maximum of half of retiring pay and a widow's pension is half of her husband's pension entitlement. This Bill will thus bring the system of Presidential pensions into line with this general practice.

When this Bill comes into operation the pension of a President will be £5,707 a year and that of his widow, £2,853 a year.

I commend this Bill for the approval of the Dáil.

Mr. Colley

Clearly, this Bill is not before its time. The salary and emoluments of the President have remained at a relatively low figure for a long time. Any examination of the position in relation to current salaries and to the value of money would indicate the necessity for a Bill of this nature. For that reason we welcome the Bill and support it.

There is not very much that I wish to say on this Bill except, first, to reiterate what the Minister has said regarding the arrangement proposed in relation to a pension for a former President or a widow of a former President. As the Minister said, up to now these figures have been fixed by statute and, of course, are now unrealistic. This proposal will bring the arrangement for a pension of a former President or for the widow of a former President into line with the arrangements in the public service in general and, for that reason, it is to be welcomed.

The arrangement whereby the personal remuneration of the President should be fixed at a figure that is 10 per cent higher than that for the time being fixed for the Chief Justice is a suitable and adequate arrangement. It is only right that the remuneration of the President should be fixed at a figure which demonstrates that the President is the first citizen in this State, that he occupies the premier position under the Constitution. On the other hand, the arrangement whereby, as provided here, that remuneration would alter from time to time as the remuneration of the Chief Justice alters, ensures both the maintenance of the correct position of the presidential office and, at the same time, provides for suitable adjustment in the rate of the personal remuneration of the President as such adjustment is called for.

The only other matter on which I should like to comment is that, in relation to a number of items which the Minister for Finance has brought before this House, I have had considerable difficulty in extracting from him an admission that the previous Government had anything to do with those pieces of legislation. Even in some cases where the change was merely a change from "1972" to "1973" in the title of a Bill, the Minister found himself unable to acknowledge the fact that the legislation he was introducing was legislation that had been prepared by the previous Government. However, I notice that the Minister seems not to have the same inhibition in regard to this Bill because he sets out in his speech the details of a decision made by the former Government in March last—at a time, I would add, when it was not known who would win the subsequent Presidential Election. The Minister does not hesitate to draw attention to the part played by the previous Government in this Bill. There is a certain significance in that, not a major significance, but it is no harm to underline it.

Question put and agreed to.

Agreed to take remaining Stages today.