This Bill is necessary to provide for the remuneration and superannuation of Ministers of State who will be appointed when the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1977, is brought into operation. I am also taking the opportunity presented by the Bill to effect a change which will simplify the procedure that applies when the remuneration of parliamentarians and the Judiciary is being revised.
In my address to this House when the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1977, was under discussion I dealt at some length with the huge growth in the volume and complexity of the duties of Government Ministers both on the domestic level and on the international scene. There was, I think, general acceptance that these burdens have become almost intolerable and that action must be taken to alleviate them. Towards this end it is proposed, as Members of the House are aware, to appoint ten Ministers of State to replace the existing seven Parliamentary Secretaries.
It is intended that the duties and responsibilities of the Ministers of State will be significantly wider than those at present performed by Parliamentary Secretaries and this will be reflected in the salary levels. The Government have decided that a salary of £4,727 would be appropriate for a Minister of State, as compared with £3,720 currently payable to a Parliamentary Secretary and this is provided for under section 6 of the Bill. This salary would, of course, be payable in addition to the Minister's allowance as a Member of the Dáil or Seanad Éireann.
In sections 8 and 9 (1) provision is made for the payment of pensions to Ministers of State. It is also proposed in the Bill to simplify the present complicated procedures involved when orders are made adjusting the pay of parliamentarians. Under the existing legislation, a draft of the order is laid before Dáil Éireann and, if a resolution disapproving of the draft is passed by the Dáil within the next subsequent 21 days on which it has sat after the draft is laid before it, the order shall not be made. If no resolution is passed the Government may make the order and again present it to Dáil Éireann. This procedure involves laying two separate documents on the same matter before the Dáil with an interval of between two and six months if a recess intervenes between the laying of the documents. This involves unnecessary duplication and can give the mistaken impression that parliamentarians are getting pay increases on the double. It is proposed to change the procedure so as to eliminate this double submission of documents to Dáil Éireann by providing that orders will automatically come into effect after 21 sitting days unless resolutions annulling them are passed by the Dáil within that period. I feel certain that Members of the Seanad will consider it a worth-while improvement in the procedure governing this matter.
The legislative provisions relating to the revision of the remuneration of the Judiciary have, for some time past, been the same as those for parliamentarians. It is proposed, accordingly, to amend the legislative procedures for the making of orders increasing judicial remuneration in the same manner as is proposed for parliamentarians.
When the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act comes into operation the office of Parliamentary Secretary will be abolished. Section 9 (2) of the present Bill enables a notional Parliamentary Secretary salary rate to be determined from time to time so that the pensions payable to, or in respect of, former Parliamentary Secretaries may be revised in conjunction with the revision of the pensions of other office holders. This Bill follows naturally on the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act since its main purpose is to provide for the remuneration and superannuation of the proposed new office of Minister of State. I confidently recommend the Bill to the Seanad.