S.I. No. 298/1970:

DEFENCE FORCES (PENSIONS) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 3) SCHEME, 1970.

DEFENCE FORCES (PENSIONS) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 3) SCHEME, 1970.

ARRANGEMENT OF ARTICLES.

Article.

1. Short title, collective citation and construction.

2. Commencement.

3. Application of Interpretation Act, 1937.

4. Definitions.

5. Increase of retired pay of certain officers.

6. Gratuity on retirement to certain officers.

7. Revocation of Article 17 of Principal Scheme.

8. Disentitlement to certain pensions.

9. Amendment of Article 26A of Principal Scheme.

10. Gratuity to certain long-service soldiers.

11. Application of Article 26A (3) of Principal Scheme.

12. Provisions relating to Army Nursing Service.

S.I. No. 298 of 1970.

DEFENCE FORCES (PENSIONS) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 3) SCHEME, 1970.

I, DIARMUID Ó CRÓINÍN, Minister for Defence, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 2 , 3 and 5 of the Defence Forces (Pensions) Act, 1932 (No. 26 of 1932), and by section 4 of the Defence Forces (Pensions) (Amendment) Act, 1938 (No. 33 of 1938), hereby, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make the following Scheme:--

1. (1) This Scheme may be cited as the Defence Forces (Pensions) (Amendment) (No. 3) Scheme, 1970.

(2) The collective citation, the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes, 1937 to 1970, shall include this Scheme.

(3) The Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes, 1937 to 1970, shall be construed together as one Scheme.

2. This Scheme shall come into operation immediately upon its being confirmed by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas.

3. The Interpretation Act, 1937 (No. 38 of 1937), applies to this Scheme.

4. In this Scheme--

"the Principal Scheme" means the Defence Forces (Pensions) Scheme 1937 (S. R. & O., No. 249 of 1937);

"the Amending Scheme of 1947" means the Defence Forces (Pensions) (Amendment) Scheme, 1947 (S. R. & O., No. 81 of 1947).

5. (1) Where an officer --

( a ) retires or is retired, while holding the appointment of Chief of Staff, Adjutant-General, Quartermaster General or Assistant Chief of Staff in the rank prescribed therefor in Defence Force Regulations, and

( b ) has held the appointment for not less than one year,

the yearly rate of his retired pay shall be increased by twenty per cent.

(2) Where an officer--

( a ) retires or is retired, while holding the appointment of Officer Commanding the Eastern, Southern or Western Command or Officer Commanding the Curragh Training Camp, in the rank prescribed therefor in Defence Force Regulations, and

( b ) has held the appointment for not less than one year,

his yearly rate of retired pay shall be increased by ten per cent.

(3) Where an officer retires or is retired while holding any of the appointments mentioned in sub-Article (1) or (2) of this Article in a rank higher than that prescribed therefor in Defence Force Regulations, he may receive either--

(i) the retired pay applicable to his retiring rank, or

(ii) the retired pay appropriate to the rank prescribed in Defence Force Regulations for the appointment, increased in accordance with sub-Article (1) or (2) (as may be appropriate) of this Article,

whichever is the more favourable.

(4) Where an officer--

(i) retires or is retired while holding one of the appointments mentioned in sub-Article (2) of this Article, and

(ii) at any time before his retirement held for not less than one year any of the appointments mentioned in the said sub-Article (1) in the rank prescribed therefor in Defence Force Regulations,

the yearly rate of his retired pay shall be increased by twenty per cent.

(5) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 2nd day of June, 1969.

6. (1) Notwithstanding anything in the Fifth Schedule to the Principal Scheme--

( a ) where an officer whose pensionable service is twenty-one years or more retires or is retired on reaching the age for retirement prescribed for him in Defence Force Regulations, or, in the case of an officer whose rank is higher than Major-General, retires or is retired at any time after reaching the age of 63, he may, subject to the provisions of the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes, 1937 to 1970 be paid an additional gratuity of such amount as, when added to the gratuity payable to him under that Schedule, will not exceed one and one-half times the annual rate of his regimental pay at the date of retirement;

( b ) where an officer whose pensionable service is twenty-one years or more, retires voluntarily at any time within five years of reaching the age for retirement prescribed for him in Defence Force Regulations, or, in the case of an officer whose rank is higher than Major-General, retires or is retired at any time within five years of his sixty-third birthday, he may, subject to the provisions of the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes, 1937 to 1970, be paid, in respect of each completed year of service during the relevant five-year period, an additional gratuity equal to one-third of the difference between the gratuity payable to him under that Schedule and one and one-half times his annual rate of regimental pay at the date of retirement; provided that the total gratuity payable to such officer shall not exceed one and one-half times his annual rate of regimental pay at the date of retirement.

