Official sourcesirishstatutebook.ie · EUR-Lex
Europaius
Ireland
ČeštinaDeutschFrançaisEspañolPolskiItalianoNederlandsÖsterreichBelgiquePortuguêsSvenskaDanskSuomiSlovenčinaMagyarEestiLietuviųLatviešuSlovenščinaHrvatskiΚύπροςMaltiRomânăΕλληνικάLuxembourgБългарски
Ireland

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939

I mbeagán focal

This law establishes a Department of Supplies and amends previous Ministers and Secretaries Acts to address various aspects of government administration. It aims to improve the organization and functioning of government departments and ministerial roles.

Cad a rialaíonn sé

  • The establishment and functions of the Department of Supplies.
  • The allocation and termination of functions to the Department of Supplies.
  • The concept of a "Minister without portfolio" and their potential styling.
  • The transfer of Departments between Ministers and the Government's powers regarding Department names, titles, and services.

Cé dó a mbaineann sé

  • Ministers and Secretaries of State.
  • Parliamentary secretaries.

Príomhphointí

  • A Department of Supplies is established to regulate and control essential supplies and services, and to maintain and provide them.
  • The Government can allocate or terminate functions to the Department of Supplies if it is in the public interest.
  • Not every member of the Government is required to be a Minister in charge of a Department of State; those who are not are called "Ministers without portfolio."
  • The Government has broad powers to alter Department names and ministerial titles, transfer public services between Departments, and delegate ministerial powers and duties.
Legal text
Legal text

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.

  1. ie)Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.
  2. ie)Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(
  3. s)or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 1939 Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Revised Act Acht Athbh… Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 36 of 1939. MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1939. ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section 1. The Principal Act. 2. The Department of Supplies. 3. Allocation of functions to the Department of Supplies. 4. Minister without portfolio. 5. Transfer of Departments to and from Ministers. 6. Divers powers of the Government in relation to Departments of State. 7. Temporary inability of Ministers. 8. Right of audience of parliamentary secretaries. 9. Delegation of Ministerial powers and duties to parliamentary secretaries. 10. The Irish names of certain Ministers and Departments. 11. Repeals. 12. Commencement. 13. Short title, construction, and citation. SCHEDULE. Acts Referred to Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 No. 16 of 1924 Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1928 No. 6 of 1928 Number 36 of 1939. MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1939. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH, AS ON AND FROM THE 8th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1939, A DEPARTMENT OF SUPPLIES AND FOR THAT PURPOSE, AND ALSO FOR DIVERS OTHER PURPOSES, TO AMEND THE MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES ACTS, 1924 AND 1928, AS ON AND FROM THE SAID DAY. [21st December, 1939.] BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:— The Principal Act. 1.—In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 (No. 16 of 1924). The Department of Supplies. 2.—

