Financial emergency measures in the public interest act 2010

• Act Number: 38
• Enactment Date: 22 December 2010

Number 38 of 2010
FINANCIAL EMERGENCY MEASURES IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST ACT 2010
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Interpretation.
2. Reduction in public service pension.
3. Calculation of public service pension not affected.
4. Obligation on paying authorities to make payments.
5. No power to pay public service pension other than in accordance with section 2.
6. Exemption, etc., from operation of section 2 in certain circumstances.
7. Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2009.
8. Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2009.
9. Amendment of Act of 2009.
10. Annual review and report to Houses of the Oireachtas.
11. Regulations.
12. Removal of doubts.
13. Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000.
14. Short title.
SCHEDULE
Bodies to which the definition of “public service body” does not apply
Acts Referred to
Companies Acts Defence Act 1954 1954, No. 18 Defence (Amendment) Act 2007 2007, No. 24 European Parliament (Irish Constituency Members) Act 2009 2009, No. 17 Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 2009, No. 41 Harbours Act 1946 1946, No. 9 Harbours Act 1996 1996, No. 11 Local Government Act 2001 2001, No. 37 Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 1938, No. 38 Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 2001, No. 33 National Minimum Wage Act 2000 2000, No. 5 Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1973 1973, No. 22 Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act 1977 1977, No. 29 Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act 1983 1983, No. 32 Pensions Act 1990 1990, No. 25 Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 2004, No. 7 Superannuation Acts 1834 to 1963 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 1997, No. 39 Vocational Education Act 1930 1930, No. 29
Number 38 of 2010
FINANCIAL EMERGENCY MEASURES IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST ACT 2010
AN ACT, IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, TO PROVIDE FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE AMOUNT OF THE PAYMENT OF PENSION OR OTHER BENEFITS (OTHER THAN LUMP SUMS) PAYABLE TO OR IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN PERSONS WHO ARE OR WERE IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE (INCLUDING FORMER HOLDERS OF CERTAIN OFFICES, MEMBERS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE HOUSES OF THE OIREACHTAS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE JUDICIARY) UNDER AN OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEME OR PENSION ARRANGEMENT (BY WHATEVER NAME CALLED) WHICH IS PROVIDED FOR UNDER THE SUPERANNUATION ACTS 1834 TO 1963 OR ANY OTHER ENACTMENT OR ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURE TO LIKE EFFECT, OR IS REQUIRED TO BE MADE, APPROVED OF OR CONSENTED TO (HOWEVER EXPRESSED) BY ONE OR MORE THAN ONE MINISTER OF THE GOVERNMENT; TO AMEND THE FINANCIAL EMERGENCY MEASURES IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST (NO. 2) ACT 2009 AND THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE ACT 2000 ; AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.
[22nd December, 2010]
WHEREAS a serious disturbance in the economy and a decline in the economic circumstances of the State have occurred and are continuing, which threaten the well-being of the community;
AND WHEREAS as a consequence a serious deterioration in the revenues of the State has occurred and there are significant and increasing State commitments in respect of public service pensions;
AND WHEREAS it is necessary to cut current Exchequer spending substantially to demonstrate that public expenditure is being significantly controlled so as to ensure access to international funding and to improve the State’s international competitiveness;
AND WHEREAS the State is availing of financial assistance programmes provided by the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Facility and the International Monetary Fund and it is necessary to take the measures in this Act as part of a range of measures provided for in those programmes to address the economic crisis in the State and to restore domestic and international confidence and to prevent a sovereign debt crisis affecting the State;
AND WHEREAS the expenditure on public service pensions is unsustainable and it is necessary to make reductions in payment to ensure that the State has sufficient resources to discharge its commitments and to enable it to provide public services;
AND WHEREAS the burden of a pension-related deductionand a reduction of remuneration has been borne by public servants and it is equitable that public service pensioners should share that burden;
AND WHEREAS the benefit of public service pensions is and will remain, after the enactment of the following Act, significantly and markedly more favourable than those generally available in other employment—
BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.— In this Act—
	“Act of 2009” means the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 ;
	“Civil Service” means the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State;
	“lump sum” means a lump sum payment or gratuity payable on retirement, at a preserved pension age or on death, under a public service pension scheme;
	“Minister” means the Minister for Finance;
	“office holder” means—
	(a) the President,
	(b) the holder of a qualifying office,
	(c) a member of either House of the Oireachtas,
	(d) a member of the judiciary,
	(e) a military judge appointed under Chapter IVC of Part V of the Defence Act 1954 (as amended by the Defence (Amendment) Act 2007 ),
	(f) a member of a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2001 , or
	(g) a member of the European Parliament for a constituency in the State, being a member who is in receipt of the salary specified in section 2 (2) of the European Parliament (Irish Constituency Members) Act 2009 ;
	“paying authority”, in relation to a public service pension, means the person or body responsible for making payments of the public service pension under the public service pension scheme concerned, or causing such payments to be made, to or in respect of a public servant or former public servant;
	“pensioner” means a person who—
	(a) is entitled to payment of a public service pension under a public service pension scheme,
	(b) has a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme in respect of which the preserved pension age of the person falls on or before the relevant date, or
	(c) is a spouse or child of a public servant or former public servant and who becomes entitled to payment of a public service pension as a spouse or child of that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, under a public service pension scheme at any time after the relevant date but only if that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, was entitled before that date to payment of a public service pension under a public service pension scheme in respect of service as a public servant from which the entitlement of the spouse or child derives;
	“preserved benefit” has the meaning it has in the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 ;
	“preserved pension age”, in relation to a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme, means the age of the public servant or former public servant concerned at which the preserved benefit becomes payable to him or her under the scheme;
	“public servant” means a person who is employed by, or who holds any office or other position in, a public service body and includes an office holder;
	“public service body” means—
	(a) the Civil Service,
	(b) the Garda Síochána,
	(c) the Permanent Defence Force,
	(d) a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 ,
	(e) the National Treasury Management Agency,
	(f) the Health Service Executive,
	(g) the Central Bank of Ireland,
	(h) a vocational education committee established under section 7 of the Vocational Education Act 1930 ,
	(i) the Economic and Social Research Institute,
	(j) the Institute of Public Administration,
	(k) a body (other than a body specified or referred to in the Schedule) established—
	(i) by or under an enactment (other than the Companies Acts), or
	(ii) under the Companies Acts in pursuance of powers conferred by or under another enactment, and financed wholly or partly by means of moneys provided, or loans made or guaranteed, by a Minister of the Government or the issue of shares held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government,
	in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made,
	(l) a body (other than a body specified or referred to in the Schedule) that is wholly or partly funded directly or indirectly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas or from the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund and in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made,
	(m) any subsidiary of, or company controlled (within the meaning given by section 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ) by, a body to which paragraph (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) or (l) relates and in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made;
	“public service pension” means a periodic payment of a pension or other benefit by whatever name called, which is not a lump sum, payable to or in respect of a public servant or former public servant under a public service pension scheme;
	“public service pension scheme” means an occupational pension scheme or pension arrangement, by whatever name called, for any part of the public service which—
	(a) is provided for under—
	(i) the Superannuation Acts 1834 to 1963, or
	(ii) any other...