No. 2/1961:

ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1961

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Definitions.

2 Increase of total expenditure for general purposes.

3 Removal of limit on borrowing powers.

4 Amendment of sections 2 and 3 of the Act of 1958.

5 Supervision by Minister for Lands of proceedings of the Board in relation to the fisheries and fishing rights vested in them.

6 Power of Minister for Lands to direct the Board to demise or let certain fisheries and fishing rights.

7 Extension of sections 16 and 17 of the Act of 1945.

8 Amendment of section 18 of the Act of 1945.

9 Amendment of section 5 of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1938.

10 Annual report, statistics, returns and accounts in relation to fisheries.

11 Amendment of section 2 of the Principal Act.

12 Amendment of section 7 of the Principal Act.

13 Increase of certain pensions in respect of service ended before 1st day of February, 1950.

14 Increase of certain pensions in respect of service ended on or after the 1st day of February, 1950, and before the 1st day of September, 1956.

15 Increase of certain other pensions.

16 Superannuation of whole-time members of the Board.

17 Particular matters to be provided for in schemes under section 16.

18 Power to provide in schemes under section 16 for surrender of part of pension for annuity to wife or dependant.

19 Expenses.

20 Short title, collective citation, construction and commencement.

SCHEDULE

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) ACTS, 1927 TO 1958, AND THE SHANNON FISHERIES ACTS, 1935 AND 1938, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE VESTING IN AND EXERCISE BY THE MINISTER FOR LANDS OF CERTAIN POWERS AND FUNCTIONS IN RELATION TO THE FISHERIES AND FISHING RIGHTS VESTED IN THE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BOARD.

[15th February, 1961.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act—

"the Act of 1935" means the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1935 ;

"the Act of 1945" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1945 ;

"the Act of 1954" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1954 ;

"the Act of 1958" means the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1958 ;

"the Board" means the Electricity Supply Board;

"the Principal Act" means the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 ;

"the Superannuation Act of 1942" means the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act, 1942 .

2.—The total expenditure of the Board for general purposes, that is to say, for capital purposes other than the electrification of rural areas, shall not exceed one hundred and twenty million pounds and, accordingly, subsection (1) of section 2 of the Act of 1954 shall be construed as if that sum were substituted for the sum mentioned therein.

3.—Subject only to the limitation on borrowing imposed by section 2 of the Act of 1954 and section 2 of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1955 , there shall be no limit to the total amount borrowed by the Board under section 4 of the Act of 1954 and, accordingly, subsection (4) of the said section 4 shall be repealed.

4.—Sections 2 and 3 of the Act of 1958 are hereby amended by the substitution of "thirty-two million" for "thirty million" in each of those sections.

5.—(1) The proceedings of the Board in relation to the fisheries and fishing rights vested in the Board shall, without prejudice to the performance or exercise by the Board of their duties, powers and functions under the Shannon Fisheries Acts, 1935 and 1938, and Part III of the Act of 1945, be subject to the general supervision of the Minister for Lands.

(2) "Minister for Lands" shall be substituted for "Minister" in paragraph (f) of subsection (2) of section 9 of the Act of 1935 and in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section 16 of the Act of 1945.

(3) Paragraph (b) of section 10 of the Act of 1935 and paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 17 of the Act of 1945 shall be amended by the insertion after "Minister" in each paragraph of "and the Minister for Lands".

6.—(1) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, the Minister for Lands may, whenever, in the interests of the preservation, management or conduct of the fisheries and fishing rights vested in the Board, he so think proper, direct the Board to demise by way of lease or let by way of licence to such person (being a person who has indicated to the Minister for Lands that he consents to the making to him of the demise or letting, as the case may be), for such term and on such terms and conditions as the Minister for Lands may direct any fishery or fishing right vested in the Board.

(2) The Board shall and are hereby empowered to carry out any direction given by the Minister for Lands under this section.

(3) This section shall not apply in respect of any fishery or fishing right in relation to salmon, eels or oysters.

(4) Neither paragraph (f) of subsection (2) nor subsection (3) of section 9 of the Act of 1935 shall apply in relation to the making of a demise or letting pursuant to a direction under this section or of an agreement for any such demise or letting.

