S.I. No. 96/2004 - Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Secretarial Facilities) Regulations 2004

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 10 (4) of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 (inserted by section 1 of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001 and transferred by Section 4 (3)(a) of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 ) and section 2 (1)(c) of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act 1962 (inserted by section 3 of the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1996 and transferred by section 4 (3)(b) of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 ), hereby makes the following regulations:

1.   These Regulations may be cited as the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Secretarial Facilities) Regulations 2004.

2.   In these Regulations:

“the Commission” means the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission established under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 .

“the 2003 Regulations” means the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Secretarial Facilities) Regulations 2003.

3.   Regulation 6 of the 2003 Regulations, in so far as it gives effect to Schedule 2, paragraph 2, of those Regulations, is deemed to cease to have effect until 1 July 2004.

4.   Subject to Regulation 5, printing facilities shall be provided by the Commission to a member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann by way of a payment (a “printing outsourcing budget”) up to a maximum of €1,000 per member.

5.   Payment of a printing outsourcing budget shall be on the basis of expenditure vouched in accordance with the form set out in the Schedule: provided that no payment in respect of such expenditure shall be made after 30 September 2004.

6.   A qualifying party which, prior to the making of the 2003 Regulations, had not availed of printing facilities directly provided by the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, is entitled to an annual budget for printing based on the aggregate sum of €4,079 per member of that party.

SCHEDULE

CLAIM FORM FOR PAYMENT FROM PRINTING OUTSOURCING BUDGET IN ACCORDANCE WITH REGULATION 5

Regulation 5

I, the undersigned, certify that

(1) the following printing expenses were incurred solely for the purposes of facilitating my parliamentary duties, in accordances with section 11 (1)(c) of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998 ,

(2) this printing could not be provided by in-house printing facilities provided by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission,

(3) the external services have been procured at the lowest economic cost, and

(4) the expenditure was incurred prior to 1 July 2004.

Accordingly, I hereby present these expenses to be paid out of ongoing expenditure of the Commission

Certified by:_________________________     Date:____________________________

Invoices will not be processed without a signed version of this form. This form is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997 .

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The purpose of these Regulations is to make temporary arrangements for outsourcing parliamentary printing to facilitate the parliamentary duties of members of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

These Regulations also give effect to an arrangement whereby one qualifying party outsources its parliamentary printing.