S.I. No. 54/1995 - Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995.

S.I. No. 54 of 1995.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SUPERANNUATION) (GRATUITIES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1995.

The Minister for the Environment, in exercise of the power conferred on him by sections 4 and 5 of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1980 (No. 8 of 1980), with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby makes the following regulations:

1 Short Title.

1. ( a ) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995.

( b ) These Regulations and the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) Regulations, 1984 ( S.I. No. 346 of 1984 ) shall be construed as one and may be cited together as the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) Regulations, 1984 and 1995.

2 Commencement.

2. These Regulations shall be deemed to have come into force on the 6th day of September, 1993.

3 Interpretation.

3. In these Regulations—

"the Principal Regulations" means the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) Regulations, 1984 ( S.I. No. 346 of 1984 ).

4 Amendment of article 3 of the Principal Regulations.

4. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution for article 3 of the following article:

"3 (1) Subject to article 4, a qualified person shall be entitled to reckon as qualified employment any of the following:

(a ) (i) as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority before the 6th day of September, 1993, service, as an officer or as an employee, with one or more than one local authority on any day on which such person worked in a wholetime or part-timer capacity, not being service which is reckonable by such person for the purposes of the Act of 1945 or the Act of 1956 or the Revision Scheme of 1984 nor, being service which as a result of the exercise or non-exercise of an option by such person, or on such person's behalf, at any time, under the superannuation provisions applicable to such person at that time, is not so reckonable,

(ii) as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority on or after the 6th day of September, 1993, service, as an officer or as an employee, with one or more than one local authority in any week on which such person worked in a wholetime or part-time capacity, not being service which is reckonable by such person for the purposes of the Act of 1945 or the Act of 1956 or the Revision Scheme of 1984 nor, being service which as a result of the exercise or non-exercise of an option by such person, or on such person's behalf, at any time, under the superannuation provisions applicable to such person at that time, is not so reckonable;

(b ) (i) as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority before the 6th day of September, 1993, service, at the discretion of the local authority granting the gratuity, on any day on which such person worked in a non-pensionable wholetime or part-time capacity with any of the bodies, other than the local authorities, referred to in sections 11 and 34 of the Act of 1956, which was subsequently followed at any time by the service referred to in paragraph (a),

(ii) as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority on or after the 6th day of September, 1993, service, at the discretion of the local authority granting the gratuity, in any week on which such person worked in a non-pensionable wholetime or part-time capacity with any of the bodies, other than the local authorities, referred to in sections 11 and 34 of the Act of 1956, which was subsequently followed at any time by the service referred to in paragraph (a).

(2) ( a ) For the purpose of sub-article (1), a person shall be deemed to have given service on any day or in any week, as appropriate, for which such person was given paid leave in addition to the days or weeks such person actually worked; as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority before the 6th day of September, 1993, actual days worked and days for which such person was given paid leave shall be reckoned and, as respects a qualified person who ceases to hold office or employment with a local authority on or after the 6th day of September, 1993, five days credit or, in respect of any period up to the date on which a five-day week came into operation generally for the category of employee in relation to the local authority or body under which such person held the qualified employment, six days credit shall be allowed in any week in which such person worked or was given paid leave for 10 hours or more; the aggregate of those days shall be expressed in terms of years by dividing such aggregate—

(i) by 300, in respect of any period up to the date on which a five-day week came into operation generally for the category of employee in relation to the local authority or body under which such person held the qualified employment, and

(ii) by 250, in respect of any subsequent period,

provided that in determining the aggregate number of days worked not more than 300 days or 250 days, as appropriate, are taken into account in any year.

( b ) Fractions of years of qualified employment shall be represented as follows where A is the number of days determined under paragraph (a):

(i) in relation to a period of qualified employment referred to in subparagraph (a) (i) —

and

(ii) in any other case —

( c ) For the purposes of these Regulations, where the service of a qualified person whose qualified employment consists of or includes part-time service given on an hourly basis, the average number of hours of part-time service per week shall be determined by the formula

where

A is the total number of hours of part-time service (including paid leave) less the hours in any week in which such service (including paid leave) is less than ten hours, and

B is the total number or reckonable weeks of such service.".

5 Amendment of article 5 of the Principal Regulations.

5. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the deletion of the words ", subject to the sanction of the Minister," from sub-article (1) of article 5.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for the Environment, this 1st day of March, 1995.

BRENDAN HOWLIN,

Minister for the Environment.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance, this 1st day of March, 1995.

RUAIRÍ QUINN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations amend the Local Government (Superannuation) (Gratuities) Regulations, 1984 to remove an anomaly in the system of determining service for the purposes of calculating gratuities for non-pensionable persons and to extend the measures removing the need for Ministerial sanction to the payment of gratuities to bodies other than local authorities (i.e. health boards and vocational educational committees) to which the Local Government Superannuation Code applies.