Civil Service (Transferred Officers) Compensation Act , 1929

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Treaty” means the Treaty of 1921;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Finance; and

the expression “transferred officer” includes every official, civil servant, or other public servant who by virtue of any transfer of services has been transferred from the service of the Government of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the service of the Provisional Government of Ireland or the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann or has heretofore been or shall hereafter be transferred from the service of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann, but does not include any member of a police force nor any person whose services were lent by the Government of the said late United Kingdom to the said Provisional Government.

2 Confirmation of Agreement.

2.—The Agreement set forth in the First Schedule to this Act, being an agreement interpreting and supplementing Article 10 of the Treaty, is hereby confirmed and the Treaty shall have effect accordingly.

3 Establishment of the Civil Service (Compensation) Board.

3.—(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, a board to be styled and known as the Civil Service (Compensation) Board (in this Act referred to as the Board) shall be established in accordance with this Act to exercise the powers and jurisdictions conferred on the Board by this Act.

(2) The Board shall consist of—

(a) a Chairman (in this Act referred to as the Chairman) appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council, and

(b) a panel (in this Act called the Minister's panel) of five persons appointed in accordance with this Act by the Minister, and

(c) a panel (in this Act called the officers' panel) of twenty-five persons formed and maintained in the manner prescribed by this Act.

(3) At every sitting of the Board for the purposes of this Act the Board shall consist of the Chairman, two members drawn from the Minister's panel and two members drawn from the officers' panel.

4 The Chairman of the Board.

4.—(1) Every person appointed to be the Chairman shall at the date of his appointment be a Judge of the Supreme Court, the High Court or the Circuit Court and may, with his own consent and the consent of the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, be so appointed on the terms that he may retain office as such judge notwithstanding his appointment as the Chairman.

(2) Every person appointed to be the Chairman shall hold office as such Chairman until he either dies, resigns, or ceases to be a Judge of the Supreme Court, the High Court or the Circuit Court (as the case may be).

(3) Whenever the Chairman is temporarily incapable through illness of performing his duties as Chairman, the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council may appoint and at any time remove any person who is qualified to be appointed as the Chairman to be deputy-chairman during such incapacity of the Chairman, and every such deputy-chairman shall while his appointment continues have all the powers and duties of the Chairman and for that purpose all references in this Act (other than in this section) to the Chairman shall be construed as including such deputy-chairman.

5 The Minister's panel.

5.—(1) The members of the Minister's panel shall be appointed and may at any time be removed by the Minister.

(2) Every member of the Minister's panel shall hold office as such member until he either dies, resigns or is removed.

(3) The two members of the Board to be drawn from the Minister's panel for the purposes of any sitting of the Board shall be selected by the members of that panel in such manner as the Minister shall direct.

6 The officers' panel.

6.—(1) In this section—

the expression “original member” means a member of the officers' panel who is such member by virtue of being named in the Second Schedule to this Act;

the expression “co-opted member” means a member of the officers' panel chosen under this Act to be such member by the members of the officers' panel;

the expression “member of the officers' panel” includes both original members and co-opted members;

the expression “transferred officer in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann” includes a transferred officer who has been discharged or has retired from the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann in circumstances entitling him to compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty and has re-entered the said service on appointment to a new office or situation;

the expression “casual vacancy” means a vacancy in the membership of the officers' panel occasioned by the death, resignation, or disqualification, or the removal under this section of a member thereof and includes a vacancy occasioned by the death or disqualification of an original member before the passing of this Act.

(2) The officers' panel shall consist of the twenty-five persons named in the Second Schedule to this Act and such other persons as shall from time to time be chosen under this section to fill casual vacancies in the membership of that panel, or be appointed under the next following section of this Act to fill vacancies occasioned under that section.

(3) A member of the officers' panel may at any time resign his membership thereof by notice in writing to the Chairman.

(4) Whenever a member of the officers' panel ceases to be a transferred officer in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann, he shall be disqualified for being and shall forth with cease to be a member of the officers' panel.

(5) A member of the officers' panel may at any time be removed for cause stated from that panel by resolution in writing signed by not less than eighteen members of the officers' panel and delivered to the Chairman.

(6) Whenever a casual vacancy occurs in the membership of the officers' panel, the remaining members of the officers' panel shall choose in such manner as they think fit a transferred officer in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann to fill such vacancy.