(2) In this Article "regimental pay at the date of retirement" means--

( a ) in the case of an officer who has not less than one year's pensionable service in the rank held by him at that date, his actual pay at that date, and

( b ) in any other case, his actual pay at that date or the pay he would have been in receipt of on that date if there had not been a change of rank during the last year of his pensionable service, whichever is the lesser.

(3) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 2nd day of June, 1969.

7. (1) Article 17 of the Principal Scheme is hereby revoked.

(2) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 15th day of August, 1969.

8. (1) A pension shall not be payable under Article 20 of the Principal Scheme to a widow or child of a deceased officer if an award has been made to the widow or child under a contributory widows' and orphans' scheme administered by the Minister for widows and children of officers.

(2) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 23rd day of July, 1968.

9. (1) Sub-Article (2) of Article 26A of the Principal Scheme (inserted by Article 22(1) of the Amending Scheme of 1947) shall have effect as if the weekly pension payable to a soldier to whom the sub-Article applies, were, in addition to the increase of one shilling a week provided by the said sub-Article, increased in respect of each year of his qualifying service in excess of twenty-one years, but not exceeding thirty-one years, in accordance with the Table to this Article.

TABLE

(2) An increase payable by virtue of this Article shall cease to be payable when a soldier reaches the age of 70 years or becomes otherwise entitled to a retirement pension under the Social Welfare Acts, 1951 to 1970, as amended.

(3) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation--

(i) on the 1st day of June, 1969, in the case of soldiers discharged on or after that date, and

(ii) on the 1st day of April, 1970, in the case of soldiers discharged before the 1st day of June, 1969.

10. (1) A long-service soldier who is granted a pension under Article 26A or 27A of the Principal Scheme (inserted by Articles 22(1) and 24(1) respectively, of the Amending Scheme of 1947), and who is at the date of his discharge in receipt of a married rate of pay in accordance with Defence Force Regulations, may be paid a gratuity equal to one week's pay at the rate appropriate to his retiring rank for each year of his qualifying service; provided that the maximum such gratuity payable in any case shall not exceed 31 weeks pay at the rate appropriate to the soldier's retiring rank.

(2) This Article shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of June, 1969.

11. (1) Article 26A(3) of the Principal Scheme (inserted by Article 22 of the Amending Scheme of 1947) shall apply to a soldier who, on the date of his discharge, was in receipt of a married rate of pay in accordance with Defence Force Regulations.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in Article 26A(4) (as so inserted) of the Principal Scheme--

(a) a soldier who is granted a pension under Article 26A(1) of that Scheme and who, at the date of his discharge, was in receipt of a married rate of pay as a widower in accordance with Defence Force Regulations, shall be entitled to receive, in addition to such pension, a married pension at the appropriate rate;

(b) a soldier who is granted a pension under Article 26A(1) of that Scheme and who, at the date of his discharge, was in receipt of a married rate of pay in accordance with Defence Force Regulations, shall continue to be entitled to receive a married pension at the appropriate rate if his wife pre-deceases him after the date of his discharge.

(3) This Article shall be deemed to have come into effect on the 1st day of June, 1969.

12. (1) For the purposes of Article 30(1)(b) of the Principal Scheme, authorised leave of absence without pay and unlimited as to time shall, in the case of a member of the Army Nursing Service, be deemed not to be an interruption of continuity of service for pension purposes.

(2) Notwithstanding Article 30(1)(d) of the Principal Scheme--

(a) service in the Army Nursing service before retirement on marriage in the case of a widow re-appointed to that Service shall be reckoned for pension purposes and any gratuity paid to her in respect of that service shall be recovered either by deduction from her pay or from the benefits payable to her on her retirement subsequent to her re-appointment;

(b) separate periods of qualifying service may be aggregated for pension purposes in the case of a member of the Army Nursing Service who resigned on the 19th day of November, 1949, was re-appointed to that Service on the 2nd day of November, 1950, and is serving on the commencement of this Scheme.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 11th day of December, 1970.

DIARMUID Ó CRÓINÍN

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the foregoing Scheme.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance, this 11th day

of December, 1970.

SEOIRSE Ó COLLA.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This statutory instrument provides for increases in the amount of retirement benefits payable to certain officers of the Permanent Defence Force and for the payment of gratuities to certain long-service soldiers. It also extends and amends in other respects the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes, 1937 to 1970.