Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Act 2014

Superannuation scheme relating to Science Foundation Ireland

13. (1) Subject to subsection (2), Science Foundation Ireland shall prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of—

(a) persons referred to in section 12 (1), and

(b) such other members of its staff (including the Director General) as it considers appropriate.

(2) A scheme prepared and submitted under subsection (1) shall not make provision for any person referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of that subsection where the Single Public Service Pension Scheme applies to that person by virtue of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Act of 2012.

(3) Every scheme prepared and submitted under subsection (1) shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to, or in respect of whom, superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme, and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(4) Science Foundation Ireland may at any time prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme amending or revoking a scheme previously submitted and approved under this section.

(5) A scheme or amending scheme submitted to the Minister under this section shall, if approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be carried out by Science Foundation Ireland in accordance with its terms.

(6)(a) If any dispute arises to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit pursuant to a scheme under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to such person and determined in such manner as may be specified in the scheme.

(b) A scheme under this section shall make provision for an appeal from a determination of a person referred to in paragraph (a) to such other person as may be specified in the scheme.

(7) A superannuation benefit shall not be granted by Science Foundation Ireland to or in respect of any of its staff (including the Director General) who are members of a scheme under this section and no other arrangement shall be entered into for the provision of any superannuation benefit to such persons on their ceasing to hold office, other than in accordance with such scheme or schemes submitted and approved under this section or an arrangement approved by the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

(8) Subject to subsection (11), a scheme under subsection (1) shall, as respects a person—

(a) referred to in section 12 (1), and

(b) to whom the Single Public Service Pension Scheme does not apply by virtue of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Act of 2012,

provide for the granting to, or in respect of, him or her of superannuation benefits upon and subject to such terms and conditions as are not less favourable to him or her than the terms and conditions in relation to the grant of such benefits under the superannuation scheme or arrangement that immediately before the coming into operation of this section apply to, or in respect of, that person.

(9) Any period of service by a person as a member of the staff of Forfás which was a period of reckonable service for the purposes of a scheme or arrangement for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of members of the staff of Forfás shall be regarded as a period of reckonable service for the purposes of any scheme under subsection (1).

(10) Subject to subsection (11), where, in the period beginning on the coming into operation of this section and ending immediately before the commencement of a scheme under this section, a superannuation benefit falls due for payment to, or in respect, of a person referred to in section 12 (1) to whom the Single Public Service Pension Scheme does not apply by virtue of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Act of 2012, the benefit shall be calculated and paid by Science Foundation Ireland in accordance with the provisions of a scheme or arrangement in relation to superannuation that immediately before the coming into operation of this section apply to, or in respect of, that person and, for that purpose, his or her pensionable service with Science Foundation Ireland shall be aggregated with his or her previous pensionable service and the said benefit shall be paid by Science Foundation Ireland.

(11) Subsection (8) and subsection (10) shall not apply in relation to a provision of a scheme or arrangement in relation to superannuation in respect of which the consent or approval of the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform or any other Minister of the Government was required by or under any enactment but not obtained.

(12) The Minister shall cause every scheme submitted and approved under this section to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is approved, and if either such House within the next 21 days on which the House sits after the scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.

(13) In this section “Director General” means the chief officer of Science Foundation Ireland appointed under section 13 of the Act of 2003.

(14) Section 21 of the Act of 2003 is repealed.