National Treasury Management Agency Act, 1990

• Permanent Page URL

Delegation of functions to Agency.

5.—(1) The Government may by order delegate to the Agency the functions of the Minister specified in the First Schedule and any other functions of the Minister in relation to the management of the national debt or the borrowing of moneys for the Exchequer that the Minister considers appropriate and are specified in the order.

(2) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), whenever an order under subsection (1) is in force, the Agency shall, if and in so far as the order so declares, have the following functions:

(i) the preparation and the submission to the Minister as soon as may be in each year of a scheme indicating, as respects the moneys proposed to be borrowed by the Agency on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer in that year, the proportion thereof proposed to be borrowed in the currency of the State, in respect of that year, the first such scheme being in respect of the year following that in which the establishment day falls,

(ii) the review, and, where appropriate, the revision, from time to time as occasion requires, of schemes prepared pursuant to subparagraph (i) and the submission of any such revision to the Minister,

(iii) the determination of the terms and conditions on which moneys, whether in the currency of the State or in any other currency, are borrowed by the Agency on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer,

(iv) the preparation, and submission to the Minister, in respect of each year whenever he so requests, of an estimate of—

(I) the amount of interest on the national debt,

(II) the amount due to any sinking fund in respect of the national debt,

(III) the amount of the expenditure of the Agency (other than expenditure in respect of the matters specified in subparagraphs (I) and (II)) in relation to the borrowing of moneys by the Agency on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer, and

(IV) the amount of the expenses of the Agency,

falling to be paid in that year, the first such estimate being in respect of the year following that in which the establishment day falls, and it shall be the duty of the Agency to ensure that the performance of its functions and the management of its affairs is such as to secure that the amounts of the payments made by it in any year in respect of the matters aforesaid correspond as nearly as may be with the amounts specified in the scheme under this subparagraph in respect of those matters, as approved of by the Minister (whether with or without amendment) for that year,

(v) advising the Minister, whenever he so requests, in relation to the borrowing of moneys by persons whose borrowing of moneys is subject to the consent of the Minister, the timing of such borrowing and the terms and conditions thereof,

(vi) advising the Minister, whenever he so requests, in relation to—

(I) the management of the national debt and matters connected therewith,

(II) stock exchanges and other markets for stocks and shares and securities of the Government and the other financial markets and matters connected with financial markets, and

(III) the sale of assets held by the Minister on behalf of the State and matters related thereto, including the employment of financial institutions by the Minister in connection with such sales, and the effect of such sales on demand for securities issued in the name or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of the borrowing of moneys in the name or on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer,

(vii) advising the Minister in relation to the borrowing (whether actual or proposed) of moneys in the name or on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer, the total of such borrowings and the implications for, and effect on, the national finances and the economy generally of different totals of such borrowings,

(viii) whenever it considers it necessary or expedient to do so for the purposes of the management of the national debt, the arrangement of payments to and from the Exchequer Account and the giving of directions in relation to the management, in accordance with law, and the making of payments, in accordance with law, to and from, the Post Office Savings Bank Fund, the following accounts of the Minister, namely, the Capital Services Redemption Account, the National Loans Sinking Funds Accounts, the National Loans Advance Interest Account, the Stock Accepted in Payment of Death Duties Account and any other account in which moneys are held on behalf of the Minister,

(ix) the establishment and maintenance of business relationships with institutions that engage in the investment of moneys in stocks, shares, securities of the Government or other securities or in the lending of moneys,

(x) whenever the Agency considers it necessary or expedient, to engage in one or more of the following, namely, the collection, collation and preparation, and the communication and distribution to banks and other financial institutions and their advisers, of information (including statistics and forecasts and extrapolations of trends and developments) in relation to the national debt, the borrowing and repayment of moneys, and the payment of interest thereon, in the name or on behalf of the Minister for the Exchequer or by persons whose borrowing of money is subject to the consent of the Minister.

(b) An order under subsection (1) may contain such ancillary and incidental provisions (including provisions adapting the statutory provisions specified in the First Schedule or any other statutory provision) as the Government consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of the delegation effected by the order.

(c) Whenever an order under subsection (1) is in force, the Minister may provide the Agency with such information within his control or procurement and requested by the Agency as he considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of the day to day management of the national debt.

(3) The following provisions shall apply in relation to a delegation under this section and a declaration under subsection (2) (a), that is to say:

(a) the Government may at any time by order—

(i) revoke the delegation in whole or in part, or

(ii) provide that all or any of the functions to which the declaration relates shall cease to be performed by the Agency, and, upon the commencement of the order, the functions shall cease to be performed by the Agency,

(b) subject to paragraph (a), the delegation shall operate, so long as it continues in force, to confer on and vest in the Agency each function delegated by the delegation and the declaration shall operate, so long as it continues in force, to confer on and vest in the Agency each function specified in subsection (2) (a),

(c) a function delegated by the delegation or to which the declaration aforesaid relates shall be performed by the Agency subject to any conditions or restrictions stated in the order concerned under this section,

(d) any obligation or liability undertaken by the Agency consequent upon the performance by the Agency of a function to which the delegation or declaration relates shall be of the same force and effect as if the obligation or liability had been undertaken by the Minister,

(e) a function of the Minister delegated by the delegation or to which the declaration relates shall, notwithstanding the delegation or declaration, as the case may be, continue to be vested in the Minister but shall be so vested concurrently with the Agency and so as to be capable of being performed by either the Minister or the Agency, and

(f) the delegation or declaration shall not remove or derogate from the responsibility of the Minister to Dáil Éireann or as a member of the Government for the performance of functions of the Minister thereby delegated or to which the declaration relates.

(4) The Government may by order amend or revoke an order under this section including an order under this subsection.

(5) An order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.