Private Members Business
Dáil Éireann
Speech by Mr Brendan Howlin TD, Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform
31 May & 1 June 2011
As Minister with responsibility for Public Expenditure and Reform I am pleased to have an opportunity to take part in this debate this evening, to outline the very real challenges that we face in the area of reform and to highlight some of the key actions the Government has already taken and will be taking to address these challenges.
Debates on private members business are often the occasion of disagreement between Government and opposition but on this occasion I am struck by the amount of the opposition motion with which I can agree. I agree that the unqualified and urgent desire of the people of Ireland is to rebuild Ireland’s political system into an effective, accountable, transparent representative and participatory institution. I agree that there is a critical need for immediate and meaningful Oireachtas and local Government reform. And I agree that Dáil Éireann has a clear constitutional role to hold the Government to account. This Government is committed to overhauling the way Government works. We are committed to ensuring that Government is held to account and is seen to be held to account.
Where I disagree with this motion is its reference to the party whip system. Political parties are at their heart alliances of like minded people who agree to work together in pursuance of shared goals and visions. We organise publicly, campaign publicly and put our platform before the people at General Elections in the same manner as independent candidates. The people offer us support on that basis. When no single party receives majority support, we work together in the public interest. We take the party whip voluntarily and with pride to work together in the common interest.
Indeed it is difficult to see how else Government can work. Politics is not simply about taking decisions that accord with our personal consciences, important though that it. We take decisions based on priorities, the availability of resources, the views of others. We accept some decisions because they help progress other issues. In other words politics and governance is about give and take, the creation of majorities and the building of consensus. Political parties, in my view, don’t just reflect that process they arose historically from it.
This Programme for Government contains the most ambitious and far-reaching agenda for political reform ever put before this House. It must be ambitious, if we are to restore the people’s trust and confidence in the institutions that serve them.
The Government’s commitment to reform was made clear by the decision to establish a Department of Public Expenditure & Reform with a Minister dedicated to driving the reform agenda. On 20th May I published the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011 which provides the legislative framework for the formal establishment of the Department. The Bill will come before the House later this week.
For the first time, functions and responsibility in relation to reform and modernisation of the public service will be reflected on a statutory basis. On enactment of the legislation I, in my role as Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, will have responsibility for all functions vested in the Minister for Finance in relation to the public service, such as superannuation, remuneration, appointment of staff and terms and conditions of employment in relation to staff of public service bodies. At the same time, responsibility for the management of overall Departmental expenditure including the management of the annual estimates process and general sanctioning powers in relation to expenditure will transfer to me from the Minister for Finance.
Our agenda for reform is two-fold: to change the overall context in which government operates, so that public business is done in public; and to change the way government operates, to make it more effective, more democratic and more accountable.
This Government as part of its commitment to the electorate undertook to provide leadership and decisiveness. Where action is required, decisions will be taken and implemented quickly. As noted in the motion put down by the Government, progress has already been made in a number of areas.
At its very first meeting the new Government decided to reduce their own salaries voluntarily. The salary of the Taoiseach was reduced to €200,000, a reduction of over 6%. Reductions were also applied to the salaries of the other Members of the Government and Parliamentary officeholders whose salary has been the same in the past as Government members.
On the more general issue of the appropriate level of senior pay in the public service, I am currently reviewing the current provisions in place, including those for current incumbents, and I will be bringing proposals to Government shortly.
Subsequently the Government agreed new arrangements for the transport and staff support for Ministers in line with the terms of the Programme for Government.
The Government recognises that in reforming the Public Service, reform must happen from the top down. It is essential that the right people are in place to take on the complex challenges that the country faces, now and in the future. In line with the commitment given in the Programme for Government that the structure of the Top Level Appointments Committee – TLAC - would be radically overhauled, the Government has already decided that membership of TLAC would be increased to nine by the appointment of five external members from outside the Civil Service. All final interviews will be conducted by sub-panels of the Committee, each comprising two Civil Service and three external members and chaired by one of the external members. New approaches to attract stronger external candidates will be considered, while recognising that suitable candidates would still require to undergo a competitive process.
Considerable work is on-going within my Department to advance the commitments in Programme for Government in regard to Freedom of Information. I expect to submit initial proposals to Government in relation to how these matters should be progressed shortly. It is however important that the Government get this complex issue right from the start.
