S.I. No. 142/1992:

OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1992.

OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1992.

I, BERTIE AHERN, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1962 (No. 32 of 1962), hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Amendment) Regulations, 1992.

(2) The Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Regulations, 1963 to 1991, and these Regulations may be cited together as the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Regulations, 1963 to 1992.

(3) Regulation 2 of these Regulations shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of July, 1985.

(4) Regulation 3 of these Regulations shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1992.

2. The Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Regulations, 1963 ( S.I. No. 4 of 1963 ), are hereby amended--

( a ) by the deletion of paragraph (b) (inserted by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Amendment) Regulations, 1975 ( S.I. No. 112 of 1975 )), of Regulation 3, and

( b ) by the deletion of paragraph (b) (inserted by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Amendment) Regulations, 1975 ( S.I. No. 112 of 1975 )), of Regulation 4.

3. The Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Regulations, 1963 ( S.I. No. 4 of 1963 ) are hereby further amended by the substitution for Regulations 3 and 4 of the following Regulations:

"3. The facility of free telephone calls from Leinster House granted to a member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann shall be subject to the following restrictions and conditions:

( a ) where a person's membership of either House of the Oireachtas commences after the making of these Regulations, the facility shall not commence until the person concerned first becomes, by compliance with the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, as appropriate, entitled under those Standing Orders to sit in Dáil Éireann or in Seanad Éireann as a member thereof;

( b ) the facility shall not be exercised except by means of direct dial telephones;

( c ) subject to paragraph (d) of this Regulation, the exercise of the facility by any member shall be limited to the making of calls from a particular telephone number, which number shall be designated by the appropriate authority for use by the member concerned and shall be securable from use by other persons;

( d ) the provisions of paragraph (c) of this Regulation shall not preclude a member from transmitting facsimile documents by means of the telephone facilities provided to members on a communal basis for the transmission and receipt of such documents;

( e ) the facility shall not in any case be exercised for the purpose of transmitting telemessages;

( f ) in paragraph (c) of this Regulation, and in Regulation 4 of these Regulations, "the appropriate authority" means

(i) in the case of a member of Dáil Éireann, the Clerk of Dáil Éireann, and

(ii) in the case of a member of Seanad Éireann, the Clerk of Seanad Éireann.

4. Where a member of either House of the Oireachtas incurs expenditure on telephone calls made by him otherwise than from Leinster House, and submits to the appropriate authority evidence of such expenditure in the form of telephone bills paid by the member, the appropriate authority shall pay to that member a contribution towards the cost of such telephone calls, subject to the following restrictions and conditions:

( a ) the contribution shall be payable in respect of calls made from a particular telephone number designated by the member and notified by the member to the appropriate authority, provided that the member may designate a second such number if that number is used by the member exclusively for the transmission and receipt of facsimile documents and is certified by the member as being so used;

( b ) the contribution shall amount to 75 per cent of the cost of calls made from the telephone number or numbers designated by the member, as indicated in the telephone bills submitted to the appropriate authority, provided that where a telephone bill so submitted includes call charges in respect of

(i) any period prior to 1 April 1992, or

(ii) any period during which the person concerned was not a member of either House of the Oireachtas,

the amount of the contribution payable on foot of that telephone bill shall be appropriately reduced in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall determine;

( c ) the total amount of contributions payable under this Regulation to a member of either House of the Oireachtas shall not in any case exceed

(i) in respect of the period from 1 April 1992 to 31 December 1992 the amount of £1,500 in the case of a member of Dáil Éireann, and the amount of £750 in the case of a member of Seanad Éireann,

(ii) in respect of each calendar year thereafter, the amount of £2,000 in the case of a member of Dáil Éireann, and the amount of £1,000 in the case of a member of Seanad Éireann, which amounts may be increased from time to time by direction of the Minister for Finance, having due regard to any changes in the costs of telephone calls as charged by Bord Telecom Éireann

provided that where, during a period referred to in subparagraph (i) or subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, a person to whom this Regulation applies

(A) becomes a member of either House of the Oireachtas, or

(B) ceases to be a member of either such House and becomes a member of the other such House,

the amount referred to in the said subparagraph (i) and/or the said subparagraph (ii), as appropriate, may, in the case of that person, be revised in respect of the period concerned, in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall determine.".

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 5th day of June, 1992.

BERTIE AHERN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations provide

--in relation to the facility of free telephone calls from Leinster House:

• that previous restrictions on the destination and duration of telephone calls made by members be rescinded

• that members shall make telephone calls only from their designated direct dial telephones which are securable from use by other persons

• that members shall not use the facility for the purpose of sending telemessages

--in relation to the cost of telephone calls made otherwise than from Leinster House:

• that members shall be paid a contribution equal to 75 per cent of the cost of calls made from a designated telephone number (or two numbers if the second number is used exclusively for the purpose of the transmission and receipt of facsimile documents)

• that the contribution shall be subject to an annual limit of £2,000 in the case of members of Dáil Éireann and £1,000 in the case of members of Seanad Éireann and that in the case of a period of less than a year the limits shall be appropriately reduced

• that the contribution shall be made in respect of paid telephone bills.