Health Contributions Act, 1971

Payment of contribution by employers in respect of certain employees.

4.—(1) In the period beginning on the commencement of this Act and ending on the date specified by order for the purposes of section 3 (2) of this Act, the employer of a person who is insured under the Act of 1952 and to whom this section applies shall pay the health contribution in respect of that person, in respect of any week of insurable employment for which he is liable to pay an employment contribution under that Act in respect of that person.

(2) In any case to which subsection (1) of this section applies, the rate of employment contribution payable under the Act of 1952 shall be increased by the amount of the health contribution under section 3 (1) (a) of this Act, and the health contribution shall be deemed to be an employment contribution within the meaning of and for the purposes of the Act of 1952.

(3) An employer who is liable to pay a health contribution under this section shall be entitled to recover the amount of any such contribution from the employee in respect of whom the contribution was paid (other than any such employee having, by virtue of section 45 of the Act of 1970, full eligibility for the services under Part IV of that Act), and any such recovery may be made by appropriate deductions from the employee's remuneration.

(4) This section applies to such insured persons or classes of insured persons, not being voluntary contributors within the meaning of the Act of 1952, as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Social Welfare, prescribes for the purpose of this section.

(5) In this section “employer” includes the person treated as the employer under regulations made under section 2 (4) of the Act of 1952.