S.I. No. 201/1997:

OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) (CONSTITUENCY TELEPHONE ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1997.

OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) (CONSTITUENCY TELEPHONE ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1997.

I, RUAIRÍ QUINN, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 2 (as amended by section 3 of the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1996 (No. 39 of 1996)) and 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) (Constituency Telephone Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1997.

(2) These Regulations shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1997.

2. In these Regulations "the Principal Regulations" means the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Constituency Telephone Allowance) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 413 of 1996 ).

3. Regulation 3 of the Principal Regulation is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (d) of the following paragraph:

"(e) to a member of Dáil Éireann who is an assistant party whip in Dáil Éireann, nominated by a person referred to in paragraph (d) of this Regulation who is the Government chief whip where that person opts not to be paid the amount referred to in that paragraph, a sum of £1,000.".

4. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution for Regulation 5 of the following regulation:

"5. A constituency telephone allowance shall not be payable for any period during which the person concerned was not, as the case may be, a member of either House of the Oireachtas, the holder of a scheduled position, a party whip in Dáil Éireann or nominated under Regulation 3 (e) of these Regulations."

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 7th day of May, 1997.

RUAIRÍ QUINN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Constituency Telephone Allowance Regulations, S.I. No. 413 of 1996 , provide for the payment of an annual Constituency Telephone Allowance to Oireachtas Members. The annual allowance for Dáil Deputies is £2,000: for Senators it is £1,000 and an additional £1,000 is payable to Oireachtas Committee Chairpersons and Dáil Party Whips.

These new Regulations amend the original Constituency Telephone Regulations to provide that where a Dáil party whip serves as Government Chief Whip, and opts not to be paid the Dáil party whip's allowance of £1,000 per annum, this sum shall be payable instead to an assistant party whip nominated by the person serving as Government Whip