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APPENDIX V.Redundancy (Resettlement Assistance) Regulations, 1968 [S.I. No. 8 of 1968].An Rúnaí, An Roinn Saothair. I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to refer to the Redundancy (Resettlement Assistance) Regulations, 1968 (S.I. No. 8 of 1968). The Committee notes that section 46 (1) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 enables regulations to be made to provide financial assistance “to unemployed persons or to persons about to be declared redundant”. Article 9 (2) of the Regulations enables the Minister, in the case of a person who obtains employment in a place other than where his normal place of residence is situated, to “recoup to that person and his dependants” expenses incurred in travelling to the new place of employment. It seems to the Committee that while the statutory authority covers the payment to a redundant worker of expenses incurred by him on behalf of his dependants it does not contemplate payments being made directly to the dependants as Article 9 (2) provides. It is noted in this connection that Article 9 (1), which deals with expenses incurred by the person and/or his wife, provides that the Minister may “recoup to that person” only such expenses. The Committee would like to have the observations of your Department on this point. The Committee also observes that the Regulations were signed by the Minister on 5th January, 1968 and, in accordance with statutory requirement, consented to by the Minister for Finance on 25th January, 1968. The Committee wishes to be advised as to the date on which it is considered the instrument came into operation. In this connection attention is directed to paragraph 11 of the Second Report [T.154; Pr. 3864] of the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments dated 21st November, 1956 and to the Department of Finance circular 21/56. M. G. KILROY, Cléireach an Roghchoiste. 30 Bealtaine, 1968. Cléireach an Roghchoiste, Seanad Éireann. I am directed by the Minister for Labour to refer further to your minute of 30th May, 1968, concerning the Redundancy (Resettlement Assistance) Regulations, 1968 (S.I. No. 8 of 1968). The Minister accepts the view of the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments that section 46 (1) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 does not authorise Regulations providing for the payment of expenses direct to the dependants of a redundant or unemployed worker. He is advised, however, that, if this renders paragraph 9 (2) of the Regulations ultra vires, it does so only to the extent that it provides for payment direct to a dependant, and that the remainder of the paragraph is intra vires section 46 (1) of the Act. The Minister wishes to assure the Select Committee that, notwithstanding the inclusion of the words “and to his dependants” in paragraph 9 (2), no payment has been made nor was it accepted that a payment could be made under the Regulations to any person other than a redundant or unemployed person to whom the Regulations apply. He proposes, however, to amend the Regulations in question on a suitable occasion by the deletion from paragraph 9 (2) of the words “and to his dependants”. As regards the Select Committee’s query regarding the operative date of the Regulations, it was the intention of the Minister and of the Oireachtas that assistance should be provided at the earliest possible date to unemployed workers obliged to change their normal place of residence to take up employment. The consent of the Minister for Finance to the detailed provisions of the Resettlement Allowances Scheme had been obtained before the Regulations were made. The Regulations were signed by the Minister on 5th January, 1968 and counter-signed by the Minister for Finance on 25th January, 1968, but the formal consent of the Minister for Finance was taken as having operated from 5th January and the Regulations were accordingly implemented from that date. It is regretted that the terms of the Department of Finance circular 21/56, as incorporated subsequently in circular 4/59, were inadvertently overlooked when the Regulations were being made. This was due to extreme pressure of work in the Section of the Department concerned with bringing the general Redundancy Payments Scheme and the Resettlement Allowances Scheme into operation for the benefit of workers within a very short period after the enactment of the legislation by the Oireachtas. Arising from this omission, arrangements are being made to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the appropriate Department of Finance circular in relation to the making of Regulations sponsored by this Department in the future. J. A. AGNEW. 11 Iúil, 1968. |
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