Committee Reports::Report No. 01 - Statutory Instruments::17 February, 1966::Appendix


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Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1966 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments > Report No. 01 - Statutory Instruments

APPENDIX V.

Disabled Persons (Maintenance Allowances) Regulations, 1963 (S. I. No. 142 of 1963).

An Rúnaí.

An Roinn Sláinte.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to refer to Article 5 (2) of the Disabled Persons (Maintenance Allowances) Regulations, 1963 (S.I. No. 142 of 1963) which reads as follows:—

“(2) A maintenance allowance payable in accordance with this Article shall be at such rate as may be determined by the health authority, subject to any directions issued by the Minister”.

The Committee notes that section 50 (5) of the Health Act, 1953 provides that “a health authority shall in accordance with regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance provide for the payment of maintenance allowances …” This provision suggests that the Minister’s functions ought to be exercised through the medium of “regulations” and it is not clear to the Committee where the statutory authority for the issue of “directions” is to be found. Furthermore it seems to the Committee that any substitution of “directions” for “regulations” has the effect of removing the Parliamentary control provided for in section 5 (5) of the Health Act, 1947.

The Committee wishes to be furnished with an explanatory memorandum on the foregoing points.

M. G. KILROY,

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

16 Iúil, 1964.

Clerk,

Select Committee on Statutory Instruments,

Seanad Éireann.

I am directed by the Minister for Health to refer to your minute of 9 September and to previous correspondence on the Committee’s request for a memorandum on the Disabled Persons (Maintenance Allowance) Regulations, 1963 (S.I. No. 142 of 1963). The Minister is advised that, as the parent statute neither fixes the rates of these allowances nor provides that these rates be specified in regulations, it was open to him to make the provision included in Article 5 (2) of the regulations as to these rates. I am to explain that this Article of the Regulations relates to allowances paid to disabled persons receiving training for employment in varied circumstances and that a flat rate of payment, fixed by the Regulations, would not be appropriate for such cases.

P. Ó MUIREADHAIGH.

29 Samhain, 1964.