S.I. No. 736/2003 - Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary) Offices (Secretarial Facilities) Regulations 2003

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10(4) (inserted by the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 30 of 2001)) of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 (No. 38 of 1938) and section 2(1)(c) (inserted by section 3 of the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1996 (No. 39 of 1996)) of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act 1962 (No. 32 of 1962), hereby make the following regulations:

1.        These Regulations may be cited as the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Secretarial Facilities) Regulations 2003.

2.        In these Regulations -

“Leinster House” includes any office premises provided by the State in the vicinity of Leinster House for use by members of Dáil éireann or Seanad éireann;

“Minister” means Minister for Finance;

“Ministerial or Parliamentary Office” means Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister of the Government, Minister of State, Chairman of Dáil éireann, Chairman of Seanad éireann Deputy Chairman of Dáil éireann, Deputy Chairman of Seanad éireann or Leader of Seanad éireann;

“Schedule” means a Schedule to these Regulations;

“secretarial facilities” means secretarial facilities -

(a)      granted to a member of Dáil éireann or Seanad éireann solely in connection with the member's parliamentary duties, or

(b)      provided to a qualifying party for the purposes of facilitating the parliamentary activities of its elected members.

3.         Secretarial facilities shall not exceed in respect of -

(a)      each -

(i)         member of Dáil éireann, who is not the holder of Ministerial or Parliamentary Office, and

(ii)        two members of Seanad éireann, where each of them is not the holder of Ministerial or Parliamentary Office,

one person working full-time or such number of persons working part-time as are equivalent to one person working full-time,

and

(b)      a qualifying party, not more than the number of persons mentioned in column (3) opposite a position mentioned in column (2) for the qualifying party mentioned in column (1) of Schedule 1, except with the consent of the Minister. Persons on unpaid leave, career breaks or secondment to other employment or employed as substitutes for persons providing secretarial facilities shall not be reckoned in the numbers of persons mentioned in column (3) of Schedule 1.

4.         A person providing secretarial facilities, shall provide these facilities, for -

(a)      a member of Dáil éireann, in Leinster House or in or nearby the member's constituency,

(b)      a member of Seanad éireann, in Leinster House, and

(c)      a qualifying party, in Leinster House.

5.         The remuneration of persons providing secretarial facilities, their grading and terms of employment shall be determined, from time to time, by the Minister. The Minister shall notify any determination in this regard to the Clerk of Dáil éireann.

6.         Equipment for secretarial facilities provided to a member of Dáil éireann, Seanad éireann or a qualifying party shall be in accordance with Schedule 2.

Schedule 1

Regulation 3 (b)

Maximum numbers of persons permitted to be employed for the purposes of secretarial facilities by each qualifying party and its non-Ministerial or Parliamentary Office holding elected members.

The figure for each qualifying party will increase by one or one-half if it should increase by one member its representation in Dáil éireann or Seanad éireann, respectively, or be reduced by one or one-half in the event of its representation being diminished by one member in Dáil éireann or Seanad éireann, respectively.

A qualifying party may employ a Chef de Cabinet, at a remuneration approved by the Minister on foregoing its entitlement to two employees listed above. The Minister has determined that a Chef de Cabinet may be paid on the scale applicable to a Principal Officer in the Civil Service or, in the light of exceptional experience prior to appointment, the scale applicable to Principal Officer 1 in the Civil Service.

Schedule 2

Regulation 6

1.         Each person providing secretarial facilities to be provided with the following equipment:

•     a stand alone PC linked to the office's network support unit

•     access to a monochrome and colour printer

•     an e-mail facility

•     internet access

•     Microsoft Office

•     handsets (with connectivity, as appropriate, for local, national and international calls)

•     voicemail facilities

•     access to a fax machine

•     access to a television

•     a shredder

•     a dictaphone

•     a transcriber

which comprises a suite of equipment.

2.         Qualified parties to be provided with the following print press equipment to facilitate the parliamentary activities of its elected members:

•     the principal Government qualifying party - 1 four colour print press,

•     the most numerical opposition party - 1 four colour print press, and

•     the other qualifying parties - 2 by 2 colour print presses.