Number 14 of 1973

MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1973

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SCHEDULE

Number 14 of 1973

MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1973

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1. —In this Act—

“the Council” has the meaning specified in section 4 (1) of this Act;

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Public Service;

“the public service” means the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State and such bodies established by or under statute and financed wholly or partly by means of grants or loans made by a Minister of State or the issue of shares taken up by a Minister of State as may stand designated for the time being by regulations made by the Minister after consideration of the advice (if any) of the Council in relation to the matter.

2. —The Government may by order appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act.

3. —(1) On the appointed day a Department of State to be styled and known as Roinn na Seirbhíse Poiblí or (in English) the Department of the Public Service shall stand established.

(2) The member of the Government who is in charge of the Department of the Public Service shall be styled and known as Aire na Seirbhise Poibli or (in English) the Minister for the Public Service.

(3) The Department of Finance and the Department of the Public Service shall be assigned to the same person.

(4) The Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1966, and the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925 , shall apply to the Department of the Public Service and the member of the Government who is in charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924.

(5) For the purposes of section 6 (1) of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 , the Department of the Public Service and the office of Minister for the Public Service shall be deemed to have been established immediately upon the passing of this Act, but any order which is made, in relation to that Department or that Minister, under the said section 6 (1) before the appointed day shall not be expressed to come into operation on a date earlier than the appointed day.

4. —(1) On the appointed day there shall, by virtue of this section, be established a body to be known as Coiste Comhairleach na Seirbhíse Poiblí or (in English) the Public Service Advisory Council to perform the functions given to it by this Act (in this Act referred to as the Council).

(2) The provisions of the Schedute to this Act shall apply to the Council.

5. —(1) The general functions of the Council shall be—

(a) to advise the Minister on the organisation of the public service and on matters relating to or affecting personnel in the public service, and

(b) whenever the Minister so requests, to advise the Minister—

(i) in relation to such aspect of, or matter relating to or affecting, the organisation of the public service or personnel in the public service as the Minister may specify in the request, and

(ii) in relation to the designation by the Minister of bodies under section 1 of this Act.

(2) The Council shall have all such powers as are necessary for or incidental to the performance of its functions.

6. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1973.

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1966, and this Act and those Acts may be cited together as the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1973.