For this reason it is important that all Ministers should be consulted on a range of issues such as the effective repeal of the 2003 Amendment Act, the inclusion of all statutory bodies including those statutory bodies under the aegis of the Department of Finance and the Department of Justice and Equality in particular and the identification of any other concerns that may exist in relation to the impact of the FOI Acts on the discharge of Government business. I propose to initiate the consultation process shortly following initial discussion at Government.
The commitments in regard to Whistleblowing in the programme for Government are unambiguous. The Programme states the Government will introduce Whistleblowers legislation. I would like to reconfirm the Government commitment that we will legislate to protect Whistleblowers who speak out against wrongdoing, or cover-ups, whether in the public or the private sector.
Also in a spirit of transparency, we will introduce a statutory register of lobbyists and rules concerning lobbying. It is important that those engaged in lobbying be known, along with the people and causes they represent.
Another priority for urgent action is the establishment of an independent Fiscal Advisory Council. This is a key aspect of budgetary reform which the Government is committed to implementing under the terms of the Government Programme. Also, Deputies will no doubt be aware that under the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support, Ireland is required to establish such a Council by the end of next month and work is underway to ensure that this deadline is met.
The Minister for Finance will be bringing forward proposals very shortly in this regard including those relating to membership of the Council, it role and arrangements for supporting its work.
It is very important for the effectiveness of the Council that it will be, and will be seen to be, independent and this consideration will inform the arrangements which are put in place.
The intention is that later this year, the Government will bring forward a Fiscal Responsibility Bill which will give legislative support to the Council and it work. The Bill is also likely to include other aspects of the fiscal reform agenda including fiscal rules and a medium-term expenditure framework.
Overall, the radical overhaul and enhancement of our Budgetary architecture is one element of the Government’s reform agenda where progress will be made very quickly.
This Government has already indicated on a number of occasions the priority which it attaches to political reform. The Programme for Government has already set out some of the priority areas which are touched on by the Opposition motion. I welcome this opportunity once again to bring these priorities to the attention of the House.
It is important that an effective parliament has an effective committee system. To this end Government is proposing reforms to the committee system. These reforms are centred on making committees more relevant. We will strengthen the Dáil’s engagement with the European Union by ensuring that all Oireachtas committees share the burden of dealing with EU policies and legislative proposals. We will do this by deepening the involvement in EU matters of the Committees that shadow the work of Government Departments. We will also strengthen the Dáil’s capacity to investigate matters of public interest.
You are all aware that the Abbeylara judgement of the Supreme Court has limited the powers of Oireachtas committees to conduct investigations which might attribute blame to identifiable individuals. It is the strong view of this Government that parliament should have the power to conduct such investigations. Therefore it is a matter of urgent priority that we should hold a constitutional referendum to reverse the effects of the Abbeylara judgement and thus enable committees to carry out full investigations.
We propose the establishment an Investigations, Oversight and Petitions Committee, structured along the line of the Public Accounts Committee. This committee will have the specific function of addressing citizens’ concerns as they relate to public services, or public administration more generally. For example, the committee could be a formal channel of consultation between the Oireachtas and the Ombudsman, responsible for ensuring her recommendations are acted upon. It would also receive petitions from individuals and groups on issues of public concern.
We will give committees the power to introduce legislation by themselves, rather than just scrutinise the legislation introduced by Government. However, scrutinising proposed legislation is an important function and in order to ensure that this is done in a meaningful way we will amend cabinet procedure so as to allow Government to publish the general scheme of a bill so that committees can debate and hold hearings at an earlier stage of the legislative process.
We will further enhance the role of legislative committees by providing that every fourth sitting week will be a committee week. In those weeks, the Dáil plenary will sit only for questions and the Order of Business, with the rest of the day devoted exclusively to committee sessions.
In the time available to me this evening I have only been able to touch on some of the issues covered by the Government motion. My colleague, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government will be addressing issues for which he has responsibility. Together they form a package of measures which highlight this Governments commitment to delivering reform that is real and meaningful, that restores faith in our structures of Government and makes our Government work.
I acknowledge that no Government has a monopoly of wisdom; and it is certainly my intention to be open to any proposal for reform from the Opposition side of this House, that adds value and is in keeping with our Reform agenda.
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