Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017

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PART 5

Regulation of Fees and Other Payments

Regulation of fees and other payments

42. (1) A Minister of the Government may, with the consent of the Minister, by regulation, set or vary, whether by formula or otherwise, the amount or the rate of payment to be made to persons or classes of persons (in this section referred to as “service providers”), in respect of a service that the service providers render—

(a) to or on behalf of that Minister of the Government or a public service body under the aegis of that Minister, and

(b) under or in accordance with any contract, arrangement, understanding, circular, instrument or other document or other enactment.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, any service rendered to the State that is not rendered to or on behalf of a Minister of the Government or a public service body under the aegis of such a Minister is to be taken to be rendered to the Minister.

(3) The Minister may exercise the powers conferred by subsection (1) in relation to the service providers rendering the services referred to in subsection (2).

(4) Where the Minister of the Government by whom regulations are to be made under subsection (1) is the Minister, the reference in subsection (1) to obtaining the consent of the Minister is to be disregarded.

(5) Subsection (1) shall apply to the services rendered from the date of the regulation, notwithstanding that the service provider concerned may have commenced the rendering of the service prior to the date of the regulation.

(6) A regulation made under subsection (1) shall not apply to a contract unless the contract provides that the amount or rate of payment under the contract may be set or varied by the Minister of the Government concerned or by means of a regulation.

(7) A regulation made under subsection (1) may fix different amounts or rates for different services, and as and from the date of the regulation, there shall be no entitlement to payment in excess of the amounts and rates so specified, although nothing in this section shall prevent service providers from providing a service for a lesser amount or at a lower rate.

(8) A regulation made under subsection (1) may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister of the Government concerned to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(9) Prior to making a regulation under subsection (1), the Minister of the Government concerned, or, at that Minister’s direction, the public service body concerned, shall engage in such consultations as that Minister considers appropriate.

(10) A regulation made under subsection (1) shall fix amounts or rates that the Minister of the Government concerned considers to be fair and reasonable, having regard to the matters which that Minister considers appropriate, including any or all of the following:

(a) the terms of any existing contractual arrangements or understandings with the service provider concerned;

(b) the terms of any circular, instrument, or document which apply to the service providers concerned;

(c) any submissions made and views expressed during the consultations under subsection (9);

(d) the nature of the services rendered by different classes of service providers and the general nature of expenses and commitments of the service providers providing those services;

(e) the obligation on the part of the State to have a prudent fiscal policy under the Stability and Growth Pact and the Fiscal Compact.

(11) The powers conferred on or exercised by a Minister of the Government under this section shall not affect any existing right to negotiate or amend rates or contracts generally which that Minister or the public service body concerned enjoys apart from this section, and those rights may be exercised in conjunction with, in addition to or instead of the powers conferred by this section.

(12) Consultations under subsection (9) shall be completed no later than 30 days after the Minister of the Government concerned gives notice of the commencement of the consultations.

(13) A Minister of the Government may define the manner in which consultations under subsection (9) are to be conducted and conduct them in such manner, and with such representatives of service providers or otherwise, as he or she considers appropriate, and nothing in the Competition Act 2002 shall prevent participation by that Minister or any such representative in such consultations, or the communication and discussion of the outcome of such consultations by the representatives with the service providers they represent.

(14) A Minister of the Government may from time to time and shall, before 30 June in 2020 and every third year after 2020, carry out a review of the operation, effectiveness and impact of the amounts and rates fixed by regulation made by that Minister under this section and consider the appropriateness of those amounts and rates, having regard to any change of circumstances and in particular any alteration of any of the matters mentioned in subsection (10).

(15) In this section, payment in respect of a service rendered by a service provider includes payment in respect of goods provided by that service provider as part of the service.