LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1936

AN ACT TO MAKE SPECIAL PROVISION WITH RESPECT TO THE SUPERANNUATION OF PARTICULAR OFFICERS (INCLUDING PERSONS WHO WERE FORMERLY OFFICERS) AND SERVANTS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND FOR THAT AND OTHER PURPOSES TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1933. [23rd November, 1936.]

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

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Act of 1933” means the Local Government Act, 1933 (No. 5 of 1933);

the expression “the Minister” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1933.

• (2) Every body which is a local authority for the purposes of the Act of 1933, and no other body, shall be a local authority for the purposes of this Act.

2 Amendment of section 7 of the Local Government Act, 1933.

2.—(1) Where a local authority resolved, before the passing of this Act, to pay under section 7 of the Act of 1933 a sum of money to any person or the personal representative of any person but such money was not so paid either because the period of six months mentioned in the said section 7 expired after the passing of such resolution and before such money was actually paid or because the said period of six months had expired before the passing of such resolution, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for such local authority within twelve months after the passing of this Act and with the sanction of the Minister, to pay such money to such person or such personal representative (as the case may be) in accordance with such resolution.

• (2) Where a person applied, either on his own behalf or as personal representative of another person, to a local authority before the passing of this Act (whether before or after the expiration of the period of six months mentioned in section 7 of the Act of 1933) for payment under the said section 7 of a sum of money and no resolution for such payment of such money was passed by such local authority, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for such local authority, within twelve months after the passing of this Act and with the sanction of the Minister, to resolve to pay and to pay to such person (or his personal representative) or to such personal representative any sum of money which could lawfully have been paid to him under the said section 7 by such local authority within the period of six months mentioned in the said section 7.

• (3) Where a person applies, either on his own behalf or as personal representative of another person, to a local authority within six months after the passing of this Act for payment under section 7 of the Act of 1933 of a sum of money, it shall be lawful for such local authority, within twelve months after the passing of this Act and with the sanction of the Minister, to resolve to pay and to pay to such person or to such personal representative (as the case may be) any sum of money which could lawfully have been paid to him under the said section 7 by such local authority within the period of six months mentioned in the said section 7.

• (4) The provisions set out in sub-section (2) of section 7 of the Act of 1933 shall have effect in relation to or for the purposes of the foregoing sub-sections of this section, but with the modification that the expression “this section” wherever it occurs in the said provisions shall be construed as meaning this present section.

• (5) Section 7 of the Act of 1933 is hereby amended, as from the passing of that Act, by the substitution in sub-section (1) of that section of the date “the 30th day of September, 1924,” for the date “the 30th day of April, 1923,” and all references in the foregoing sub-sections of this section to the said section 7 shall be construed and have effect as references to that section as amended by this sub-section.

3 Pensionable service of certain servants of local authorities.

3.—Section 5 of the Act of 1933 shall apply and have effect in relation to servants of local authorities in pensionable employment in like manner as it applies to officers of local authorities but with the following modifications, that is to say:—

• (a) the expression “servant in pensionable employment” shall be substituted for the word “officer” wherever that word occurs in the said section, and

• (b) the expression “pensionable employment” shall be substituted for the expression “pensionable office” wherever the latter expression occurs in the said section, and

• (c) the expression “the passing of this Act” which occurs in sub-section (1) of the said section shall be construed as meaning the passing of this present Act.

4 Amendment of section 5 of the Local Government Act, 1933.

4.—(1) A certificate by the Minister under sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Act of 1933 may, notwithstanding anything contained in that sub-section, be given at any time within twelve months after the appointment mentioned in the said sub-section or the passing of this present Act, whichever is the later.

• (2) Whenever the Minister is satisfied that a certificate given or purported to be given (whether before or after the passing of this Act) under sub-section (1) of the Act of 1933 was defective by reason of a mis-statement of fact or other error of detail therein, the Minister, if he so thinks proper, may, at any time within twelve months after the passing of this Act, cancel such certificate and issue in lieu thereof a new certificate under the said section 5 as amended by this Act.

5 Superannuation of certain officers of local authorities entering the Civil Service.

5.—(1) In this section—

the expression “pensionable officer” has the same meaning as it has in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 42 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), but includes an officer who devoted the whole of his time to the service of one or more committees or joint committees appointed for all or any of the purposes of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, notwithstanding that the appointment or all or any of the appointments of such officer was or were renewable periodically;

the expression “pensionable service” means service as a pensionable officer;

the expression “the Civil Service” means the Civil Service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann;

references to resignation from a service shall be construed as including leaving such service otherwise than by dismissal.