7.—Every fishery or fishing right vested in the Board (other than the Shannon fisheries and a fishery or fishing right acquired by the Board under the Liffey Reservoir Act, 1936 , before the passing of the Act of 1945) shall be deemed, for the purposes of sections 16 and 17 of the Act of 1945, to have been acquired by the Board under Part III of that Act, and those sections shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

8.—Section 18 of the Act of 1945 shall be amended by the deletion of subsection (2) thereof and the insertion of the following subsections:

"(2) The compensation payable under this section to a person for loss of earnings (which word includes, in this and the two next following subsections, the profits aforesaid) derived from fishing in the waters of a river shall be as follows, that is to say, for every complete open fishing season not exceeding thirteen at the most before the interference aforesaid during which the person was engaged or employed or both engaged and employed as aforesaid in fishing in the waters of that river—

(a) in case he shall have suffered total loss of the earnings aforesaid, a sum equal to four times the average weekly earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of that river during the complete open fishing season next before the interference aforesaid,

(b) in case he shall have suffered partial loss of the earnings aforesaid, a sum which bears the same proportion to the sum which he would have received if he had suffered total loss of the earnings aforesaid as the partial loss aforesaid bears to the total earnings aforesaid, and

(c) in case, in any season after the making of a claim by the person for compensation for partial loss of the earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of that river (being, in case he has made more than one such claim, the latest such claim) he suffers loss of the earnings aforesaid which is greater by any amount than the loss to which the claim aforesaid related, a sum which bears the same proportion to the sum which he would have received if he had suffered total loss of the earnings aforesaid as the amount aforesaid bears to the total earnings aforesaid.

(2A) The payment to a person of compensation under this section for total loss of the earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of a river shall extinguish all claims of the person then existing or thereafter arising for compensation under this section for any loss of the earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of that river and the payment to a person of compensation under this section in respect of partial loss of the earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of a river shall extinguish all claims of the person then existing or thereafter arising for compensation under this section for such partial loss of the earnings derived by him from fishing in the waters of that river.

(2B) The total amount of compensation under this section paid to a person for partial loss of earnings derived from fishing in the waters of any one river shall not exceed the amount of compensation under this section to which the person would have been entitled if he had suffered total loss of earnings derived from fishing in the waters of that river."

9.—(1) Section 5 of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1938 , shall be amended by the insertion in subsection (1) thereof after "every fishing right" of "(including fisheries and fishing rights owned by the State or in which the State has an estate or interest)".

(2) This section shall have and be deemed to have had effect as on and from the appointed day within the meaning of Part II of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1938 .

10.—(1) As soon as may be after each financial year of the Board ending on or after the commencement of this Act, the Board shall make to the Minister for Lands a report in such form as the Minister for Lands may from time to time direct of their proceedings under the Shannon Fisheries Acts, 1935 and 1938, and Part III of the Act of 1945 (including their proceedings in the performance or exercise of the duties, powers and functions imposed on or vested in the Board by those enactments in relation to the fisheries and fishing rights vested in the Board) during that financial year.

(2) The Board shall furnish to the Minister for Lands at such times and in such form as the Minister for Lands may from time to time direct such statistics and returns in relation to their proceedings under the enactments referred to in subsection (1) of this section (including, their proceedings in the performance or exercise of the duties, powers and functions imposed on or vested in the Board by those enactments in relation to the fisheries and fishing rights vested in the Board) as the Minister for Lands may from time to time require.

(3) As soon as may be after each financial year of the Board ending on or after the commencement of this Act, the Board shall furnish to the Minister for Lands a copy of the account kept by them in that financial year pursuant to section 6 of the Act of 1958 and of such other accounts (if any) in relation to their proceedings under the Shannon Fisheries Acts, 1935 and 1938, and Part III of the Act of 1945 (including their proceedings in the performance or exercise of the duties, powers and functions imposed on or vested in the Board by those enactments in relation to the fisheries and fishing rights vested in the Board) as the Minister for Lands may direct.

11.—Section 2 of the Principal Act shall be amended by the substitution in subsection (7) of "from time to time" for "when appointing him".

12.—Section 7 of the Principal Act shall be amended by—

(a) the substitution of "give from time to time directions" for "make regulations" and of "such directions" for "such regulations" in subsection (3), and

(b) the substitution of "directions given" for "regulations made" and of "such directions" for "such regulations" in each place where it occurs in subsection (4).

13.—(1) A pension which was granted in respect of any service and which was determined as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned be increased with effect from and inclusive of the 1st day of August, 1959, by—

(a) 6 per cent., if the service ended before the 1st day of May, 1949,

(b) 5½ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of May, 1949, and before the 1st day of August, 1949,

(c) 5 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of August, 1949, and before the 1st day of November, 1949,

(d) 4½ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of November, 1949, and before the 1st day of February, 1950.