(1)A Department of State to be styled and known as the Department of Supplies shall be and is hereby established.
(2)The Department of Supplies shall comprise the administration and business in respect of such functions in relation to all or any of the following matters as shall for the time being be allocated under this Act to that Department, that is to say:— (
  1. a)the regulation and control of supplies and services essential to the life of the community; (
  2. b)the maintenance and provision by or on behalf of the State of such supplies as aforesaid; (
  3. c)the provision and operation by or on behalf of the State of such services as aforesaid.
(3)The Minister who has charge of the Department of Supplies shall be styled an t-Aire Soláthairtí or (in English) the Minister for Supplies and shall be a corporation sole under his style or name aforesaid with 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 granted, be sued under his style or name aforesaid and may acquire, hold, and dispose of land.
(4)The Principal Act (except section 1 and sub-section
(1)of section 2 thereof and the sections thereof repealed by this or any other Act) shall apply to the Department of Supplies and the Minister having charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Principal Act. Allocation of functions to the Department of Supplies. 3.—
(1)Whenever the Government are of opinion that any function in relation to one or more of the matters mentioned in sub-section
(2)of the next preceding section ought in the public interest to be entrusted to the Minister for Supplies, the Government may, by order or by such other means as they think proper, allocate the administration and business in respect of that function to the Department of Supplies, and may by order or other means aforesaid terminate such allocation if and when they are of opinion that it is expedient in the public interest so to do.
(2)Whenever the administration and business of a function allocated under this Act to the Department of Supplies would, but for such allocation, be included in the public services comprised in another Department of State, the administration and business in respect of that function shall, to the extent of such allocation and so long as it continues, cease to be included in the public services comprised in such other Department of State. Minister without portfolio. 4.—
(1)Nothing in the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 and 1928, or this Act shall render it obligatory for every member of the Government to be a Minister having charge of a Department of State.
(2)A member of the Government who is not a Minister having charge of a Department of State shall be known as a Minister without portfolio.
(3)The Government may, whenever they think proper so to do, assign to any particular Minister without portfolio a specific style or title which shall be judicially and officially noticed. Transfer of Departments to and from Ministers. 5.—
(1)The Taoiseach may at any time terminate the assignment of a particular Department of State to the member of the Government then having charge thereof and assign such Department to another member of the Government.
(2)Every termination of the assignment of a particular Department of State to a particular member of the Government which was effected by the Government on or after the 8th day of September, 1939, and before the passing of this Act and every assignment ofa Department of State to a member of the Government which was similarly effected shall be and be deemed always to have been valid and effectual. Divers powers of the Government in relation to Departments of State. 6.—
(1)It shall be lawful for the Government, whenever they so think proper, to do by order all or any of the following things, that is to say:— (
  1. a)to alter in such way as they think proper the name (whether in the Irish language or the English language or in both those languages) of any Department of State; (
  2. b)to alter in such way as they think proper the title (whether in the Irish language or in the English language or in both those languages) of any Minister having charge of a Department of State; (
  3. c)to transfer the administration and business of any particular public service or of any branch or part of any such public service from any Department of State to any other Department of State and to make all such transfers of officers and property and do all such other things as shall be incidental to or consequential on such transfer of administration and business; (
  4. d)to transfer from any Minister having charge of a Department of State to the Minister having charge of any other Department of State any particular power, duty, or function vested by or under any statute or otherwise in the said first-mentioned Minister; (
  5. e)to prescribe the organisation of any Department of State and for that purpose to create units of administration within such Department of State; (
  6. f)to allocate to such Department of State as appears to the Government to be appropriate the administration and business of any public service which is not expressly allocated to any particular Department of State or in respect of the allocation of which any doubt, question, or dispute has arisen; (
  7. g)to make all such adaptations of enactments as shall appear to the Government to be consequential on anything done by them under any of the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-section.
(2)If any doubt, question, or dispute shall arise as to the Department of State to which the administration and business of any particular public service or of any branch or part of any such public service is allocated or as to the Minister in whom any particular power, duty, or function is vested, such doubt, question, or dispute shall, without prejudice to the power in that behalf conferred on the Government by the foregoing sub-section of this section, be determined by the Taoiseach.
(3)Whenever any particular power, duty, or function is now or shall hereafter be conferred or imposed by statute on or shall be transferred under this section to a Minister having charge of a Department of State, the administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance, or execution of such power, duty, or function shall be deemed to be allocated to the said Department of State. Temporary inability of Ministers. 7.—
(1)Whenever an individual holding the office of Minister having charge of a Department of State becomes, by reason of ill-health or on account of absence from Ireland or from any other cause, temporarily unable to discharge the duties of his said office, the Government may by order made before and in contemplation of or during such temporary inability nominate another member of the Government (whether having or not having charge of a Department of State) to execute, during a specified period not exceeding the duration of such temporary inability, the office of the said individual who has so become temporarily unable to discharge the duties of that office.
