Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924

Ministers to be corporations sole and to have certain powers.

2

2.—(1) Each of the Ministers, heads of the respective Departments of State mentioned in Section 1 of this Act, shall be a corporation sole under his style or name aforesaid (which may be lawfully expressed with equal validity and effect whether in the Irish Language or in its English equivalent as set out in the preceding section), and shall have perpetual succession and an official seal (which shall be officially and judicially noticed), and may sue and (subject to the fiat of the Attorney-General having been in each case first granted) be sued under his style or name aforesaid, and may acquire, hold and dispose of land for the purposes of the functions, powers or duties of the Department of State of which he is head or of any branch thereof.

(2) The Executive Council shall on the recommendation of the Minister appoint the principal officer of each of the said Departments and each of the said Ministers may appoint such other officers and servants to serve in the Department of which he is the head, as such Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, determine, but every appointment made under this sub-section shall be subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1923 (No. 35 of 1923) or of any Act for the time being in force replacing or amending that Act.

(3) F5[…]

(4) The expenses of each of the Departments of State established under this Act, to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Annotations

Amendments:

F5

Repealed (18.02.1957) by Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 (46/1956), s. 22(1), (2) and sch., S.I. No. 18 of 1957.

Modifications (not altering text):

C20

Subs. (1) declared unconstitutional insofar as it requires the fiat of the Attorney General to be obtained before proceedings in the High Court can be validly instituted against a Minister for State, as held by the High Court in Macauley v Minister for Posts and Telegraphs [1966] 1 IR 345.

C21

Functions transferred and references to Minister for Finance construed as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (6.07.2011) by Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 (10/2011), s. 8, S.I. No. 401 of 2011.

Transfer of certain expenditure functions to Minister.

8.— (1) The functions of the Minister for Finance—

(a) referred to in section 1(ii) of the Act of 1924 relating to the expenditure of the revenues of the State, in so far only as they consist of, or are connected with, the preparation of the estimate of expenditure for each financial year in respect of each supply service, and

(b) under subsections (2) and (4) of section 2 of the Act of 1924,

are transferred to the Minister.

(2) The functions of the Minister for Finance referred to in section 1(ii) of the Act of 1924 consisting of the supervision and control of all purchases made for or on behalf of, and all supplies of commodities and goods held by, any Department of State and the disposal thereof are transferred to the Minister.

(3) The functions of the Minister for Finance (other than functions conferred by or under statute) consisting of the carrying out of reviews of expenditure of public moneys are transferred to the Minister.

C22

Functions transferred and references to the Minister for Finance construed as Minister for Public Service (1.11.1973) by Public Service (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1973 (S.I. No. 294 of 1973), arts. 4(1)(c), (6), in effect as per art. 1(2), subject to transitional provisions in arts. 5-8.

4. (1) The functions vested in the Minister for Finance by or under the following enactments are hereby transferred to the Minister for the Public Service: ...

(c) section 2 (2) of the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924, in so far as it relates to the sanctioning of appointments,

...

(6) References to the Minister for Finance contained in any enactment or instrument made thereunder and relating to any functions transferred by this Article shall, on and after the operative date, be construed as references to the Minister for the Public Service.

C23

Subs. (1) declared unconstitutional insofar as it requires the fiat of the Attorney General to be obtained before proceedings in the High Court can be validly instituted against a Minister for State, as held by the High Court in Macauley v Minister for Posts and Telegraphs [1966] 1 IR 345.

Editorial Notes:

E20

Power pursuant subs. (3) exercised (22.12.1945) by Civil Service (Emergency Bonus) Regulations 1945 (S.I. No. 345 of 1945); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).

E21

Power pursuant subs. (3) exercised (20.12.1944) by Civil Service (Bonus) Regulations 1944 (S.I. No. 364 of 1944); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).

E22

Power pursuant subs. (3) exercised (3.02.1944) by Civil Service (Emergency Bonus) Regulations 1944 (S.I. No. 43 of 1944); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).

E23

Power pursuant subs. (3) exercised (1.01.1943) by Civil Service (Emergency Bonus) Regulations 1943 (S.I. No. 1 of 1943); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).

E24

Power pursuant to subs. (3) exercised (30.06.1942) by Civil Service (Stabilisation of Bonus) (Amendment) Regulations 1942 (S.I. No. 258 of 1942); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).

E25

Power pursuant to subs. (3) exercised (1.07.1940) by Civil Service (Stabilisation of Bonus) Regulations 1940 (S.I. No. 177 of 1940); enabling subsection repealed (18.02.1957) as per F-note above but extant regulations continued in force as per s. 22(2).