(2) A pension referred to in subsection (1) of this section, as increased under that subsection shall be increased with effect from and inclusive of the 1st day of August, 1960, by—

(a) 7½ per cent., if the service ended before the 1st day of May, 1949,

(b) 6½ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of May, 1949, and before the 1st day of August, 1949,

(c) 6¼ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of August, 1949, and before the 1st day of November, 1949,

(d) 5⁵/8 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of November, 1949, and before the 1st day of February, 1950.

(3) (a) In this and in the two next following sections "pension" means the full pension, less any part thereof which has been surrendered, payable to a person who is not in the service of the Board, under the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1958, or under a scheme made in pursuance of the Superannuation Act of 1942, or both.

(b) In this and in the two next following sections a reference, in relation to a pension, to a percentage, shall be construed as a reference to that percentage of the amount of the pension.

14.—(1) A pension which was granted in respect of any service which ended on or after the 1st day of February, 1950, which was determined as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned and which was increased under section 10 or section 11 of the Act of 1958, by the appropriate sum, within the meaning of that Act, shall be increased with effect from and inclusive of the 1st day of August, 1959, by—

(a) (i) 4 per cent., if the service ended before the 1st day of April, 1953,

(ii) 3 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of April, 1953, and before the 1st day of July, 1953,

(iii) 2 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of July, 1953, and before the 1st day of October, 1953,

(iv) 1 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of October, 1953, and before the 1st day of January, 1954,

or

(b) the amount which would make the pension equal to the pension which would be payable on retirement to the person concerned if he had been remunerated at the rate or scale of remuneration applicable to an employee of the Board of equivalent status and service on the 1st day of April, 1954,

whichever is the less.

(2) A pension which was granted in respect of any service which ended on or after the 1st, day of February, 1950, and which was determined as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned (including a pension referred to in subsection (1) of this section as increased under that subsection) shall be increased with effect from and inclusive of the 1st day of August, 1960, by—

(i) 5 per cent., if the service ended before the 1st day of December, 1955,

(ii) 3 ³/4 per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of December, 1955, and before the 1st day of March, 1956,

(iii) 2 ½ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of March, 1956, and before the 1st day of June, 1956,

(iv) 1 ¼ per cent., if the service ended on or after the 1st day of June, 1956, and before the 1st day of September, 1956.

15.—(1) This section applies to a pension which was granted before the 1st day of July, 1957, and which is determined otherwise than as a proportion of the remuneration of the person concerned.

(2) A pension to which this section applies may, if the Board think fit, be increased from and inclusive of the 1st day of August, 1959, by such amount as the Board think proper having regard to all the circumstances but subject to the limitation that the increase shall not exceed—

(a) 6 per cent., in the case of a pension in respect of service which ended before the 14th day of March, 1948, and

(b) 4 per cent., in the case of a pension in respect of service which ended on or after the 14th day of March, 1948, and before the 1st day of July, 1957.

(3) A pension to which this section applies, as increased under subsection (2) of this section, may, if the Board think fit, be increased in respect of any period commencing on or after the 1st day of August, 1960, by such amount as the Board think proper having regard to all the circumstances but subject to the limitation that the increase shall not exceed—

(a) 7 ½ per cent., in the case of a pension in respect of service which ended before the 14th day of March, 1948, and

(b) 5 per cent., in the case of a pension in respect of service which ended on or after the 14th day of March, 1948, and before the 1st day of July, 1957.

(4) An increase of pension under this section or under section 13 or section 14 of this Act shall be payable only during the life of the person to whom it was granted.

16.—(1) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may from time to time make a scheme (in this Act referred to as a superannuation scheme) for the provision of pensions or gratuities or pensions and gratuities for or in respect of whole-time members of the Board.

(2) (a) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by a subsequent superannuation scheme (in this Act referred to as an amending scheme) amend a superannuation scheme or previous amending scheme.

(b) An amending scheme may be expressed to operate retrospectively.

(c) Any person, who has been a whole-time member of the Board for a period of not less than twelve months ending on the date on which an amending scheme comes into operation, may by notice, given to the Minister within six months after the date on which the amending scheme comes into operation, elect not to have the amending scheme apply to or in respect of him, and if he does so elect, then the amending scheme shall not apply to or in respect of him.

(3) (a) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by a superannuation scheme revoke a previous superannuation scheme or an amending scheme.

