S.I. No. 200/1972:

SOCIAL WELFARE (REMOVAL OF OFFICERS) REGULATIONS, 1972.

SOCIAL WELFARE (REMOVAL OF OFFICERS) REGULATIONS, 1972.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 23 (5), 24 (3) and 24 (8) and (10), of the Health Act, 1970 , (No. 1 of 1970) and the Social Welfare (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministeral Functions) Order, 1972, ( S.I. No. 183 of 1972 ), hereby makes the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Removal of Officers) Regulations, 1972.

2. In these Regulations--

" the Act " means the Health Act, 1970 ;

" the Minister " means the Minister for Social Welfare;

" committee " means a committee appointed by the Minister under section 24 (1) of the Health Act, 1970 .

3. These Regulations shall come into operation on 18th August, 1972.

4. (1) Whenever it is proposed to remove an officer of a health board from being such officer, the officer shall be given notice in writing by the chief executive officer or an officer authorised to act on his behalf--

(a) of the intention to remove,

(b) of the reasons for such removal,

(c) that the chief executive officer will consider any representations made by him or on his behalf before the expiration of seven days after the giving of such notice,

(d) of details of any proposal to appoint him to another office or employment.

(2) Effect shall not be given to any proposal for removal until notice of the intention to remove has been given in accordance with sub-article (1) of this article and until any representations made by or on behalf of the officer have been considered.

(3) Notice under sub-article (1) of this article shall be sent to the officer by delivering it to him or by leaving it at the address last notified by him to the health board as his address or by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to that address.

(4) (i) Nominations of persons to the first panel established under section 24 (2) (b) of the Act shall be for the period commencing on 18th August, 1972, and ending on 30th June in the next year in which a quinquennial election of members of local authorities appointing members to a health board is held.

(ii) Nominations of persons to the second and subsequent panels established under section 24 (2) (b) of the Act shall be for the period commencing on 1st July in any year in which a quinquennial election of members of local authorities appointing members to a health board is held and ending on 30th June in the next year in which such a quinquennial election is held.

(5) The chairman of a committee shall convene the first meeting of the committee not later than fourteen days after the committee is established.

(6) During the conduct of a committee's proceedings, the chairman shall have discretion as to the conduct of the proceedings and in particular shall--

(a) decide the order of appearance of persons appearing before the committee,

(b) permit the officer to appear in person or to be represented or assisted by another person, and

(c) hear, if he thinks fit, any person who is not a party to the proceedings.

(7) A committee shall make its recommendation in writing to the chief executive officer and shall send a copy of the recommendation to the officer.

(8) A committee shall complete its proceedings and submit its recommendation to the chief executive officer, notwithstanding that any member of the committee has ceased to be a person whose name is on a panel referred to in section 24 (2) (b) of the Act.

(9) Where, before a committee has made a recommendation, the chairman of the committee for any reason becomes unable to continue to act as such, the Minister may, at the request of the officer concerned, or if he considers it desirable so to do, appoint another committee.

(10) Whenever a committee recommends that an officer be removed, the officer may request the Minister, within fourteen days after the committee has sent its recommendation, to issue a direction to the chief executive officer in relation to that recommendation.

(11) A request submitted under sub-article (10) shall be submitted in writing to the Minister either by the officer or on his behalf and shall specify the grounds on which the officer requests the Minister to issue a direction to the chief executive officer and the Minister shall notify the chief executive officer of the receipt of such request.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 18th day of August, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy Two.

JOSEPH BRENNAN,

Minister for Social Welfare.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Social Welfare (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1972 ( S.I. No. 183 of 1972 ) which came into operation on 1st August, 1972, transferred to the Minister for Social Welfare Ministerial functions under Part II of the Health Act, 1970 , insofar as they relate to Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent Assistance Officers, Home Assistance Inspectors, Assistance Officers and Fuel Inspectors who are officers of health boards.

Section 23 of that Act requires that removals of officers of health boards are to be carried out in accordance with a procedure to be prescribed in regulations. The section also provides that, in certain circumstances, removal of a permanent officer of a health board cannot be carried out except on the recommendation of a committee established by the Minister to inquire into the proposed removal. Members (other than the Chairman) of such a committee must be selected by the Minister from panels, one nominated by organisations representative of officers and one nominated by the chief executive officers of the health boards.

The regulations specify the procedure to be followed by a chief executive officer of a health board whenever it is proposed to remove any of the above mentioned officers of the board. They prescribe the period for which nominations to panels, established under Section 24 of the Health Act, 1970 , will be made, and the procedure to be adopted by a committee appointed by the Minister for Social Welfare. They also set out the procedure to be followed by an officer, whose removal has been recommended by a committee, in making a request to the Minister to issue a direction to the chief executive officer under section 24 (10) of the Act in relation to that recommendation.