Oireachtas (Allowances To Members) Act, 1938

Commencement of allowance and travelling facilities.

5.—(1) The allowance and travelling facilities to be paid and granted under this Act to a member of the Oireachtas who is a member on the date of the passing of this Act shall commence—

(a) in case such member is on that date entitled, by compliance with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member to sit in that House as a member thereof, as on and from that date; and

(b) in any other case, as on and from the date on which such member first becomes, by compliance with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member, entitled under those Standing Orders to sit in that House as a member thereof.

(2) The allowance and travelling facilities to be paid and granted under this Act to a member of the Oireachtas who becomes a member of the Oireachtas after the date of the passing of this Act shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, commence—

(a) in case such member, within thirty days after the date of his then last election or (if he is a nominated member of Seanad Eireann) his then last nomination, becomes entitled, by compliance with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member, to sit in that House as a member thereof, as on and from that date, and

(b) in any other case, as on and from the day on which such member first becomes, by compliance with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member, entitled under the Standing Orders of that House, to sit in that House as a member thereof.

(3) If—

(a) a member of the Oireachtas who becomes such member after the date of the passing of this Act is prevented by illness or by some other involuntary and innocent cause from so complying with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member as to become entitled under those Standing Orders to sit as a member of the said House within thirty days after the date of his then last election or nomination thereto, and

(b) such member so complies with the said Standing Orders as to be entitled thereunder to sit as a member of the said House on the first day on which such House sits after such illness or other cause has ceased,

then and in that case such member shall be deemed for the purposes of sub-section (2) of this section to have so complied with the said Standing Orders as to have been entitled thereunder to sit in the said House as a member within thirty days after the date of his then last election or nomination thereto.

(4) A member of the Oireachtas shall be entitled to travelling facilities under this Act in respect of travelling once to Dublin for the purpose of so complying with the Standing Orders of the House of which he is a member as to become entitled under the said Standing Orders to sit as a member of such House, and shall be entitled to such travelling facilities in all respects as if such travelling had taken place after the commencement of his right to travelling facilities under this Act.

(5) Whenever Dáil Eireann is dissolved any person who was a member of Dáil Eireann immediately before such dissolution and was in Dublin on the date of such dissolution shall, within three days after such dissolution, be entitled to travelling facilities under this Act in respect of travelling once between Dublin and any place in his former constituency or his normal place of residence for the time being in all respects as if such travelling had taken place while he was a member of Dáil Eireann.

(6) If any question or dispute shall arise as to whether, or the extent to which, a member of the Oireachtas is entitled to the benefit of any of the three immediately preceding sub-sections, such question or dispute shall be determined—

(a) in the case of a member of Dáil Eireann, by the Chairman of Dáil Eireann, and

(b) in the case of a member of Seanad Eireann, by the Chairman of Seanad Eireann,

and every such determination shall be final.