S.I. No. 384 of 2001

SCHEME

Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 2001

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 6A (inserted by section 5 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1960 ( No. 12 of 1960 ), as amended by section 1 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Amendment) Act, 1968 ( No. 9 of 1968 ), by section 4 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1983 ( No. 32 of 1983 ), and by section 10 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998 ( No. 5 of 1998 )), of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1938 (No. 34 of 1938) , hereby make the following scheme:

1.       This Scheme may be cited as the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 2001.

2.       (1)      This Scheme, except Clauses 4(c) and 6, is to be taken to have come into operation on 25 September 2000.

(2)      Clause 4(c) of this Scheme is to be taken to have come into operation on 1 January 1997.

(3)      Clause 6 of this Scheme is to be taken to have come into operation on 1 July 2001.

3.       In this Scheme -

“new Scheme” has the meaning given to it in clause 2 of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1992 );

“Principal Scheme” means the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions Scheme within the meaning of section 1 of the Oireachtas (Allowance to Members) and Ministerial and Pariamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992 (No. 3 of 1992) , as amended by the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 300 of 1992 ), the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1992 ), the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1993 ( S.I. No. 111 of 1993 ), the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1997 ( S.I. No. 212 of 1997 ), the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1998 ( S.I. No. 75 of 1998 ), and the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1998 ( S.I. No. 373 of 1998 );

“old Scheme” has the meaning assigned to it in Clause 2 of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1992 );

“operative date” has the meaning assigned to it in Clause 2 of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1992 ).

4.       The Principal Scheme is amended in Clause 1 (1) -

(a)      by deleting the definition of “Parliamentary Allowance”,

(b)      by inserting the following:

“‘Parliamentary Allowance’ has the same meaning, subject to the same exceptions, as that given to ‘salary’;

‘salary’ means -

(a)      in the case of a member of Dáil Éireann, a salary referred to in section 3 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1938 ( No. 34 of 1938 ),

(b)      in the case of a member of Seanad Éireann, a salary referred to in section 3 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1938 ,

except in the following cases:

(i)       where person who is a member of Dáil Éireann holds an office referred to in Part II of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act, 1938 , it means the annual salary payable to a member of Dáil Éireann who does not hold such an office and who has the same number of years service as a member of the Oireachtas as the member who holds the office,

(ii)      where a person who is a member of Seanad Éireann holds an office referred to in Part II of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act, 1938 , it means the annual salary payable to a member of Seanad Éireann who does not hold such an office and who has the same number of years service as a member of the Oireachtas as the member who holds the office,

(iii)      where a person ceased to be a member of the Oireachtas before 25 September 2000, it means the salary which is payable on or after that date to a serving member who has the same number of years cumulative service as a member of the Oireachtas, as the former member had at the date he or she ceased to be a member,

(iv)      where a person's entitlement or where entitlement in respect of a person under this scheme is based partly on salary as a member of Dáil Éireann and partly on salary as a member of Seanad Éireann -

(I) as regards any element of salary as a member of Dáil Éireann which is related to length of service, it means the salary payable to a member of Dáil Éireann who has the same length of service as a member of the Oireachtas as the person had at the date he or she ceased to be a member of Dáil Éireann, and

(II) as regards any element of salary as a member of Seanad Éireann which is related to length of service, it means the salary payable to a member of Seanad Éireann who has the same length of service as a member of the Oireachtas as the person had at the date he or she ceased to be a member of Seanad Éireann.”;

(c)      by substituting “22 years” for “21 years” in the definition of “appropriate age”.

5.       The new Scheme is amended -

(a)      in Clause 1 (1), by adding the following paragraph to the definition of “reckonable service as a member of Dáil Éireann”:

“(f)     six-tenths of a person's reckonable pensionable service as a member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly, or either of those bodies, in accordance with the provisions of Northern Ireland enactments entitled the ‘Ministerial Salaries and Members Pensions Act (Northern Ireland), 1965’ and the ‘Assembly Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order, 1976’, provided that any transfer value payment in respect of such service, calculated in accordance with the Northern Ireland regulations entitled the ‘Occupational Pension Schemes (Transfer Values) Regulations (Northern Ireland), 1996’ or any amendment of those Regulations, is paid to the Trustees.”;

(b)      in Clause 5D, by renumbering the existing provision as subclause (1), and by adding the following as subclause (2):

“(2) A married person who is a member may give notice in writing to the Trustees as to whether, in the event of his or her death as a member, he or she wishes the gratuity referred to in subclause (1) of this Clause to be paid to his or her surviving spouse (if any) or to his or her personal representative and the Trustees shall take such notice, or the most recent such notice received by them before the member's death in the event of more than one notice having been received from the member concerned, into consideration in the exercise of their discretion concerning to whom the gratuity is to be paid.”;

(c)      by substituting the following for Clause 5I:

“5I.   (1)      Subject to subclauses (2) and (3) of this Clause, where a person who is, or was, paid a pension and gratuity under this Scheme later becomes a member of either house of the Oireachtas, any period of service in respect of which the gratuity was paid shall not be taken into account in calculating the amount of a gratuity under this scheme paid subsequently to the person.

