Ministers have been warned to bring issues to Cabinet at the last minute only in exceptional and urgent cases, as Taoiseach Micheál Martin cracks down on memos going “under the arm” to meetings.
At a Cabinet meeting on June 10th, it is understood Mr Martin told colleagues the practice was happening far too often and needed to stop.
The assistant secretary general to the Government has twice reminded senior officials across departments of the requirement for consultation under the constitutional principle of collective Cabinet responsibility.
“Under the arm” refers to a Minister bringing a memo to a Cabinet meeting at the last minute, without the details being shared with other departments and Ministers in advance.
READ MORE
Sometimes an urgent issue will need to be raised without notice, but Ministers may also choose not to share details of a memo in advance if they do not want it leaked to the media.
Officials at the Department of Public Expenditure (DPER) have complained about the practice, arguing they are not given enough time to consider issues that carry a significant cost to the exchequer.
Notable examples in the lifetime of this Government include Minister for Housing James Browne’s landmark reforms of Rent Pressure Zones and Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan’s bombshell memo on the Arts Council’s failed IT project.
According to documents released under Freedom of Information, Dermot Woods, assistant secretary general to the Government, wrote to senior officials across every department in April to stress that memos had to be submitted the week before a Cabinet meeting. He said that after specific deadlines, they would “not be accepted” and would have to go to a later meeting.
Mr Woods said “prior consultation” was required when the Government had to make a decision on a memo. “This formal consultation should, therefore, only be abridged where there is a genuine urgency ... and, even then, only to the minimum necessary to achieve the objective.”
Mr Woods said an explanation for why there had not been prior consultation should be included in memos in such cases.
In another Government-wide email issued in May, Mr Woods was forced to warn officials again. “The Taoiseach has reiterated that the late submission of Memorandums to the Government is to be avoided and that deadlines for submission are to be observed,” he said.
This was followed by an email from the private secretary to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers stressing that the Taoiseach would consider adding late memos to the agenda only in “exceptional cases where matters are urgent”.
On Thursday, May 1st officials in DPER became aware that Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris was planning to bring a memo to Cabinet the following Tuesday, possibly “under the arm”.
Mr Harris was expected to update colleagues on the latest developments in trade between the US and Ireland, possible counter measures being considered by the European Union, and a “new list” of goods and services with some “sensitive areas” for Ireland.
An official in DPER said that the department had previously told the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFA) that “we wished for sight on these kinds of memos in good time ahead of the Government meetings, even informally if the memo wasn’t ready for e‐cabinet.”
At a meeting between DPER and DFA the next day, Mr Harris’s department was again reminded that DPER needed to see memos in advance and “and specifically that this memo needs to be provided ASAP”.