• (2) Whenever a pensionable officer of a local authority who resigned or was dismissed from the service of such local authority after the 1st day of January, 1922, and before the 9th day of March, 1932, was or is appointed, whether before or within one year after the date of the passing of this Act, to an established position in the Civil Service, and the Minister, within one year after the date of the passing of this Act, certifies in writing under his hand that such officer so resigned or was so dismissed for political reasons, such officer shall be deemed to have been removed from office in the service of such local authority for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity on the day his said resignation or dismissal took effect, and shall be entitled to be granted by such local authority compensation for loss of office under the enactments relating to the superannuation of officers of such local authority, and those enactments shall apply accordingly with the necessary modifications.

• (3) When reckoning for the purposes of this section the pensionable service of an officer, the period commencing on the date on which his resignation or dismissal mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section became effective and ending on the date of his appointment mentioned in the said sub-section to an established position in the Civil Service shall be deemed to be pensionable service under the said local authority from whose service such officer so resigned or was dismissed, and that period and the period of the pensionable service of such officer under such local authority before he so resigned or was dismissed shall be reckoned as one continuous period of pensionable service under such local authority.

• (4) When calculating for the purposes of this section the amount of the compensation which may be granted by a local authority to an officer, his yearly salary and emoluments shall be taken to be the amount which in the opinion of the Minister would have been his yearly salary and emoluments if he had continued in the service of such local authority up to and during the whole of the three years immediately preceding his appointment to an established position in the Civil Service.

• (5) Where the local authority from whose service an officer resigned or was dismissed within the meaning of sub-section (1) of this section has ceased to exist, such officer shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been an officer of the local authority (in this sub-section referred to as the last-mentioned local authority) to whom the debts and liabilities of the said local authority which has ceased to exist have been transferred, and for the purposes aforesaid such officer shall be deemed to have so resigned or been dismissed from the service of the last-mentioned local authority, and his period of pensionable service reckoned in accordance with this section shall for the like purposes be deemed to be pensionable service under the last-mentioned local authority.

• (6) In reckoning for the purposes of this section the pensionable service of a person who was an officer of a committee or a joint committee appointed for the purposes of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, any interruption of such service which occurred by reason of such committee or joint committee having ceased, at any time after the 1st day of January, 1919, and before the 6th day of December, 1921, to administer the said Act for a period not exceeding six months shall be ignored, and such pensionable service shall be reckoned as if such interruption had not occurred.

• (7) Compensation for loss of office awarded under this section to any person shall not become payable unless or until such person shall have ceased to serve in the Civil Service in such circumstances that a superannuation allowance or a gratuity could be granted to him under the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1936, on such cesser.

• (8) Where compensation for loss of office becomes payable under this section and is paid by a local authority, the Minister shall, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, refund to such local authority such proportion of such compensation as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall determine to be just and equitable.

• (9) This section shall apply to a pensionable officer of a local authority whose functional area is now in, that part of Ireland which is not in Saorstát Eireann but with and subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—

• (a) the expression “local authority” shall mean a body which, if its functional area were in Saorstát Eireann, would be a local authority for the purposes of this Act, and

• (b) the expression “pensionable officer” shall mean an officer of any such local authority as aforesaid who would have been a pensionable officer within the meaning of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 42 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), if the functional area of such local authority were in Saorstát Eireann, and

• (c) all compensation for loss of office which would have been payable under this section by any such local authority if the functional area of such local authority were in Saorstát Eireann shall be paid by the Minister out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas,

• (10) Every doubt, question, or dispute as to the right to or the amount of compensation for loss of office under this section shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any other enactment, be determined by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whose determination shall be final.

6 Power to pay gratuities to certain-former officers of local authorities.

6.—The Minister for Local Government and Public Health may, if he so thinks fit, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, pay, within twelve months after the passing of this Act, a gratuity out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas of such amount (not exceeding one hundred and fifty pounds) as the Minister for Local Government and Public Health shall in each particular case think proper to any person in respect of whom the Minister for Local Government and Public Health is satisfied that such person formerly held office under or was employed by a local authority and ceased for political reasons to hold such office or be so employed and is precluded by age or ill-health from employment in the service of a local authority or in the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann.

7 Expenses.

7.—All expenses incurred in the execution of this Act by any Minister who is for any purpose the Minister within the meaning of this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

8 Short title and citation.

8.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government Act, 1936.

• (2) The Local Government Acts, 1925 to 1933, and this Act may be cited together as the Local Government Acts, 1925 to 1936.