(7) The two members of the Board to be drawn from the officers' panel for the purpose of any sitting of the Board shall be selected by the members of that panel in such manner as they shall arrange amongst themselves.

7 Removal of members of officers' panel on petition.

7.—(1) If and whenever a petition signed by not less than five hundred transferred officers in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann praying for the removal from the officers' panel of one or more (but not more than five at any one time) named members of that panel is presented to the Board, the Board shall forthwith remove from the officers' panel the members of that panel named in such petition.

(2) Whenever a member of the officers' panel is removed under this section the Board shall as soon as conveniently may be appoint a transferred officer in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann nominated by the Chairman after consultation with an organisation recognised by him as representing the transferred officers to be a member of the officers' panel to fill the vacancy occasioned by such removal.

(3) The removal of a member of the officers' panel under this section shall not constitute a casual vacancy within the meaning of the next preceding section of this Act.

(4) In this section the expression “transferred officer in the employment of the Government of Saorstát Eireann” includes the persons included in that expression for the purposes of the next preceding section of this Act.

8 The procedure of the Board.

8.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act the Board shall regulate their own procedure.

(2) The Board may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies in the Minister's panel or the officers' panel or both those panels.

(3) The Chairman shall preside at every sitting of the Board.

(4) The decision of the Board on any application, claim or question heard and determined by them under this Act shall be in accordance with the opinion of the majority of the members of the Board, but such decision shall be pronounced by the Chairman and no opinion assenting to, dissenting from, or commenting on such decision shall be pronounced by any other member of the Board.

(5) The Board shall have all such powers, rights and privileges for enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath and for compelling the production of documents as are vested in the High Court or a Judge thereof in respect of the trial of an action, and a summons signed by the Chairman shall be equivalent to and have the like effect as a formal process issued by the High Court for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or compelling the production of documents.

(6) If any person on being duly summoned under this section to attend as a witness before the Board makes default in so attending or, being in attendance before the Board as a witness, refuses to take an oath required by the Chairman to be taken by him or refuses to produce any document in his power or control required by the Chairman to be produced by him or refuses to answer any question required by the Chairman to be answered by him, the Chairman may certify the offence of such person to the High Court and that Court may, after such inquiry as it thinks proper to make, punish or take steps for the punishment of that person in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of the said Court.

9 The jurisdiction of the Board.

9.—(1) The Board shall inquire into every claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty referred to them by the Minister under this Act and shall determine in accordance with this Act whether the person making such claim is or is not entitled as a transferred officer to compensation under the said Article 10 and whenever the Board determines that such person is so entitled to such compensation the Board shall further determine the nature, amount, and other particulars of such compensation.

(2) The Board shall, for the purposes of every inquiry, determination and decision required by this Act to be made or given by them, have full power and jurisdiction to entertain and decide all matters brought before them in the course of or in connection with such inquiry, determination or decision and shall not be subject to be restrained in the exercise of their powers and jurisdictions under this Act by the order of any court, nor shall any proceedings before them be removed by certiorari into any court.

(3) The Board shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine every claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty which is required or authorised by this Act to be referred to the Board and every other question or issue required or authorised by this Act to be so referred and to determine all matters incidental to or arising in the course of the determination of any such claim, question, or issue, and no such claim, question, issue, or matter shall be capable of being entertained, heard, or determined by any court or by any other tribunal except the Board.

(4) The decision of the Board on any claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty heard and determined by them under this Act shall be a final and conclusive determination of such claim and shall not be subject to appeal to or review by any court, authority or tribunal whatsoever.

10 Claims for compensation referable to the Board.

10.—(1) Every person who claims to be entitled as a transferred officer to compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty and has not previously made to the Minister a claim (other than a claim under section 14 of this Act) for such compensation shall (subject to the exception hereinafter made) be entitled to make to the Minister a claim for such compensation.

