Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001

Amendment of section 13A of the 1938 Act — ministerial pensions and secretarial pensions.

12.—Section 13A of the 1938 Act (as amended by section 7 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992) is amended—

(a) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (5):

“(5) A pension under this section is payable to a person at the rate of 25 per cent of the person's appropriate salary, plus 5 per cent of that salary for each year of service exceeding 3, with a maximum of 7 such additional years. For the purposes of this subsection, a part of a year is to be reckoned on a proportionate basis.

(5A) For the purpose of calculating the ministerial pension of a person, the appropriate salary for the person is as follows:

(a) if the person held the office of Taoiseach — the annual salary payable to the Taoiseach;

(b) if the person held the office of Tánaiste for a period of not less than 3 years — the annual salary payable to the Tánaiste;

(c) if the person held the office of Tánaiste for a period of less than 3 years — the amount calculated in accordance with the following formula:

A  =

D × S1

+

(T-D) × S2

T

T

where—

A is the amount to be calculated,

D is the number of days during which the person served as Tánaiste,

T is the total number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person served in a ministerial office,

S1 is the annual salary payable to the Tánaiste, and

S2 is the annual salary payable to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, and

(d) if the person held any other ministerial office — the annual salary payable to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

(5B) For the purpose of calculating the secretarial pension of a person, the appropriate salary for the person is—

(a) if the person has held a ministerial office on or after 1 January, 1978, or has served for 3 years or more in one or more qualifying offices (other than a prescribed office) — the amount of annual salary payable to a Minister of State, or

(b) in the case of any other person—

(i) the amount of annual salary payable to the person in respect of the last qualifying office that the person held (other than a ministerial office), or

(ii) an amount calculated in accordance with subsection (5C),

whichever is the greater.

(5C) The calculation to be made for the purpose of subsection (5B)(b)(ii) is as follows:

Step 1: Multiply the number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person held each of the qualifying offices by the amount of salary that is currently payable to the holder of the office concerned;

Step 2: If the amount of salary that is currently payable for a qualifying office that the person formerly held is higher than that for another qualifying office that the person so held, reckon the time that the person served in the first of those offices before reckoning the time that the person served in the other of those offices;

Step 3: Add together the amounts derived in accordance with step 1 for the qualifying offices that the person formerly held;

Step 4: Divide the total of the amounts so derived by the total number of days (not exceeding 3,650) during which the person held qualifying offices.

(5D) The following offices are prescribed offices for the purposes of subsection (5B):

(a) Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Seanad Éireann;

(b) Leader of the House in Seanad Éireann.

(5E) In subsection (5), ‘service’ means—

(a) in relation to a person entitled to a ministerial pension, ministerial service, and

(b) in relation to a person entitled to a secretarial pension, secretarial service.”,

and

(b) by substituting the following paragraph for subsection (7)(b):

“(b) Subject to paragraph (c), a person who—

(i) is receiving a severance allowance under Part V of this Act, or

(ii) has not reached 50 years of age,

is not entitled to a pension under this section.”,

and

(c) by repealing subsections (7)(d) and (e), and

(d) in subsection (7)(f), by deleting “or a discounted pension”, and

(e) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (8):

“(9) If a person who has reached 50 years of age was not entitled to a pension under this section (as in force before the commencement of section 12 of the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001) only because the person had not then reached 55 years of age, the person becomes so entitled on and from the date of that commencement. A reference in this subsection to a pension does not include a discounted pension.

(10) A person who was being paid a discounted pension under this section (as in force before the commencement of section 12 of the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001) is entitled to continue to receive the pension after that commencement on the same terms and conditions as applied to it immediately before that commencement.”.