Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898

Part VIII.

Transitory Provisions.

[Ss. 111–114 (First Elections and Councils) rep. 8 Edw. 7. c. 49 (S.L.R.).]

Existing Officers.

Provision for interests of existing officers.

59 & 60 Vict c. 41.

7 & 8 Vict. c. 106.

51 & 52 Vict. c. 41.

115.(1) Where the business of any authority is transferred by or in pursuance of this Act to any county or district council, the existing officers of that authority employed in that business, and not in any other business of that authority, shall become the officers of the council of that county or district in like manner, subject to the provisions of this section, as if they had been appointed by that council; and for the purpose of this section any secretary of the grand jury, county treasurer, county surveyor, assistant surveyor, county solicitor, public analyst for a county, and a high constable and collector or collector of a barony, and a deputy collector duly appointed under section one hundred and forty-eight of the Grand Juries Act, 1836, and also any deputy of the county treasruer or secretary of the grand jury, appointed with the approval of the Lord Lieutenant, who has devoted his whole time to his office, shall be deemed to be an officer of the grand jury, and the existing officers of every lunatic asylum shall be deemed to be existing officers of the governors and directors of that asylum; and every existing officer of the grand jury of a county shall be transferred to the council of the county, and not to the council of any urban county district.

(2) The foregoing provisions of this section shall apply to a county of a city or town; but, if it does not become a county borough, any existing officer of the grand jury shall become the officer of the council of the county at large of which such county of a city or town will by virtue of this Act form part.

(3) For the purpose of the enactments relating to super-annuation, the service of any existing officer of any authority before the transfer to a county or district council shall be reckoned as service under that council, and the service of any existing secretary as assistant or deputy secretary in the same county shall be reckoned as part of his service.

(4) Any existing secretary of the grand jury, unless he dies or resigns, or is removed with the concurrence of the Local Government Board, shall become and continue the secretary of the county council up to the last day of March nineteen hundred, and may then, if he has given three months’ previous notice in writing to the county council of his intention to retire, retire from office, and shall thereupon be entitled to receive an allowance under this Act of the same amount as if his office were abolished.

(5) The county council may by notice given three months next before the said last day of March require such secretary to retire, and if they do so without the concurrence of the Local Government Board he shall be entitled to the same compensation under this Act as if his office were abolished.

(6) If at any time after the said last day of March such secretary retires voluntarily, he shall be entitled to receive from the county council a superannuation allowance on the scale provided by the Acts and rules relating to Her Majesty’s Civil Service, and the amount of such allowance in case of dispute shall be determined by the Treasury.

(7) If at any time before the said last day of March such secretary satisfies the Local Government Board that he is unable, through age or infirmity, to discharge the duties of his office under this Act, he may retire from office, and shall thereupon be entitled to receive an allowance under this Act of the same amount as if his office were abolished.

(8) The secretary of the grand jury of the county of Tipperary shall become the secretary of the council of each riding of such county, and the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply as if he were separately the secretary of each such council, and the proportion of the remuneration, allowance, or compensation, to be paid by each riding shall in default of agreement be determined by the Local Government Board.

(9) An existing officer of the grand jury of any county of a city or town, who by this Act becomes the officer of the council of the county at large of which such county of a city or town will form part, shall perform under the like officer of the council of that county at large the like duties as he has hitherto performed as respects the county of a city or county of a town, but in other respects the foregoing provisions of this section with respect to the like officer of a grand jury of a county at large shall apply to him.

(10) Every county council shall, within six weeks after their first meeting, submit to the Local Government Board a scheme[1] setting forth their arrangements for the collection of the poor rate, and the [2] officers they propose to employ for the purpose, and the names and descriptions of the existing officers transferred to the county council by this Act (whether high constables and collectors, or collectors of a barony, or deputy collectors, or poor rate collectors of the guardians, or deputy collectors of such poor rate collectors, where such deputy collectors devote their whole time to the work of rate collection) whom they propose to employ as officers under such scheme, and the scheme shall not authorise the employment of officers not transferred to or previously employed by the council if sufficient existing officers have expressed their willingness to serve.

(11) The scheme shall provide for the existing[2] officers employed under the scheme receiving remuneration substantially identical with that which they formerly received.

