Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001

PART 1 Preliminary

1 Short title and commencement.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001.

(2) Except as provided by this section, this Act comes into operation on the date of its passing.

(3) Sections 37, 39(c) and (d) and 40 are taken to have come into operation on 26 June, 1997.

(4) Sections 7, 11 and 39(a) and (e) are taken to have come into operation on 17 September, 1997.

(5) Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 22, 23, 24, 27(1), 28, 31, 34(a) and 36 are taken to have come into operation on 25 September, 2000.

PART 2 Amendment of Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act, 1938

2 Interpretation: Part 2.

2.—In this Part, “the 1938 Act” means the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act, 1938.

3 Amendment of section 3 of the 1938 Act — remuneration of members of the Government, etc.

3.—Section 3 of the 1938 Act is amended by substituting the following subsections for subsections (1) and (2) (as respectively substituted by section 7 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973, and section 6 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1977):

“(1) On and from 25 September, 2000—

(a) the Taoiseach is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £79,146 per year, and

(b) the Tánaiste is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £62,295 per year, and

(c) a member of the Government, other than the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £54,855 per year.

(2) On and from 25 September, 2000, a Minister of State is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £24,640 per year.”.

4 Substitution of section 4 of the 1938 Act — remuneration of Attorney General.

4.—The 1938 Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 4 (as substituted by section 8 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973):

“Remuneration of Attorney General.	4.—On and from 25 September, 2000, the Attorney General is entitled to be paid— (a) if the person who holds the office is not a member of either House of the Oireachtas, a salary at the rate of £95,998 per year, or (b) if that person is a member of either House of the Oireachtas, a salary at the rate of £54,855 per year.”.

5 Substitution of section 5 of the 1938 Act — remuneration of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Dáil Éireann.

5.—The 1938 Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 5 (as substituted by section 9 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973):

“Remuneration of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Dáil Éireann.	5.—On and from 25 September, 2000— (a) the Chairman of Dáil Éireann is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £54,855 per year, and (b) the Deputy Chairman of Dáil Éireann is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £24,640 per year.”.

6 Substitution of section 6 of the 1938 Act — remuneration of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Seanad Éireann.

6.—The 1938 Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 5 (as substituted by section 10 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973):

“Remuneration of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Seanad Éireann.	6.—On and from 25 September, 2000— (a) the Chairman of Seanad Éireann is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £22,518 per year, and (b) the Deputy Chairman of Seanad Éireann is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £12,227 per year.”.

7 Amendment of the 1938 Act — insertion of new section 6A (Remuneration of the Leader of Seanad Éireann).

7.—The 1938 Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 6 (as substituted by section 6 of this Act):

“Remuneration of the Leader of Seanad Éireann.	6A.—On and from 17 September, 1997, the Leader of Seanad Éireann is entitled to be paid a salary at the rate of £7,213 per year.”.

8 Amendment of section 8A of the 1938 Act — increase of salaries payable under Part II.

8.—Section 8A of the 1938 Act (as inserted by section 11 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973) is amended—

(a) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Government may, by order, increase or decrease all or any of the salaries payable under this Part.”.

(b) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(3) Every order made by the Government under this section is required to be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as practicable after it is made.

(4) Dáil Éireann may, by resolution, annul an order made under this section within 21 sitting days after the day on which the order was laid in accordance with subsection (3). The annulment of an order under this subsection takes effect immediately on the passing of the resolution concerned, but does not affect anything that was done under the order before the passing of that resolution.”.

9 Amendment of the 1938 Act — insertion of new sections 8B, 8C and 8D.

9.—The 1938 Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 8A (as inserted by section 11 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1973):

“Salaries to be adjusted automatically by reference to salary increases in Civil Service.	8B.—(1) Whenever remuneration in the Civil Service is increased with effect from a particular day in accordance with agreements or arrangements that have effect on a general basis in the Civil Service (whether or not they also apply in relation to persons employed other than in the Civil Service), the salaries payable under this Part are, by the operation of this section, increased on and from that day by the same proportion. (2) It is not necessary for an order to be made under section 8A in order to give effect to an increase made by the operation of subsection (1). (3) In this section, ‘Civil Service’ has the meaning given by the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956.
Rights of Ministers and others to elect not to accept increase in salary.	8C.—(1) A person who is entitled to be paid a salary under this Part may, by notice in writing given to the Minister for Finance, elect not to accept the amount of an increase of that salary that would otherwise become payable under a provision of this Part. (2) Such an election does not affect the application of subsection (1) to the remaining part of the salary whenever salaries payable under this Part are generally increased. (3) A person who has made an election under this section may revoke the election by a further notice in writing given to the Minister for Finance, but the revocation has effect only prospectively. (4) Subject to subsection (3), an election made by a person under this section is not affected by the fact that the person ceases to hold the office to which the salary relates and the person is subsequently reappointed to that office.
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Salaries to be paid in monthly instalments.	8D.—A salary payable under this Part is to be paid in monthly instalments.”.
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10 Amendment of the 1938 Act — insertion of new sections 11 and 11A.

