Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1996

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Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act.

4.—Section 5 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(4) (a) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, make regulations specifying guidelines for the purposes of section 12 and the reference in subsection (1) of the said section 12 to any relevant guidelines for the time being in force under section 10 (1) (c) shall be construed as a reference to any relevant guidelines specified as aforesaid and for the time being in force.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), guidelines specified by regulations under that paragraph may—

(i) make provision in relation to the manner in which a contingent benefit, a designated benefit, a residual benefit or a transfer amount payable under a scheme, the actuarial value referred to in subsection (10) of section 12 or the value and the amounts referred to in subsection (25) of section 12 should be calculated and, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide that, in making such a calculation, regard should be had to one or more of the following:

(I) whether the scheme concerned is a defined contribution scheme or not,

(II) the amount of retirement benefit payable (or which, but for the making of the relevant order for the decree of judicial separation, would have been payable) under the scheme concerned to or in respect of the member spouse concerned,

(III) the period of reckonable service of the member spouse for the purposes of such retirement benefit,

(IV) the period concerned and the percentage concerned specified in the order concerned under subsection (2) of section 12 pursuant to paragraphs (i) and (ii) respectively, of that subsection,

(V) the value, the actuarial value or the accumulated value, as may be appropriate, of the whole or the appropriate part of such retirement benefit as aforesaid,

(VI) whether, at the date of the making of the relevant order under subsection (2) of section 12, the member spouse was an active member of the scheme concerned or was being paid retirement benefit, or was entitled to any other benefit payment of which is deferred, under the scheme concerned,

(VII) the amount of contingent benefit payable (or which, but for the making of the relevant order for the decree of judicial separation, would have been payable) under the scheme concerned on the death of the member spouse concerned,

(VIII) the percentage concerned specified in the order concerned under subsection (3) of section 12,

(ii) specify the manner in which a transfer amount should be applied under section 12,

(iii) specify the manner and the circumstances in which a contingent benefit, a designated benefit, a residual benefit or a transfer amount should be paid or applied pursuant to section 12 (including the period, and the manner of its ascertainment, during which such a payment should be made) and, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, where—

(I) the member spouse concerned retires upon or before or after attaining normal pensionable age,

(II) the member spouse dies before payment of the designated benefit has commenced,

(III) the member spouse dies after payment of the designated benefit has commenced,

(IV) the member spouse ceases to be an active member of the scheme concerned,

(V) the person in whose favour the relevant order under subsection (2) of section 12 is made dies before payment of the designated benefit has commenced,

(VI) the person in whose favour the order aforesaid is made dies after payment of the designated benefit has commenced,

(VII) the person in whose favour the said order is made ceases to be a dependent member of the family as defined in section 2 of the Family Law Act, 1995 ,

(VIII) in the circumstances specified in subsection (5) of section 12, a spouse makes an application under that subsection,

(IX) the trustees of the scheme concerned apply the transfer amount concerned under or in accordance with subsection (6) or (8) of section 12,

and

(iv) make such other provision as may be necessary or expedient for the purposes of section 12 and for enabling it to have full effect.

(c) In making regulations under paragraph (a), regard shall be had to any relevant principles, purposes or policies of this Act, the Income Tax Acts, the Family Law Act, 1995 , any relevant current practices of the Revenue Commissioners in approving schemes, any relevant guidelines, guidance notes or codes of practice of the Board and any relevant guidelines of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland for the time being in force and the desirability of promoting equity and consistency in the treatment of individual cases, minimising any costs incurred under section 12 and conforming with good pensions practice.

(d) In this subsection—

‘accumulated value’ means—

(i) the realisable value of the units, shares or securities at a particular date, or averaged over a particular period before that date in which, pursuant to the rules of the scheme, the contributions for retirement benefit paid by or in respect of a member spouse under the scheme are invested, or

(ii) the realisable value of the contributions for retirement benefit paid by or in respect of a member spouse under a defined contribution scheme, together with the notional rate of interest or other investment return prescribed under the rules of the scheme, or

(iii) the amount of the proceeds of any insurance policies in which, pursuant to the rules of the scheme, the contributions for retirement benefit paid by or in respect of a member spouse under the scheme are invested,

less, in each case, the amount of any of the expenses of the scheme that, pursuant to the rules thereof, fall to be discharged out of the said realisable value or proceeds;

‘active member’, ‘actuarial value’, ‘contingent benefit’, ‘defined contribution scheme’, ‘designated benefit’, ‘retirement benefit’, ‘scheme’ and ‘transfer amount’ have the meanings assigned to them by section 12;

‘residual benefit’ means the amount of retirement benefit remaining in respect of the member spouse concerned after deduction therefrom of the relevant designated benefit or the amount of contingent benefit in respect of the member spouse concerned remaining after deduction therefrom of the amount of contingent benefit payable pursuant to an order under subsection (3) of section 12 or the amount of payment made under subsection (7) of section 12;

‘section 12’ means section 12 of the Family Law Act, 1995 .”.