(2)The Government may by order at any time while a nomination under this, section is in force revoke such nomination and, in particular, may so revoke such nomination for the purpose of making a new nomination in lieu thereof.
(3)A member of the Government who is nominated under this section to execute the office of a Minister having charge of a Department of State shall, while he is exercising that office in pursuance of such nomination, be for all purposes the Minister having charge of the said Department but may, if and whenever it appears to him to be convenient so to do, add the word “gníomhathach” or, in English, prefix the word “acting” to his title as such Minister.
(4)The nomination under this section of a member of the Government to execute the office of a Minister having charge of a Department of State shall not prejudice or affect the appointment or tenure of office of a person holding at the time of such nomination the office of parliamentary secretary to such Minister.
(5)Where an individual who becomes temporarily unable within the meaning of the first sub-section of this section to discharge the duties of his office holds office as Minister in charge oftwo or more Departments of State, different members of the Government may, where the Government so think proper, be nominated under this section to execute the office of such individual in respect of each or any of the said Departments of State. Right of audience of parliamentary secretaries. 8.—
(1)A parliamentary secretary who is a member of Dáil Eireann shall have the right to attend and be heard in Seanad Eireann.
(2)A parliamentary secretary who is a member of Seanad Eireann shall have the right to attend and be heard in Dáil Eireann. Delegation of Ministerial powers and duties to parliamentary secretaries. 9.—
(1)It shall be lawful for the Government, by order made on the request of a Minister having charge of a Department of State, to delegate to the parliamentary secretary to such Minister all the powers and duties of such Minister under any particular Act or any particular statutory power or statutory duty of such Minister.
(2)The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every delegation to a parliamentary secretary under this section, that is to say:— (
  1. a)the Government may at any time revoke such delegation either at the request of the Minister on whose request it was made or without any such request; (
  2. b)such delegation shall terminate on the happening of either or both of the following events, that is to say, the Minister on whose request such delegation was made ceasing to be the Minister to whose powers and duties such delegation relates or the parliamentary secretary to whom such delegation was made ceasing to be parliamentary secretary to the said Minister; (
  3. c)such delegation shall operate, so long as it continues in force, to confer on and vest in the parliamentary secretary to whom it is made every of the statutory powers and duties delegated by such delegation; (
  4. d)every statutory power and duty delegated by such delegation shall be exerciseable and performed by such parliamentary secretary in his own name but subject to the general superintendence and control of the Minister on whose request it was made and subject to any conditions or restrictions stated in such delegation; (
  5. e)every statutory power or duty delegated by such delegation shall, notwithstanding such delegation continue to bevested in the Minister on whose request such delegation was made but shall be so vested concurrently with such parliamentary secretary and so as to be capable of being exercised or performed by either such Minister or such parliamentary secretary; (
  6. f)such delegation shall not remove or derogate from the responsibility of the Minister on whose request it was made to Dáil Eireann or as a member of the Government for the exercise or performance of the statutory powers and duties thereby delegated. The Irish names of certain Ministers and Departments. 10.—The name in the Irish language of every Minister who is mentioned (by the name which was his lawful name immediately before the coming into operation of the Constitution) in the second column of the Schedule to this Act shall be and be deemed to have been, as from the coming into operation of the Constitution, the name stated in the third column of the said Schedule opposite the said mention of such Minister in the said second column, and the name in the Irish language of the Department of State of which such Minister has charge shall be and be deemed, as from the coming into operation of the Constitution, to have been the name stated in the fourth column of the said Schedule opposite the said mention of such Minister in the said second column. Repeals. 11.— Sections 11 and 12 of the Principal Act and section 4 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1928 (No. 6 of 1928), are hereby repealed. Commencement. 12.—This Act shall be deemed to have come into force on the 8th day of September, 1939, and shall have and be deemed to have had effect as on and from that day. Short title, construction, and citation. 13.—
(1)This Act may be cited as the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939.
(2)This Act shall be construed as one with the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 and 1928, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1939. SCHEDULE. NAMES IN IRISH OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AND DEPARTMENTS. Ref. No. Former Name of Minister Present Name in Irish of Minister Present Name in Irish of his Department 1 An tAire Airgid or (in English) The Minister for Finance. An tAire Airgeadais. An Roinn Airgeadais. 2 An tAire Dlí agus Cirt or (in English) The Minister for Justice. An tAire Dlighidh agus Cirt. An Roinn Dlighidh agus Cirt. 3 An tAire Rialtais Aitiúla agus Sláinte Puiblí or (in English) The Minister for Local Government and Public Health. An tAire Riaghaltais Aiteamhail agus Sláinte Poiblidhe. An Roinn Riaghaltais Aiteamhail agus Sláinte Poiblidhe. 4 An tAire Talmhaíochta or (in English) The Minister for Agriculture. An tAire Talmhaidheachta. An Roinn Talmhaidheachta. 5 An tAire Gnóthaí Coigríche or (in English) The Minister for External Affairs. An tAire Gnóthaí Eachtracha. An Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha. Privacy Statement Accessibility European Legislation Identifier (PDF) Open Data License Ráiteas Príobháideachais Inrochtaineacht Aitheantóir Eorpach Reachtaíochta (ELI) Ceadúnas Sonraí Oscailte Liosta Fianán © Government of Ireland. Oireachtas Copyright Material is reproduced with the permission of the Houses of the Oireachtas © Rialtas na hÉireann. Atáirgtear ábhar faoi Chóipcheart le cead ó Thithe an Oireachtais

AI explanation based on the official legal text. Indicative, not a substitute for legal advice.