No. 35/1958:

ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1958

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Definitions.

2 Increase of total expenditure for rural electrification.

3 Provision of moneys for rural electrification.

4 Advances to the Board out of the Central Fund for rural electrification.

5 Incidence of certain fishery expenditure by the Board.

6 Fishery account.

7 Power to compensate persons for loss or inconvenience from submerging of Fitzgibbon Bridge.

8 Disposal of land by the Board.

9 Membership of either House of the Oireachtas by members, officers or servants of the Board.

10 Increase of certain pensions in respect of service ended before relevant date.

11 Increase of certain pensions in respect of service ended after relevant date.

12 Increase of certain other pensions.

13 Commencement and duration of increase of pensions.

14 Superannuation of R. F. Browne.

15 Surrender of certain allowances in return for annuity to wife or dependant.

16 Amendment of section 6 of the Superannuation Act of 1942.

17 Amendment of section 7 of the Superannuation Act of 1942.

18 Amendment of section 8 of the Superannuation Act of 1942.

19 Expenses.

20 Short title, collective citation and construction.

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) ACTS, 1927 TO 1955, AND TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION IN RELATION TO THE POWERS OF THE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BOARD UNDER CERTAIN OTHER ENACTMENTS.

[23rd December 1958.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act—

"the Act of 1945" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1945 ;

1945, No. 12.

"the Act of 1949" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1949 ;

1949, No. 12.

"the Act of 1954" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1954 ;

1954, No. 17.

"the Act of 1955" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1955 ;

1955, No. 20.

"the Acts" means the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1955;

"the appropriate sum" in relation to a pension means—

( a ) where the amount of the pension does not exceed £100 a year, 15 per cent. of the amount of the pension,

( b ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £100 a year but does not exceed £125 a year, £15 a year,

( c ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £125 a year but does not exceed £150 a year, 12 per cent. of the amount of the pension,

( d ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £150 a year but does not exceed £200 a year, £18 a year,

( e ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £200 a year but does not exceed £300 a year, 9 per cent. of the amount of the pension,

( f ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £300 a year, but does not exceed £450 a year, £27 a year,

( g ) where the amount of the pension exceeds £450 a year, 6 per cent of the amount of the pension;

"the Board" means the Electricity Supply Board;

"pension" means the full pension, less any part thereof which has been surrendered, payable to a person who is not in the service of the Board, under the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1955, or under a scheme made in pursuance of the Superannuation Act of 1942, or both;

"relevant date" means—

( a ) in the case of a person to whom the scheme set out in the Schedule to the Electricity Supply Board (Confirmation of Manual Workers Superannuation Scheme) Order, 1943, applies or who would be or would have been classified as a manual worker for the purposes of that scheme if that scheme applied to him, the 1st day of July, 1957,

S.R.&O., 1943, No. 183.

( b ) in the case of a person whose remuneration on and from the 13th day of October, 1952, was adjusted by reference to a cost-of-living index figure, that date, and

( c ) in any other case, the 1st day of July, 1952;

"the Superannuation Act of 1942" means the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act, 1942 .

1942, No. 17.

2.—The total expenditure of the Board for the electrification of rural areas shall not exceed thirty million pounds and, accordingly, subsection (1) of section 2 of the Act of 1955 shall be construed as if that sum were substituted for the sum mentioned therein.

3.—(1) The Minister for Finance may, on the recommendation of the Minister for Industry and Commerce and until, but only until, the total expenditure of the Board for the electrification of rural areas amounts to the sum of thirty million pounds, advance to the Board, as and when requested by the Board so to do, one moiety of the expenditure incurred by the Board, whether before or after the passing of this Act, after the 31st day of March, 1958, for the electrification of rural areas.

(2) All moneys advanced to the Board under the foregoing subsection of this section shall be issued from and paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(3) The moneys advanced to the Board under this section by the Minister for Finance shall be repaid to the Central Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas at such time or times as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(4) After the passing of this Act no further advances shall be made under section 41 of the Act of 1945.

4.—The power conferred on the Minister for Finance by section 5 of the Act of 1954 to advance moneys to the Board may be exercised to advance moneys to the Board for the purpose of the electrification of rural areas and, accordingly, in subsection (1) of the section "and to subsection (2) of section 2 of the Act of 1955" is hereby inserted after "section 2" and all "capital purposes" is hereby substituted for "purposes other than the electrification of rural areas".

