Heads of departments to have powers strengthened

THE POWERS and responsibilities of secretaries general are to be strengthened to help them stand up to “political masters who are less attentive to the requirements of due process and sound administration”, the Dáil has heard.

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said the Government would alter the rules dealing with the legal relationship between Ministers and civil servants, identifying the “true decision-makers and indicating their accountability for decisions taken”.

Speaking during the debate on the Moriarty report, he stressed that the report found that the officials former minister Michael Lowry dealt with had “no means of knowing that Mr Lowry was conveying information” to Esat Digifone’s Denis O’Brien “or any other interested party”.

However, there was “much to ponder arising from the report in regard to the relationship between Ministers and civil servants”, and the Government would legislate for a reformulated code of laws, he said of the report which investigated the awarding in 1995 of the State’s second mobile phone licence.

Secretaries general who run government departments would have their powers increased to help them “if needs be” to stand up to their “political masters”.

Mr Rabbitte said “what we have suggested is that the secretary general will have statutory authority to ensure that the department and its officers perform their functions in a non-political and impartial manner, in accordance with law and with the highest ethical standards of conduct and integrity”.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter rounded on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and accused him of “amnesia” and “nauseating hypocrisy, selective recall and moral ambivalence”.

Mr Shatter said Mr Martin seemed “oblivious to the political credibility gap of enormous dimensions” in his comments during the debate on the Moriarty report and his comments at the start of the new Dáil.

He said Mr Martin had pushed for a reform in the way the Dáil did business. However, his comments yesterday showed his “incapacity” to “change the traditional dishonest obfuscation beloved by Fianna Fáil”.

The Minister said Mr Martin “is presenting as someone who has emerged after 20 years lost in a political twilight zone suffering from amnesia and oblivious to events in which he has personally participated”. “He seems even incapable of remembering the recent secret deal concluded by Fianna Fáil with Deputy Michael Lowry” to keep the last government in office until February this year, said Mr Shatter.