Committee Reports::Report No. 01 - Statutory Instruments::17 December, 1953::Orders of Reference

SEANAD EIREANN.

ORDERS OF REFERENCE.

29th July, 1948:—Resolved, (1) That a Select Committee, to be nominated by the Committee of Selection, be appointed to consider every Statutory Rule, Order or Regulation laid, or laid in draft, before Seanad Éireann, in pursuance of a statutory requirement with a view to determining whether the special attention of the Seanad should be drawn to it on any of the following grounds:—


(i) that it imposes a charge on the public revenues or contains provisions requiring payments to be made to the Exchequer or any Government Department or to any local or public authority in consideration of any licence or consent, or of any services to be rendered, or prescribes the amount of any such charge or payments;


(ii) that it is made in pursuance of any enactment containing specific provisions excluding it from challenge in the Courts either at all times or after the expiration of a specified period;


(iii) that it appears to make some unusual or unexpected use of the powers conferred by the Statute under which it is made;


(iv) that it purports to give retrospective effect to a Regulation Rule or Order where the parent Statute confers no express authority so to provide;


(v) that there appears to have been unjustifiable delay in the publication or in the laying of it before the House;


(vi) that for any special reason, its form or purport calls for elucidation.


(2) That the Select Committee shall:—


(a) consist of nine members of whom three shall form a quorum;


(b) have power to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the Seanad and to report from time to time;


(c) have power to require any Government Department concerned to submit a memorandum explaining any Rule, Order, Regulation or Draft which may be under their consideration or to depute a representative to appear before them as a Witness for the purpose of explaining any such Rule, Order, Regulation or Draft.


(3) That it shall be the duty of the Committee before reporting that the special attention of the Seanad should be drawn to any Rule, Order, Regulation or Draft to afford to any Government Department concerned therewith an opportunity of furnishing orally or in writing such explanations as the Department may think fit and the Committee shall have power to report to the House, from time to time, any memoranda submitted or other evidence given to them by any Government Department in explanation of any Rule, Order, Regulation or Draft.


(4) And it shall be the duty of the Clerk of Seanad Éireann to provide for the Committee clerical or such other assistance and facilities as they may require.


7th November, 1951:—Resolved, That a Select Committee on Statutory Instruments with terms of reference and powers as set out in the Order of Seanad Éireann of the 29th July, 1948, relative to the appointment of a Select Committee on Statutory Rules, Orders and Regulations be appointed to consider every Statutory Instrument laid, or laid in draft, before Seanad Éireann; that the Select Committee shall consist of nine members to be selected by the Committee of Selection and that three shall be a quorum.


SENATORS NOMINATED TO THE COMMITTEE BY THE COMMITTEE OF SELECTION.

21st November, 1951:—Committee accordingly nominated consisting of Senators Fearon, Fitzsimons, Hawkins, Hearne, McGuire, McHugh, O’Brien, Ó Cíosáin and Seán Ó Donnabháin.