5.—Where the Board, before deciding whether they will or will not preserve a fishery or fishing right vested in the Board, incur, in relation to the fishery or fishing right, expenditure in ascertaining the value thereof or in maintaining and protecting stocks of fish, the expenditure shall be charged against and paid out of the general revenue of the Board.

6.—(1) In each financial year of the Board an account shall be kept by the Board of all moneys received or expended by the Board,—

( a ) under the Shannon Fisheries Acts, 1935 and 1938,

( b ) in the performance of the duties imposed on the Board by Part III of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1935 , in relation to the Shannon fisheries, within the meaning of that Act, and

1935, No. 4.

( c ) in the exercise of the powers of the Board under section 16 of the Act of 1945,

and the balance on foot of the account shall be incorporated in the general accounts of the Board.

(2) Subsection (1) of section 7 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 , shall not apply in relation to moneys in relation to which this section applies, and subsections (2) and (3) and, in so far as it provides for the sending of accounts to the Minister and for the publication and putting on sale of copies of accounts, subsection (4) of that section shall apply in relation to an account kept under this section as if it were an account kept under that section.

1927, No. 27.

(3) Section 17 of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1935 and subsection (3) of section 16 of the Act of 1945 are hereby repealed.

1935, No. 27.

7.—Where, in the opinion of the Board, the submerging of Fitzgibbon Bridge (otherwise known as Dripsey Bridge) situate on the River Dripsey in the county of Cork has caused or will cause serious loss or serious inconvenience to any person who at the commencement of this Act, is the owner or occupier of land situate in the townland of Cronody or townland of Fergus, both in the county of Cork, the Board may, if they so think fit, pay to that person compensation in respect of the loss or inconvenience aforesaid of such amount as the Board consider reasonable having regard to all the circumstances.

8.—(1) It shall be lawful and shall be deemed always to have been lawful for the Board to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any land, way-leave, easement or other right in respect of land or water which appears to the Board to be no longer required by them for the performance of their duties or the exercise of their powers or functions.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not be construed as limiting any power of the Board conferred by or under any other enactment.

9.—(1) Where a member of the Board is nominated either as a candidate for election to either House of the Oireachtas or as a member of Seanad Éireann, he shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Board.

(2) Where a person who is either an officer or a servant in the employment of the Board becomes a member of either House of the Oireachtas—

( a ) he shall, during the period (in this section referred to as the secondment period) commencing upon his becoming entitled under the Standing Orders of that House to sit therein and ending either when he ceases to be a member of that House or, if it should sooner happen, upon his resignation or retirement from such employment or upon the termination of such employment by the Board, stand seconded from such employment,

( b ) he shall not be paid by, or entitled to receive from, the Board any salary or wages, as the case may be, in respect of the secondment period,

( c ) notwithstanding any provision of the Acts, as amended by this Act, or of any scheme made in pursuance of the Superannuation Act of 1942—

(i) the secondment period shall, for the purposes of any such scheme, be deemed to be service of that person which is reckonable for superannuation benefits under the scheme if, but only if—

(I) he was in the permanent employment of the Board and was a contributor under the scheme immediately before the commencement of the secondment period and is not an excluded person (which expression has the same meaning in this and the next following subsection as it has in section 13 of the Superannuation Act of 1942),

(II) he elects, by notice in writing given to the Board within three months after the commencement of the secondment period, to pay contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, and

(III) he pays, at such times and in such manner as the committee duly appointed under the scheme to administer the scheme may specify, contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period equal in amount to the aggregate of the contributions which he would have paid and the contributions which the Board would have paid in respect of the secondment period if he had remained without secondment under this subsection in the service of the Board during the secondment period and had been in receipt of remuneration from the Board during that period,

(ii) the Board shall not pay any contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period, but that part of the contributions payable by him as aforesaid which is equal to the amount of the contributions which the Board would have paid under the scheme in respect of the secondment period if he had remained without secondment under this subsection in the service of the Board during the secondment period and had been in receipt of remuneration from the Board during that period shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have been paid by the Board,

