Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Recruitment of Parliamentary Draftsmen.
- Parliamentary draftsmen recruitment embargo 4 speeches
The one-in-three vacancy rule applies to parliamentary draftsmen, though the Minister is discussing possible special measures with the Attorney General; he could not provide the current vacancy count.
Proinsias De Rossa, John Boland
- Appointment of the new Attorney General 3 speeches
Haughey asked who would become Attorney General and whether the appointee would come from Fine Gael or Labour; the Minister gave no answer.
Charles J. Haughey, John Boland
- Parliamentary drafting capacity and workload 8 speeches
The Minister said he would provide staffing figures and described options to relieve pressure, noting that training draftsmen takes time and draft legislation is continually awaiting attention. Brady questioned whether a shortage was delaying Bills, while the Minister said there was always work in the pipeline and defended the House’s recent legislative activity.
Proinsias De Rossa, John Boland, Vincent Brady
asked the Minister for the Public Service if the recruitment of parliamentary draftsmen is subject to the embargo on recruitment in the public service whereby only one in three vacancies can be filled.
Comment on this
Throughout the Civil Service it has been decided that only one vacancy out of every three may be filled. This arrangement applies without exception in the Civil Service, including the Attorney General's office where the parliamentary draftsmen are located.
Where small numbers of staff or scarce expertise are affected by this arrangement, special measures may be necessary and I am at present in touch with the Attorney General in relation to parliamentary draftsmen.
Comment on this
Will the Minister indicate how many vacancies, if any, exist at the moment in respect of the post of parliamentary draftsman?
Comment on this
Will the Minister make the information I requested available to us?
Comment on this
Perhaps it might help the Deputy if I explained that we are examining a number of different possibilities. You do not buy parliamentary draftsmen off the shelf. The training of parliamentary draftsmen, even in respect of people who have quite a range of legal qualifications, takes quite a time and the lead-in time with regard to drafting is considerable. In order to assist the Attorney General's office we are looking at various methods whereby the pressure that may come on the office from time to time will be relieved. However, I can let the Deputy know the establishment number and the numbers currently serving.
Comment on this
Will the Minister tell the House the number of so-called Bills that are held up because of the lack of parliamentary draftsmen?
Comment on this
I do not have that information. As the Deputy is aware, there is always a queue of draft legislation or heads of Bills awaiting attention by the parliamentary draftsmen. If that were not the case it would mean that Departments were not engaged in the business of preparing heads of Bills. There is a considerable amount of work in the conduit between Departments, the Government and the Oireachtas at any one time.