( b ) Where a superannuation scheme (in this paragraph referred to as the new scheme) revokes a previous superannuation scheme or an amending scheme, any person, who has been a whole-time member of the Board for a period of not less than twelve months ending on the date on which the new scheme comes into operation, may, by notice, given to the Minister within six months after the date on which the new scheme comes into operation, elect not to have the new scheme apply to or in respect of him, and if he does so elect, then—

(i) the new scheme shall not apply to or in respect of him, and

(ii) the said superannuation scheme or amending scheme, as the case may be, shall, notwithstanding its revocation, continue to apply to or in respect of him.

(4) (a) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by order revoke a superannuation scheme or an amending scheme.

(b) Where a superannuation scheme or an amending scheme is revoked under this subsection, it shall, notwithstanding its revocation, continue to apply to or in respect of any person who has been a whole-time member of the Board for a period of not less than twelve months ending on the date of the revocation.

(5) A superannuation scheme shall be carried out by the Board in accordance with its terms.

(6) Every superannuation scheme, every amending scheme and every order under subsection (4) of this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and if either House, within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the scheme or order is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme or order, it shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(7) Neither a pension nor a gratuity shall be granted or paid under section 2 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 to or in respect of a whole-time member of the Board.

(8) In this section and in section 18 of this Act "whole-time member of the Board" means a member of the Board who is required by the terms of his appointment to devote the whole of his time to his duties as such member and whose whole-time membership of the Board commenced on or after the 1st day of June, 1959.

17.—(1) Without prejudice to the generality of the immediately preceding section, a superannuation scheme shall contain provisions giving effect to the matters set out in the Schedule to this Act.

(2) Every amending scheme shall be so framed as to ensure that provisions giving effect to the matters set out in the Schedule to this Act are contained in a superannuation scheme, the amending scheme or a previous amending scheme or partly in one and partly in another or others of those schemes.

18.—(1) A superannuation scheme or an amending scheme may make provision for the surrender, subject to the conditions and limitations specified therein, by a person ceasing to hold office as a whole-time member of the Board otherwise than on the ground of ill-health whose standard of health satisfies the requirements of the scheme of such part (not exceeding one-third) as may be specified in the scheme of any yearly allowance payable to him on foot of a pension under a superannuation scheme or an amending scheme in return for the grant by the Board of an annuity to which this section refers to the spouse or one dependant of that person specified by that person.

(2) The conditions and limitations referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall correspond, as nearly as may be, with the conditions and limitations which are provided for by or under the Superannuation Act, 1956 , and subject to which established civil servants, within the meaning of that Act, may surrender part of certain allowances in return for the grant of a pension under that Act to another person.

(3) In this section—

"annuity to which this section refers" means an annuity granted so as to be of such value as, on the day on which the person making the surrender ceases to hold office, is actuarially equivalent (in accordance with such tables as, on the day of such cesser, stand approved of by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of the Superannuation Act, 1956 ) to what is surrendered and which is payable—

(a) during the period (if any) for which the spouse or dependant survives the person, or

(b) in the case of an annuity to the spouse, if the person so elects when he makes the surrender, during the period of the joint lives of the person and the spouse subsequent to his cesser of office and the period (if any) for which the spouse survives the person,

and, in the case of an annuity to the spouse which is payable during the periods specified in paragraph (b) of this definition, the rate of which for the second period is double the rate thereof for the first period;

"dependant" means, in relation to a person, a member of the family of such person (being the father, mother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, grand-daughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, son-in-law or daughter-in-law) who, at the time when such person notifies the Board of his wish to make a surrender, is wholly or in part dependent on the earnings of such person, and, for the purposes of this definition, a person adopted under the Adoption Act, 1952 , shall be considered as the son or daughter of the adopter or adopters born to him, her or them in lawful wedlock and not to be the son or daughter of any other person.

19.—Pensions, gratuities, annuities and increases of pensions under this Act shall be defrayed as part of the general expenses of the Board.

20.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1961 .

(2) The Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1958, and this Act may be cited together as the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1961.

(3) The Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1927 to 1958, and this Act shall be construed together as one Act.

(4) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.

Section 17.

SCHEDULE

PARTICULAR MATTERS TO BE PROVIDED FOR IN SCHEMES UNDER SECTION 16.