(iii) if the secondment period is terminated by his death or by his retirement from such employment, he shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have died in or to have been retired from the service of the Board, as the case may be, and to have been in receipt of remuneration from the Board immediately before such death or retirement, as the case may be,

(iv) if he does not pay or if, having paid contributions under the scheme in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, he ceases to pay contributions as aforesaid, he shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have resigned from such employment—

(I) in case he ceases to pay contributions as aforesaid, on the date of the last payment, and

(II) in any other case, immediately before the commencement of the secondment period, and

(v) a reference in this or the next following subsection to the receipt by any person of remuneration from the Board shall be taken as a reference, to the receipt by that person of remuneration from the Board at the rate at which he was being remunerated by the Board on the last day of his whole-time employment with the Board before his secondment under this subsection, and

( d ) (i) notwithstanding any provisions of the Acts, as amended by this Act, if he is an excluded person and was in the permanent employment of the Board immediately before the commencement of the secondment period, the secondment period shall, for the purposes of the payment of and calculation of the amount of any superannuation benefit to which he is entitled, be deemed to be service of that person which is reckonable for superannuation benefits payable by the Board under section 39 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 , or section 13 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 and he shall, for the purposes aforesaid, be deemed to have been in receipt of remuneration from the Board during the secondment period, and

(ii) if the secondment period is terminated by his death or by his retirement from such employment, he shall, for the purposes aforesaid, be deemed to have died in or to have been retired from the service of the Board, as the case may be, and to have been in receipt of remuneration from the Board immediately before such death or retirement, as the case may be.

(3) If a person who is or was an officer or servant of the Board becomes entitled to a pension under the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Acts, 1938 to 1952—

( a ) he shall not be entitled to reckon the whole or any part of his period of pensionable service, within the meaning of those Acts, for any superannuation benefits payable under a scheme made in pursuance of the Superannuation Act of 1942 or payable by the Board,

( b ) if he has paid any contributions in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section in respect of that period, so much thereof as is equal to the amount of the contributions which he would have paid in respect of that period under the scheme if he had remained without secondment under subsection (2) of this section in the service of the Board during that period and had been in receipt of remuneration from the Board during that period, shall be returned to him if and when a payment of benefit or a return of other contributions is made to him under the scheme, and

( c ) if he is an excluded person, an amount equal to the amount which would have been returned to him under paragraph (b) of this subsection if he had not been an excluded person and had paid contributions in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section in respect of that period shall be paid to him by the Board if and when a payment of benefit or other payment on foot of his superannuation entitlement is made to him by the Board.

(4) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein shall, while so entitled be disqualified from becoming a member of the Board or an officer or servant of the Board.

(5) Section 3 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 , is hereby repealed.

1927, No. 27.

10.—(1) This section applies to a pension which was granted in respect of service which ended before the relevant date and which was determined as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned.

(2) A pension to which this section applies shall be increased by—

( a ) the appropriate sum, or

( b ) the amount which would make the pension equal to the pension which would be payable on retirement to the person concerned if, for the five years immediately preceding his retirement, he had been remunerated at the rate or scale of remuneration applicable to an employee of the Board of equivalent status and service on the relevant date, whichever is the less.

11.—(1) This section applies to a pension which was granted in respect of service which ended on or after the relevant date but before the 1st day of April, 1954, and which was determined as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned.

(2) A pension to which this section applies shall be increased by—

( a ) the appropriate sum, or

( b ) the amount which would make such pension equal to the pension which would be payable on retirement to the person concerned if, for the five years immediately preceding the relevant date, he had been remunerated at the rate or scale of remuneration applicable to him on the relevant date,

whichever is the less.

12.—(1) This section applies to a pension which was granted before the relevant date and which is determined otherwise than as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned.

(2) A pension to which this section applies may, if the Board think fit, be increased by such amount as the Board think proper having regard to all the circumstances but subject to the limitation that the increase shall not exceed the appropriate sum.

13.—An increase of pension under this Act shall have effect from (and inclusive of) the date of the commencement of the pension or the 1st day of August, 1956, whichever is the later, and shall be payable only during the life of the person to whom it was granted.

