Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995

Superannuation.

23.—(1) The Board may, with the approval of the Minister given with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of members of the staff of the Board other than officers of the Board or solicitors of the Board in respect of whom an order under subsection (5) (a) of section 11 is, for the time being, in force.

(2) A scheme under subsection (1) 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 Board may, with the approval of the Minister given with 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) 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.

(5) No superannuation or other benefit shall be granted by the Board on the resignation, retirement or death of a member of the staff of the Board otherwise than in accordance with a scheme or schemes under this section.

(6) A scheme under this section 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.

(7) (a) A scheme or schemes under subsection (1) shall, as respects a person transferred by section 21 to a position on the staff of the Board, provide for the granting to or in respect of him or her of superannuation benefits upon and subject to terms and conditions that are not less favourable to him or to her than the terms and conditions applied to him or her immediately before the day on which he or she was so transferred in relation to the grant of such benefits.

(b) Where, during the period between the establishment day and the coming into operation of a scheme under this section, superannuation benefits would have been granted to or in respect of that person in respect of such employment had he or she continued to be employed during that period by the former Board, the superannuation benefits shall be granted and paid to or in respect of the person by the Board in accordance with the scheme of such enactments in relation to superannuation as applied to the person immediately before his or her transfer and, for that purpose, his or her pensionable service with the Board shall be aggregated with his or her previous pensionable service.

(8) In this section and in section 12 “superannuation benefits” means pensions, gratuities and other allowances payable on resignation, retirement or death.