(2) The Minister shall (subject to the exception hereinafter made) refer to the Board—

(a) every claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty made to the Minister after the passing of this Act by a person who claims to be a transferred officer and either has not previously made to the Minister a claim (other than a claim under section 14 of this Act) for such compensation or having so made any such claim has unconditionally withdrawn the same before any decision was given thereon by the Minister; and

(b) every claim for compensation under the said Article 10 made before the passing of this Act to the Minister by a person claiming to be a transferred officer which—

(i) was not withdrawn before the passing of this Act, and

(ii) was not preceded by another such claim which after having been considered by a committee appointed by the Minister to advise him in regard to such claims, was withdrawn on condition, and

(iii) in respect of which the Minister has not before the passing of this Act granted or refused to grant compensation.

(3) Where before the passing of this Act a claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty was made to the Minister by a person claiming to be a transferred officer and the Minister on such claim granted or refused to such person such compensation and such grant or refusal is not a grant or refusal of compensation which is declared by the Agreement set forth in the First Schedule to this Act to be a final and conclusive determination of the claim of such person to compensation under the said Article 10, such person may at any time after the passing of this Act request the Minister to refer such claim to the Board and the Minister upon being so requested shall (subject to the exception hereinafter made) refer such claim to the Board and such claim shall thereupon be dealt with by the Board as if no such grant or refusal (as the case may be) of such compensation had been made.

(4) This section shall not apply to a claim for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty which has been the subject of an action or other plenary proceeding in the High Court the trial of which was heard and decided by that Court before the passing of this Act.

11 Claims which have been judicially determined.

11.—(1) This section applies to every claim by a person claiming to be a transferred officer for compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty which—

(a) has not been the subject of a grant or a refusal by the Minister of compensation under the said Article 10 which is by virtue of the Agreement set forth in the First Schedule to this Act a final and conclusive determination of such claim, and

(b) has been the subject of an action or other plenary proceeding in the High Court the trial of which was heard and decided by that Court before the passing of this Act, and

(c) has not been the subject of an appeal to the Supreme Court which was heard and decided by that Court before the passing of this Act.

(2) The judgment of the High Court pronounced before the passing of this Act on a claim to which this section applies shall be a final and conclusive determination of such claim and no appeal shall lie or be prosecuted from such judgment to the Supreme Court or any other tribunal, save and except that—

(a) where an appeal is pending at the passing of this Act from such judgment to the Supreme Court, the appellant in such appeal may appeal from such judgment to the Board and thereupon the Board shall hear and determine such appeal and shall for that purpose have jurisdiction to reverse, affirm, or vary all or any part of such judgment to such extent and in such manner as it thinks proper, and

(b) if any question shall arise in respect of a claim to which this section applies which is not covered by the judgment of the High Court on such claim or if any question in respect of a claim to which this section applies shall arise out of or under the judgment of the High Court on such claim, such question shall be referred to the Board and the Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine the same.

12 Payment of compensation.

12.—(1) The Board shall report to the Minister their decision on every claim referred to them under this Act and whenever the Board decides that a person is entitled to compensation as a transferred officer under Article 10 of the Treaty the Minister shall, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas or out of any other fund which may be properly chargeable therewith, pay compensation to such officer in accordance in all respects with such decision.

(2) The Minister shall, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas or out of any other fund which may be properly chargeable therewith, pay to every transferred officer to whom he has made a grant of compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty which is declared by the Agreement set forth in the First Schedule to this Act to be final and conclusive the compensation so granted to such transferred officer.

13 Expenses of the Board.

13.—All expenses of the Board in connection with the exercise of the powers and jurisdictions conferred on the Board by this Act (including the remuneration (if any) of the members of the Board) shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

14 Preservation of tenure of office of transferred officers.

14.—(1) Every transferred officer to whom this section applies shall hold office in the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann by the same tenure and on the same terms and conditions (including conditions as to salary and superannuation) as those by which he held office in the service of the Government of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (as the case may be) immediately before his transfer from that service to the service of the Provisional Government or of the Government of Saorstát Eireann (as the case may be).

(2) Whenever a transferred officer to whom this section applies, while holding in the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann a situation the same as or corresponding to the situation held by him in the service of the Government of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (as the case may be) at the time of his transfer from that service, is required to perform duties which are not analogous to and are an unreasonable addition to his duties at the time of his said transfer or when owing to changes in the conditions of his employment the position of such officer has been materially altered to his detriment, such officer shall be entitled to retire if he so desires from the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann subject to his giving to the Minister notice of his desire so to retire and subject to his right so to retire being either admitted by the Minister or affirmed by the Board.