14.—(1) Where, at the commencement of this Act, Richard F. Browne holds the office, of chairman of the Board, section 2 of the Superannuation Act of 1942, as amended by section 19 of the Act of 1954, shall have effect, in respect of the said Richard F. Browne, as if in subsection (1) "one forty-eighth of the yearly salary of such member for every completed year of whole-time membership of the Board, but subject to a maximum of twenty-four forty-eighths of such yearly salary" were deleted and "one eightieth of the yearly salary of such member for every completed year of the aggregate period of his service in any situation in a public department (as defined in section 3 of this Act) and as a whole-time member of the Board, but subject to a maximum of forty eightieths of such salary and to grant and pay to such member a gratuity of an amount calculated at the rate of one thirtieth of the yearly salary of such member for every completed year of such aggregate period of such service, but subject to a maximum of forty-five thirtieths of such yearly salary" were substituted therefor.

(2) Richard F. Browne, chairman of the Board, shall not be granted any allowance under the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1956.

15.—(1) Subject to such conditions and limitations as may be specified by the Board, a person to whom section 14 or section 15 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 applies and whom the Board consider to be of good health retiring from the service of the Board may, with the consent of the Board, surrender, as from its commencement, the whole or part of any allowance that may be granted to that person by the Board under either of those sections in return for the grant by the Board under this section of an annuity to one dependant of that person specified by that person or, if the person making the surrender is a man, to his wife.

(2) An annuity under this section shall he granted so as to be of such value as, on the date of retirement, is actuarially equivalent to what is surrendered.

(3) An annuity under this section shall be payable during the period (if any) for which the wife or dependant survives the person making the surrender.

(4) Where an obligation is imposed on the Board by virtue of section 8 of the Act of 1949 to pay an allowance under section 14 or section 15 of the Superannuation Act of 1942, that obligation shall not have effect in respect of an allowance surrendered under this section or, where a part thereof is surrendered under this section, in respect of that part.

(5) For the purposes of this section, a person to whom subsections (2) and (3) of section 15 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 is applied by section 11 of the Act of 1949, subject to the modification therein specified, shall be regarded as a person to whom the said section 15 applies.

(6) In this section "dependant" means, in relation to a person to whom the said section 14 or the said section 15 applies, a member of the family of such person (being the father, mother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, grand-daughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, son-in-law or daughter-in-law) who, at the time when such person notifies the Board of his wish to make a surrender under this section, is wholly or in part dependent on the earnings of such person.

16.—Section 6 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 shall have effect, and shall be deemed always to have had effect, as if the following subsection were inserted after subsection (5):—

"(6) Where a superannuation scheme previously confirmed by the Minister on any date is amended by an amending superannuation scheme, the amending superannuation scheme shall not operate either to constitute that superannuation scheme as so amended as a new or separate superannuation scheme or to give to it a date of confirmation other than that date."

17.—Section 7 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (6) of the following subsection:

"(7) ( a ) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, a scheme amending the manual workers superannuation scheme may provide that if, in respect of any superannuation benefit provided by virtue of any amendment under this Act of the manual workers superannuation scheme, a contributor who was in the employment of the Board on the 1st day of April, 1943, does not pay to the fund set up for the purposes of the manual workers superannuation scheme contributions in respect of that part of his subsequent service beginning on the date of his election under subsection (4) of this section and ending on the date of payment of his first contribution in respect of that benefit, the Board shall pay to the said fund appropriate contributions (with compound interest) in respect of that part of that contributor's subsequent service and that contributor shall (save as is otherwise provided in this section) be entitled to reckon for that superannuation benefit one half and no more of that part of his subsequent service.

( b ) In this subsection 'subsequent service' means the service referred to as subsequent service in paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of this section."

18.—Section 8 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 is hereby amended by the deletion in paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of "four per cent. per annum" (inserted by section 14 of the Act of 1949) and the substitution therefor of "the rate which would be payable by the Board on an advance to the Board by the Minister for Finance out of the Central Fund if the advance were made at the time the money is lent".

19.—Compensation, annuities and increases of pensions under this Act shall be defrayed as part of the general expenses of the Board.

20.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1958 .

(2) The Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1955, and this Act may be cited together as the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1958.

(3) The Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1955, and this Act shall be construed together as one.