No. 148/1946:

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE (GREAT BRITAIN RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS) ORDER, 1946.

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE (GREAT BRITAIN RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS) ORDER, 1946.

No. 20 of 1923.

No. 12 of 1936.

The Minister for Local Government and Public Health in exercise of the powers now vested in him under Section 17 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1923 , as amended by Section 5 of the National Health Insurance and Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1936 , and of all the powers in this behalf enabling him hereby orders as follows:

1.—(1) This order may be cited as the National Health Insurance (Great Britain Reciprocal Arrangements) Order, 1946.

No. 38 of 1937.

(2) The Interpretation Act, 1937 , applies to this order.

26 Geo. 5, and 1 Edw. 8, c. 32.

(3) This order shall not come into force unless and until an order has been made by the National Health Insurance Joint Committee in pursuance of the powers conferred on them by Section 67 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1936 , for the purpose of carrying out the Arrangements contained in the Schedule to this order.

2. The provisions contained in the Arrangements set out in the Schedule to this order shall, as from the respective dates mentioned therein, have full force and effect so far as they relate to Éire, and the National Health Insurance Acts shall accordingly have effect in Éire, subject to such modifications as may be required in those Acts for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions contained in the said Arrangements.

SCHEDULE.

ARRANGEMENTS MADE BETWEEN THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE JOINT COMMITTEE AND THE MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

MEMORANDUM OF ARRANGEMENTS which have been mutually agreed upon between the National Health Insurance Joint Committee acting under powers conferred on them by section sixty-seven of the National Health Insurance Act, 1936 , and the Minister for Local Government and Public Health acting under powers now vested in him under section seventeen of the National Health Insurance Act, 1923 , as amended by section five of the National Health Insurance and Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1936 .

1. The National Health Insurance Joint Committee and the Minister for Local Government and Public Health shall make such orders as may be necessary to carry these Arrangements into effect and such orders shall be made simultaneously on a date to be mutually agreed.

S. R. & O., 1924 (No. 208) p. 1315.

Irish Free State S. R. & O., 1924, No. 7

2. For the purposes of this Memorandum, the expression " the principal Memorandum " means the Memorandum of Arrangements made between the National Health Insurance Joint Committee and the Irish Insurance Commissioners (whose functions are now vested in the Minister for Local Government and Public Health) dated the 16th February, 1924, and set out in the Schedule to the National Health Insurance (Irish Free State Reciprocal Arrangements) Order, 1924, and the Schedule to the National Health Insurance (Great Britain Reciprocal Arrangements) Order, 1924.

3. Article 2 of the principal Memorandum shall be amended as follows :—

(1) The following paragraphs shall be substituted for paragraphs (1) and (2) :—

" (1) Subject to the proviso to this paragraph, a person who, being a member of a British Society, is or becomes resident and employed in Éire, shall be deemed to be resident and employed in Great Britain and shall continue to be insured under the Acts in force in Great Britain, during the period commencing with the date on which he became so resident and employed and ending with the expiration of the contribution year next after that in which that date occurred:

Provided that—

(a) if during the said period he becomes for the purposes of the Acts in force in Éire a member of the Society for National Health Insurance (Cumann an Árachais Náisiúnta ar Shláinte) this paragraph shall cease to apply to him on the day preceding the date as from which he became such a member ;

(b) if during the said period he becomes employed in Great Britain, he shall continue to be insured in Great Britain by virtue of this paragraph up to the day preceding the date of commencement of that employment, but not thereafter ;

(c) if during the said period he becomes resident in Northern Ireland, he shall continue to be insured in Great Britain by virtue of this paragraph up to the day preceding the date upon which he becomes so resident but not thereafter ;

(d) the rate of contribution payable in respect of his employment in Éire shall be the appropriate rate applicable to that employment in that country ;

(e) he shall not while in Éire be entitled to medical benefit under the Acts in force in Great Britain in respect of the period during which his insurance is continued under those Acts by virtue of this paragraph ;

( f ) nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as continuing the insurance of a person hereunder beyond the date on which, but for the provisions of this paragraph, it would have terminated under the Acts in force in Great Britain.

(2) (a) Subject to the proviso to this sub-paragraph, a person who continues to be insured after paragraph (1) of this Article has ceased to apply to him, other than a person to whom sub-paragraph (b) of the proviso thereto is applicable, shall at the expiration of a period of insurance in Great Britain as determined in accordance with that paragraph, cease to be a member of the British Society and shall become insured under the Acts in force in Éire, and for that purpose shall be treated as though his previous insurance under the Acts in force in Great Britain had been insurance under the Acts in force in Éire ;

Provided that the provisions of this sub-paragraph shall not apply to a person, other than a person to whom sub-paragraph (a) of the proviso to the said paragraph (1) is applicable, if, at the expiration of the said period of insurance, he was not resident in Éire.

(b) In the case of a person to whom the said paragraph (1) applies, other than a person to whom sub-paragraph (a) or sub-paragraph (b) of the proviso thereto is applicable, the British Society of which he is a member shall, not less than eight weeks before the expiration of the said period of insurance, inform the member in writing of the date on which, subject to the provisions of the proviso to sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, his membership will terminate."

(2) In paragraph (3), the words " the first day of April or " shall be deleted, and the words " contribution year " shall be substituted for the word " halfyear ".

(3) This Article shall have effect as from the 1st January, 1944.

4. Article 7 of the principal Memorandum shall be amended as follows :—

(1) The words " not being members of Approved Societies " shall be omitted from the heading of that Article ;

(2) The words " and not having been a member of an Approved Society during that service " shall be omitted ;

(3) The words " under the Acts in force in Great Britain " shall be substituted for the words " during service in the Forces ".

5. In Article 8 of the principal Memorandum, the words " and having been a member of the Military Forces (International Arrangements) Insurance Fund during that service " shall be omitted.

6.—(1) In paragraph (1) of Article 9 of the principal Memorandum, the words " contribution year " shall be substituted for the word " half-year ".

(2) This Article shall have effect as from the 1st January, 1944.

7.—(1) The following Article shall be inserted after Article 11 of the principal Memorandum :—

" Maternity Benefit

11A. The wife of a person shall not be disentitled to maternity benefit under the Acts in force in the one country by reason only of being resident in the other country, if her husband is a person to whom Article 2, 3, 7 or 9 of these Arrangements, or any ore of those Articles as applied by Article 4, 8 or 10 thereof, is or has been applicable. "

(2) This Article shall have effect as from the 1st January, 1943.

S. R. & O., 1938 (No. 1302), II, p. 2707 and Eire S. R. & O., 1938, No. 290.

S. R. & O., 1939 (No. 1853), II, p. 2302 and Eire S. R. & O., 1939, No. 405.

8. As from and including the 1st April, 1945, the references in the principal Memorandum as amended to the Minister of Health, and (unless the context otherwise requires and subject to the necessary modifications) to any Health Insurance Authority, shall, in relation to Great Britain, be construed as referring to the Minister of National Insurance, and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Labour for Northern Ireland.

9. This Memorandum shall be read as one with the principal Memorandum as amended, and, except where otherwise stated, shall have effect as from the 1st January, 1945.

Robert Rouse,

Secretary.

F. C. Ward,

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for

Local Government and Public Health.

The Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health was hereunto affixed this first day of April, 1946, in the presence of

F. C. Ward,

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

I consent.

Proinnsías Mac Aodhagáin,

Minister for Finance.