(2)      Where a person ceases to be a member of Dáil Éireann when Dáil Éireann is dissolved and becomes entitled to receive a salary as a member of Seanad Éireann as from the day on which Seanad Éireann first meets after the dissolution, and, on ceasing to be a member of Dáil Éireann, is paid a gratuity under this scheme, he or she may, within a period of 30 days commencing on his or her becoming a member of Seanad Éireann, repay to the Trustees the gratuity and, if such repayment is made, the period in respect of which the gratuity was paid shall be reckonable for the purposes of this scheme.

(3)      If a person referred to in subclause (1) of this Clause has been paid a gratuity under the old Scheme, the period of service in respect of which the early gratuity was paid may be taken into account in calculating a gratuity to be paid under this Scheme to the person, but the later gratuity shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the lesser of -

(a)      the amount of the early gratuity increased by compound interest at the rate of 6 per cent per year in respect of the period between the date of payment of the early gratuity and the date of payment of the later gratuity, or

(b)      the amount arrived at by the following formula:

where -

AR is the amount of the reduction,

A is the amount of the early gratuity which was calculated by reference to service as a member of Dáil Éireann,

B is the salary of a member of Dáil Éireann by reference to which the later gratuity is calculated,

C is the salary of a member of Dáil Éireann by reference to which the early gratuity was calculated,

D is the amount of the early gratuity which was calculated by reference to service as a member of Seanad Éireann,

E is the salary of a member of Seanad Éireann by reference to which the later gratuity is calculated, and

F is the salary of a member of Seanad Éireann by reference to which the early gratuity was calculated.

(4)     In this Clause -

‘early gratuity’ means a gratuity payable under the old Scheme;

‘later gratuity’ means a gratuity payable under the new Scheme.”.

6.       The old Scheme is amended by adding the following Clause after Clause 5E:

“5F.      (1)      A pension payable to a former member under Clause 5A(1) of this Scheme shall, if the former member concerned has reached 50 years of age, be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

where -

PP is the pension payable

A is the annual amount of the salary payable to a member of Dáil Éireann,

B is -

(a)      the total number of years, if any, of the former member's service as a member of the Oireachtas referred to in Clause 5(1)(i) of this Scheme, or

(b)      20,

whichever is the smaller number,

C is the annual amount of the salary payable to a member of Seanad Éireann,

and

D is -

(a)      if the number of years for “B” is less than 20,

(i)       the total number of years, if any, of the former member's service as a member of the Oireachtas referred to in Clause 5(1)(ii) of this Scheme, or

(ii)      20 less B,

whichever is the smaller number,

(b)      if the number of years for “B” is 20, “nil”.

(2)      A pension payable under Clause 5(10) of this Scheme to the surviving spouse of a former member to whom a pension was payable under subclause (1) of this Clause is to be calculated by reference to the pension payable to the former member in accordance with that subclause.

(3)      A pension payable under Clause 5 (10) of this Scheme to the surviving spouse of a former member who was paid a pension under Clause 5A (1) of this Scheme and who -

(a)      died before 1 July 2001, or

(b)      dies on or after 1 July 2001, before reaching 50 years of age,

is to be calculated by reference to the pension that would have been payable to the former member if the pension had been calculated in accordance with the formula set out in subclause (1).

(4)      A pension payable under Clause 5C (1)(b) of this Scheme to the surviving spouse of a former member is to be calculated by reference to the pension that would have been payable to the former member if, on the date of the member's death -

(a)      the member had been in receipt of a pension calculated in accordance with the formula set out in subclause (1), and

(b)      for the purposes of that calculation, the member's service as a member of the Oireachtas had included the period of service referred to in Clause 5C (1)(b)(i) of this Scheme.”.

7.      If Clause 5F of the old Scheme, added by Clause 6 of this Scheme, applies to a pension payable to or in respect of a person referred to in Clause 8 (1) of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1992 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1992 ), the person's reckonable service that is used in the calculation of a pension payable under the new Scheme to or in respect of the person shall not exceed the number of days determined by the following formula:

where -

A is -

(a)      the number of days calculated by multiplying by 365 the number of years of the person's reckonable service prior to the operative date as determined in accordance with Clause 5(2) of the old Scheme, or

(b)      7,300,

whichever is the smaller number.

Explanatory Note.

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Scheme provides for (i) the reckoning for superannuation purposes of the salary element related to length of service in the Oireachtas where payment of such amount is suspended while the member is the holder of an office; (ii) the application of the benefit of ‘long service’ salary payments to existing pensions; (iii) an increase in the maximum age for payment of a child's pension from 21 to 22 years; (iv) reckoning of a proportion of pensionable service as a member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons or the Northern Ireland Assembly as pensionable service as a member of Dáil Éireann on payment of a transfer value; (v) the submission of a “wishes letter” by a member in regard to the payment of death gratuity; (vi) recalculation of certain pensions payable under the old Scheme with effect from 1 July 2001 on the basis of 1/40th per year of service instead of 3/160th, subject to certain conditions, and (vii) a revised basis for repayment of a superannuation gratuity received under the old Scheme in order that the service involved may reckon under the new Scheme.