1. Subject to the provisions of this Schedule, a pension and a gratuity shall be provided for a person on—

(a) the cesser of his membership of the Board by the expiration of his term of office without reappointment, unless the Government certifies that he would have been reappointed but for his absence from all meetings of the Board during a period of six months or for stated misconduct or incapacity or that he refused to accept reappointment,

(b) his resignation during his term of office either after he has attained the age of sixty years or on account of ill-health before he attains that age,

(c) his removal from office under section 5 of the Principal Act, unless the Government certifies that he was removed from office because he was absent from all meetings of the Board during a period of six months or for stated misconduct or incapacity.

2. Where a person dies during his term of office as a member of the Board after not less than five years' pensionable service, the personal representative of that person shall be granted and paid a gratuity (in this Schedule referred to as a death gratuity) of an amount equal either to the retiring salary of that person or the gratuity which would have been granted and paid to that person if he had resigned from office on account of ill-health on the day of his death, whichever is the greater.

3. If a person who on ceasing to hold office as a member of the Board has been granted a pension or a pension and a gratuity by the Board dies at a time when the amount of the payments made to him on foot of the pension from the time of such cesser to the date of his death or the combined amounts of such payments and of the gratuity, as the case may be, is less by any sum than the amount of the death gratuity which would have been granted to his personal representative if he had died immediately before such cesser, the Board shall pay a gratuity equal to that sum to his personal representative.

4. A pension or gratuity, other than a death gratuity, shall not be provided for or in respect of a person unless the period of his pensionable service is not less than ten years.

5. In reckoning periods of pensionable service fractions of a year shall be disregarded.

6. The amount of a pension payable to any person shall not exceed one-half of the retiring salary of that person.

7. (1) Whenever the amount of a pension granted by the Board to any person exceeds the amount which would have been payable if it had been calculated at the rate of one-eightieth of the retiring salary of that person for every completed year of his pensionable service, no gratuity shall be payable to that person by the Board.

(2) The amount of a gratuity (including a death gratuity) shall not exceed one and one-half times the retiring salary of the person to whom it is granted.

8. A pension shall not be capable of being charged or assigned.

9. Wherever a person to whom a pension has been granted by the Board is incapable of giving a receipt for any sum payable on foot thereof, the sum may be paid, at the discretion of the Board, either to such other person as the Board may think fit, or to any institution having care of the person to whom the pension has been granted.

10. Whenever a person to whom a pension has been granted by the Board is employed in any situation remunerated out of moneys provided by or out of one or more of the following, namely, the Board, the Oireachtas, the Central Fund, a local authority or a board or body established by or under an Act of the Oireachtas or an Act of the Oireachtas of Saorstát Éireann—

(a) in case the remuneration of that person in that situation in respect of any period of twelve months equals or exceeds the annual rate of his salary on the date on which he ceased to hold office as a member of the Board, the pension shall not be payable in respect of that period, and

(b) in any other case, the amount of the pension shall, in respect of any period of twelve months for which the sum thereof and of the remuneration in respect of that period exceeds the annual rate of the salary of that person on the date on which he ceased to hold office as a member of the Board, be reduced by the amount of the excess.

11. Whenever a person to whom a pension has been granted by the Board has been granted, whether before or after the grant of the pension by the Board, a pension (in this paragraph referred to as the second pension) in respect of service in a situation referred to in the immediately preceding paragraph—

(a) if, in respect of any period, the amount of the second pension equals or exceeds one half of the retiring salary of that person, the pension shall not be payable in respect of that period,

(b) if, in respect of any period, the amount of the second pension is less than one half of the retiring salary of that person and the amounts of the pension and the second pension in respect of that period together exceed by any sum one half of the retiring salary of that person, the amount of the pension shall be reduced in respect of that period by that sum.

12. (1) In this Schedule—

"pensionable service" means—

(a) service as a whole-time member of the Board by a person who is under the age of sixty-five years, together with, in the case of a member of the Board who attains that age during his term of office, such period of service, if any, as a whole-time member of the Board (not exceeding three months) subsequent to the date on which he attains that age, and no more, as, when added to his pensionable service prior to that date would complete a further year's pensionable service, and

(b) such service (if any) as may be prescribed by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance in such situation or situations (if any) as may be prescribed by the Minister with the like consent;

"pensionable yearly salary" means, in relation to a member of the Board, the yearly salary of the member but does not include payments in respect of expenses, gratuities, bonuses or other special or exceptional payments to the member;

"retiring salary" means, in relation to a member of the Board, his average pensionable yearly salary during the period of three years ending on the date on which his pensionable service ends.

(2) References in this Schedule to the amount of a pension shall be construed as references to the annual amount of the pension.