10.—The 1938 Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 10 (as substituted by section 5 of the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1996):

“Increase and decrease of allowances payable under this Part.	11.—(1) The Government may, by order, increase or decrease all or any of the allowances payable under this Part. (2) An order under this section may, if so expressed, have retrospective effect. (3) Every order made by the Government under this section is required to be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as practicable after it is made. (4) Dáil Éireann may, by resolution, annul an order made under this section within 21 sitting days after the day on which the order was laid in accordance with subsection (3). The annulment of an order under this subsection takes effect immediately on the passing of the resolution concerned, but does not affect anything that was done under the order before the passing of that resolution.
Allowances to be adjusted automatically by reference to salary increases in Civil Service.	11A.—(1) Whenever remuneration in the Civil Service is increased with effect from a particular day in accordance with agreements or arrangements that have effect on a general basis in the Civil Service (whether or not they also apply in relation to person employed other than in the Civil Service), the allowances payable under this Part are, by the operation of this section, increased on and from that day by the same proportion. (2) It is not necessary to make an order under section 11 in order to give effect to an increase made by the operation of subsection (1). (3) In this section, ‘Civil Service’ has the meaning given by the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956.”.
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11 Amendment of the 1938 Act — definitions for the purpose of Part IV.

11.—Section 13 of the 1938 Act (as amended by section 5 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1983) is amended by inserting the following paragraph in the definition of “secretarial office” in subsection (1):

“(e) the office of Leader of the House in Seanad Éireann;”.

12 Amendment of section 13A of the 1938 Act — ministerial pensions and secretarial pensions.

12.—Section 13A of the 1938 Act (as amended by section 7 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992) is amended—

(a) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (5):

“(5) A pension under this section is payable to a person at the rate of 25 per cent of the person's appropriate salary, plus 5 per cent of that salary for each year of service exceeding 3, with a maximum of 7 such additional years. For the purposes of this subsection, a part of a year is to be reckoned on a proportionate basis.

(5A) For the purpose of calculating the ministerial pension of a person, the appropriate salary for the person is as follows:

(a) if the person held the office of Taoiseach — the annual salary payable to the Taoiseach;

(b) if the person held the office of Tánaiste for a period of not less than 3 years — the annual salary payable to the Tánaiste;

(c) if the person held the office of Tánaiste for a period of less than 3 years — the amount calculated in accordance with the following formula:

	A =	D S1	+	(T-D) S2
T	T

where—

A is the amount to be calculated,

D is the number of days during which the person served as Tánaiste,

T is the total number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person served in a ministerial office,

S1 is the annual salary payable to the Tánaiste, and

S2 is the annual salary payable to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, and

(d) if the person held any other ministerial office — the annual salary payable to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

(5B) For the purpose of calculating the secretarial pension of a person, the appropriate salary for the person is—

(a) if the person has held a ministerial office on or after 1 January, 1978, or has served for 3 years or more in one or more qualifying offices (other than a prescribed office) — the amount of annual salary payable to a Minister of State, or

(b) in the case of any other person—

(i) the amount of annual salary payable to the person in respect of the last qualifying office that the person held (other than a ministerial office), or

(ii) an amount calculated in accordance with subsection (5C),

whichever is the greater.

(5C) The calculation to be made for the purpose of subsection (5B)(b)(ii) is as follows:

Step 1: Multiply the number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person held each of the qualifying offices by the amount of salary that is currently payable to the holder of the office concerned;

Step 2: If the amount of salary that is currently payable for a qualifying office that the person formerly held is higher than that for another qualifying office that the person so held, reckon the time that the person served in the first of those offices before reckoning the time that the person served in the other of those offices;

Step 3: Add together the amounts derived in accordance with step 1 for the qualifying offices that the person formerly held;

Step 4: Divide the total of the amounts so derived by the total number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person held qualifying offices.

(5D) The following offices are prescribed offices for the purposes of subsection (5B):

(a) Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Seanad Éireann;

(b) Leader of the House in Seanad Éireann.

(5E) In subsection (5), ‘service’ means—

(a) in relation to a person entitled to a ministerial pension, ministerial service, and

(b) in relation to a person entitled to a secretarial pension, secretarial service.”,

and

(b) by substituting the following paragraph for subsection (7)(b):

“(b) Subject to paragraph (c), a person who—

(i) is receiving a severance allowance under Part V of this Act, or

(ii) has not reached 50 years of age,

is not entitled to a pension under this section.”,

and

(c) by repealing subsections (7)(d) and (e), and

(d) in subsection (7)(f), by deleting “or a discounted pension”, and

(e) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (8):

“(9) If a person who has reached 50 years of age was not entitled to a pension under this section (as in force before the commencement of section 12 of the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001) only because the person had not then reached 55 years of age, the person becomes so entitled on and from the date of that commencement. A reference in this subsection to a pension does not include a discounted pension.

(10) A person who was being paid a discounted pension under this section (as in force before the commencement of section 12 of the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001) is entitled to continue to receive the pension after that commencement on the same terms and conditions as applied to it immediately before that commencement.”.

13 Amendment of the 1938 Act — insertion of new sections 13AA and 13AB.

13.—The 1938 Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 13A (as inserted by section 7 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992):