(12) An existing officer who can be employed under the scheme—

(a) if he holds a pensionable office, and has within the prescribed time notified his willingness to serve, shall, if he is not continued by the scheme as an officer of the county council, be entitled to receive from the county council the same compensation under this Act as if his office were abolished; and

(b) if he holds a pensionable office, and has not within the prescribed time expressed his willingness to serve, and is not continued by the scheme as an officer of the county council, shall be entitled to receive from the county council a gratuity; and

(c) if he does not hold a pensionable office, and either within the prescribed time expresses his unwillingness to serve, or is not continued by the scheme as an officer of the county council, shall be entitled to receive from the county council a gratuity.

(13) Every such gratuity shall be according to the scale in Part One of the Seventh Schedule to this Act: Provided that, until the expiration of not less than twelve months after receiving a gratuity under that schedule, an officer shall not be qualified to be appointed to any office under the county council, unless he refunds to the county council the gratuity. Of such gratuity, one-half shall be repaid to the county council out of the moneys standing to the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account by virtue of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Estate Duty Act, 1896, and the half of any gratuity so refunded shall be repaid by the council to that account.

(14) For the purpose of the foregoing enactments a person appointed collector under the County Dublin Grand Jury Act, 1844, shall be deemed to hold a pensionable office.

(15) The Local Government Board may approve any such scheme with or without modifications; and all officers employed in pursuance of the scheme shall be deemed to be poor rate collectors appointed by the county council within the meaning of this Act.

(16) If in the case of any officer the area in which his duties are required to be performed is, by reason of any alteration of any boundary by or in pursuance of or for the purposes of this Act, increased or diminished, the officer shall be bound to perform his duties in such altered area.

(17) If, by reason of a change made within six months after the passing of this Act in the boundaries of a union or dispensary district, the office of any existing dispensary doctor becomes in the opinion of the Local Government Board unnecessary, that office shall be deemed to be abolished within the meaning of the enactment applied by this Act; and any compensation payable to him shall be paid by the guardians of the unions which comprise his former district in such proportion as may be agreed upon, or in default of agreement be determined by the Local Government Board.

(18) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every existing officer transferred under this section shall hold his office by the same tenure and upon the same terms and conditions as heretofore, and while performing the same or analogous duties shall receive not less remuneration than heretofore; and if, by reason of any alteration of boundary or other thing done by or in pursuance of this Act, his duties are increased or diminished, the officer shall be bound to perform those duties, and shall receive such increase or diminution of remuneration in proportion to the increase or diminution of his duties as the Local Government Board may determine, subject nevertheless in case of diminution to such compensation as is provided by this Act; provided that any county or district council may, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, make a special agreement with any of such existing officers respecting the terms and conditions on which he may continue to hold his office, and the remuneration which he shall receive therefor.

(19) [1] Section one hundred and twenty of the Local Government Act, 1888, set out in Part Two of the Seventh Schedule to this Act (which relates to compensation to existing officers), shall apply in the case of existing officers affected by this Act, who are remunerated out of the cess or rate raised in any county or district, or in an urban district out of any borough or corporate fund, whether officers above in this section mentioned or not, and references in the said section one hundred and twenty to the county council shall include references to a district council; and if any officer transferred by this Act to a council who can be removed without the concurrence of the Local Government Board or the Lord Lieutenant (and is not a banking company) is within five years from the date of the transfer removed from his office for any cause other than misconduct or incapacity, his office shall be deemed to have been abolished within the meaning of the said section.

(20) Any difference as to the council to whom an officer is transferred by this Act shall, in the absence of agreement, be determined by the Local Government Board.

(21) All expenses incurred by any council in pursuance of this section shall be paid as expenses of the execution of this Act, and in the case of a county council may, if the county council, with the consent of the Local Government Board, so direct, be defrayed as district charges.

(22) The provision of a gratuity by a council to any existing officer under this Act shall be a purpose for which such council may borrow in accordance with the enactments relating to borowing by such council.

(23) Every pension, allowance, or other compensation, granted under this section shall be payable to or in trust for the officer to whom it is granted, and shall not be assignable for nor chargeable with his debts or other liabilities.

[1 As to validation of schemes for the collection of poor rate. See 2 Edw. 7. c. 38, s. 9.]

[2 Who are to be deemed to be poor rate collectors. See 2 Edw. 7. c. 38, s. 9.]

[1 Subs. (19) is amended as to the grant of gratuities and commutation of allowances by 63 & 64 Vict. c. 63, s. 6 and applied by 2 Edw. 7. c. 38, s. 12 (5). See those Acts.]