LOCAL OFFICERS' COMPENSATION (WAR PERIOD) ACT, 1924

AN ACT TO MAKE SPECIAL PROVISION FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE COMPENSATION TO WHICH CERTAIN FORMER OFFICERS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES WHO WERE REMOVED FROM OR OTHERWISE CEASED TO HOLD OFFICE DURING THE YEARS 1919, 1920 AND 1921 ARE ENTITLED IN RESPECT OF THEIR HAVING BEEN SO REMOVED FROM OR OTHERWISE CEASED TO HOLD OFFICE. [5th August, 1924.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Payment of annual allowances in Schedule.

1.—(1) The Minister for Finance shall pay to every person whose name is set out in the second column of Part I. of the Schedule to this Act during his life an annual allowance of the amount stated in the fourth column of the said Part of the said Schedule opposite the name of such person in the said second column.

• (2) Every such annual allowance shall, if so required by the person to whom the same is payable, be paid in monthly instalments, but unless and until so required shall be paid quarterly.

• (3) Every such annual allowance shall be deemed to have commenced and become payable as on and from the date stated in the fifth column of Part I. of the Schedule to this Act opposite the amount of such allowance in the fourth column of the said Part of the said Schedule, and as soon as may be after the passing of this Act the Minister for Finance shall pay to every person to whom any such allowance is payable the full amount thereof for the period from such commencement to the passing of this Act, less by any payments theretofore made to him on account thereof.

2 Payment of gratuities in Schedule.

2.—The Minister for Finance shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act pay to every person whose name is set out in the second column of Part II. of the Schedule to this Act a gratuity of the amount stated in the fourth column of the said Part of the said Schedule opposite the name of such person in the said second column, less by any payments made to him on account thereof before the passing of this Act.

3 Declaration to be made before receipt of allowance or gratuity.

3.—(1) No person shall receive any gratuity or any instalment of an allowance payable to him under this Act until he has subscribed such declaration as may be prescribed by a warrant of the Minister for Finance before one of the persons prescribed by such warrant: Provided that where any such allowance is paid monthly the Minister for Finance may dispense with the production of more than one declaration in respect of each quarter.

• (2) Any person who makes a declaration for the purpose of this section knowing the same to be untrue in any material particular shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.

4 Rights under this Act to be in substitution for other rights.

4.—(1) The rights conferred by this Act on every person whose name is set out in the second column of the Schedule to this Act to receive the allowance or gratuity stated in the fourth column of the said Schedule opposite the name of such person in the said second column shall be in substitution for the right of such person to receive from the local authority named in the first column of the said Schedule opposite the name of such person in the said second column an allowance or gratuity in respect of such person having ceased before the passing of this Act to hold office under such local authority, and every such last-mentioned right, whether arising under section 8 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919, or any other Act or otherwise, shall immediately upon the passing of this Act become and be void and unenforceable as from the date on which such right first accrued.

• (2) This section shall not operate to entitle any local authority to recover from any person named in the second column of the Schedule to this Act or the personal representative of any such person any sum paid directly or indirectly by or on behalf of such local authority before the passing of this Act to such person on account of the allowance or gratuity (as the case may be) stated in the fourth column of the said Schedule opposite the name of such person in the said second column.

5 Funds from which allowances and gratuities are to be paid, deducted, or refunded.

5.—(1) The several allowances and gratuities payable under this Act shall be paid by the Minister for Finance in the first instance out of moneys placed at his disposal for that purpose by the British Government, and if and so far as those moneys are insufficient for the purpose aforesaid the said allowances and gratuities shall be paid out of the share apportioned to Saorstát Eireann of the moneys (if any) remaining to credit of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account in respect of interest, and if and so far as all the moneys aforesaid are insufficient for the purpose aforesaid every such allowance and gratuity shall be paid out of the grant payable to the Local Taxation Account under sub-section (1) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, and in priority to the sums payable thereout under sub-section (2) of that section.

• (2) All moneys paid before the passing of this Act by the British Government or the Government of Saorstát Eireann to any of the persons named in the second column of the Schedule to this Act on account of the allowance or gratuity the payment of which to him is provided for by this Act shall, to such extent and in such proportions and manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct, be refunded out of the said share apportioned to Saorstát Eireann of the moneys (if any) remaining to credit of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account in respect of interest, or out of the grant payable to the Local Taxation Account under sub-section (1) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, or partly out of the said moneys and partly out of the said grant, and in any case in priority to the moneys payable out of such grant under the first sub-section of this section.

• (3) Sub-section (5) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall not apply to any sums payable out of the Local Taxation Account under this section.

6 Commutation of allowances.

6.—(1) The Minister for Finance may, if he thinks fit so to do, on the application of any person to whom an allowance is payable under this Act, commute such allowance by payment to such person of a capital sum calculated according to the estimated duration of his life.

• (2) The Minister for Finance may make regulations prescribing the terms on and conditions under which allowances may be commuted under this section and prescribing the method of calculating the capital sums to be paid in commutation of such allowances.

• (3) The sum payable in commutation of an allowance under this section shall be paid out of the same fund as the allowance so commuted is payable out of under this Act.

7 Short title.

7.—This Act may be cited as the Local Officers' Compensation (War Period) Act, 1924.

SCHEDULE. PART I.—ALLOWANCES.

PART II.—GRATUITIES.