Family Support Agency Act, 2001

Superannuation.

17.—(1) As soon as may be after its establishment, the Agency shall prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of such of its staff (including the chief executive) as the Agency shall think fit.

(2) A scheme under this section shall fix the time and conditions of retirement of all persons to or in respect of whom superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme or schemes and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(3) The Agency may, with the approval of the Minister and the consent of the Minister for Finance, make a scheme amending or revoking a scheme under this section including a scheme under this subsection.

(4) Any scheme submitted by the Agency under this section shall, if approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by the Agency in accordance with its terms.

(5) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit payable in pursuance of a scheme or schemes under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister who shall refer it to the Minister for Finance, whose decision shall be final.

(6) No superannuation benefit shall be granted by the Agency nor shall any other arrangements be entered into by the Agency for the provision of such a benefit to or in respect of a member of the staff of the Agency or the chief executive of the Agency otherwise than in accordance with a scheme under this section or with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

(7) Any scheme under this section, including an amendment of a scheme, shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the scheme is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(8) A scheme or schemes under subsection (1) in so far as it concerns a person who immediately before his or her transfer under section 16 to a position on the staff of the Agency was an established or unestablished civil servant, shall grant superannuation benefits upon and subject to terms and conditions that are not less favourable than the terms and conditions that applied to that person immediately before their transfer to the Agency in relation to the grant of such benefits.

(9) In applying subsection (8), superannuation benefits that would have been granted to or in respect of a person during the period between his or her transfer under section 16 to a position on the staff of the Agency and the coming into operation of a scheme under this section had he or she continued to be employed as an established or unestablished civil servant, shall be granted and paid to or in respect of that person by the Agency in accordance with the scheme and of such enactments in relation to superannuation as applied to the person immediately before his or her transfer to a position on the staff of the Agency and, for that purpose, his or her pensionable service with the Agency shall be aggregated with his or her previous pensionable service.