Courts (Supplemental Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 1999

Provisions relating to pensions in specified cases.

1.—(1) Notwithstanding any provision contained in—

(a) the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts, 1961 to 1997, or, in so far as it amends or extends those Acts, the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998 , or

(b) the Court Officers Acts, 1926 to 1998,

but subject to the provisions referred to in section 2 of this Act, the payment of pensions in respect of each of the persons specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (2) of this section (in this section referred to as “the specified persons”) shall be governed solely by the provisions in this section.

(2) (a) Commencing on the 18th day of April, 1999, a person who was appointed as an ordinary judge of the Supreme Court on the 26th day of March, 1990, and who vacated his office on the 17th day of April, 1999, shall be entitled, for the duration of his life, to a pension which, when duly paid over a full year and before lawful deductions are made, would equate to £40,000.

(b) Commencing on the 21st day of April, 1999, a person who was appointed as an ordinary judge of the High Court on the 30th day of November, 1998, and who vacated his office on the 20th day of April, 1999, shall be entitled, for the duration of his life, to a pension which, when duly paid over a full year and before lawful deductions are made, would equate to £30,000.

(c) Commencing on the 21st day of April, 1999, a person who was appointed as a county registrar on the 24th day of June, 1991, and who vacated his office on the 20th day of April, 1999, shall be entitled, for the duration of his life, to a pension which, when duly paid over a full year and before lawful deductions are made, would equate to £15,000.

(3) Where the salary of an ordinary judge of the Supreme Court, an ordinary judge of the High Court or an equivalent county registrar is increased, the pensions specified in subsection (2) of this section or as last adjusted by virtue of this subsection shall fall to be adjusted, with effect from the same date, by a percentage equal to the percentage increase in salary granted.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, sections 2(2) and 4(2) (as amended by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998 ) of the Courts of Justice and Court Officers (Superannuation) Act, 1961 , shall not apply to the specified persons, as appropriate.

(5) The regulations to be made under section 4 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 1991 (which relates to the provision of spouses' and children's pensions), shall apply to the spouses and children of the specified persons as they shall apply to the spouses and children of an ordinary judge of the Supreme Court, an ordinary judge of the High Court or an equivalent county registrar, as the case may be, except that the pensions specified in subsection (2) of this section (as may from time to time be adjusted by virtue of subsection (3) of this section) shall provide the basis for calculating the pension that is to be paid to the spouses or children of the specified persons.

(6) Pending the making of the regulations referred to in subsection (5) of this section, any administrative arrangement for the payment of pensions to spouses and children of the judiciary or court officers to which the specified persons are party shall continue to have effect, subject to the qualification set out in that subsection.

(7) In this section “equivalent county registrar” means the office of county registrar which is equivalent to the office vacated under subsection (2)(c) of this section.