Defence Forces (Pensions) Scheme, 1937

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 1937
• Citation: IR SI 249/1937

SAORSTÁT EIREANN. STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. 1937. No. 249.
DEFENCE FORCES (PENSIONS) SCHEME, 1937.
ARRANGEMENT OF ARTICLES.
PART I.
PRELIMINARY.
Article.
1. Short title and commencement.
2. Application of the Interpretation Act, 1923.
3. Definitions.
PART II.
RETIRED PAY AND GRATUITIES PAYABLE TO OFFICERS AND PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES PAYABLE TO WIDOWS AND CHILDREN OF DECEASED OFFICERS.
4. Pensionable service of officers.
Retired Pay and Gratuities Payable to Officers.
5. Retired pay of officers retiring whose service is 20 years or more.
6. Retired pay of officer serving as member of the Defence Council who is compulsorily retired.
7. Retired pay of officer retired for any cause (other than age, misconduct, inefficiency or incapacity) whose service is 12 years or more and less than 20 years.
8. Retired pay of officer retired on grounds of permanent infirmity whose service is 10 years or more and less than 20 years.
9. Retired pay of existing officer retired on ground of age whose service is 5 years or more and less than 20 years.
10. Retired pay of certain officers retiring with 12 and less than 20 years service.
11. Married officers' gratuities.
12. Short service gratuities to officers.
13. Provisions in relation to special service officers.
14. Date for commencement of retired pay.
15. Cessation or reduction of retired pay on appointment to certain offices.
16. Suspension of retired pay of officer re-commissioned.
17. Suspension of retired pay of certain officers recalled to service in the Forces.
18. Restriction on officer in receipt of retired pay residing abroad.
Pensions Payable to Certain Retired Officers.
19. Pensions to certain retired officers.
Pensions and Gratuities Payable to Widows and Children of Deceased Officers.
20. Pensions to widows and children of officers.
21. Gratuities to widows and children of officers who die while serving and whose service is less than 12 years.
22. Restriction on grant of pensions and gratuities under Part III to widows and children.
23. Cesser or reduction of widow's and child's pensions.
PART III.
PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES PAYABLE TO SOLDIERS.
24. Qualifying service of soldiers.
25. "Long-service soldier", "short-service soldier" and "retiring rank".
26. Pensions of long-service soldiers whose qualifying service is 21 years or more.
27. Grant of pensions and gratuities to long-service soldiers discharged on account of disability or age whose qualifying service is less than 21 years.
28. Gratuities to long-service soldiers whose qualifying service is 12 years or more and less than 20 years and who are discharged on grounds other than disability or misconduct and gratuities to short-service soldiers.
29. Date for commencement of pensions under Part III.
PART IV.
PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES OF MEMBERS OF ARMY NURSING SERVICE.
30. Qualifying service of members of the Army Nursing Service.
31. Pensions of certain members of the Army Nursing Service.
32. Gratuities to members of the Army Nursing Service.
33. Miscellaneous provisions in relation to pensions and gratuities.
34. Date for commencement of pensions under Part IV.
PART V.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
35. Definitions for purpose of Part V.
36. Grant and nature of pensions.
37. Times for payment of pensions.
38. Reduction of retired pay and pensions of officers and soldiers who are in receipt of pensions under the Army Pensions Acts.
39. Prohibition of assignment of pensions and gratuities.
40. Forfeiture of pensions.
41. Payment of pensions to persons other than the pensioner.
42. Payments in default of legal personal representatives.
First Schedule.
Second Schedule.
Third Schedule.
Fourth Schedule.
Fifth Schedule.
Sixth Schedule.
Seventh Schedule.
WHEREAS it is enacted by sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Defence Forces (Pensions) Act, 1932 (No. 26 of 1932), that the Minister for Defence may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, prepare a scheme (in the said Act referred to as a pension scheme) with the object of providing (a) retired pay, pensions, and gratuities for or in respect of officers of the Forces to whom such scheme applies, and (b) pensions and gratuities for or in respect of non-commissioned officers and men of the Forces to whom such scheme applies; and (c) pensions and gratuities for members of the Army Nursing Service to whom such scheme applies, and (subject to confirmation under the said Act) carry such scheme into execution:
AND WHEREAS the provisions contained in the scheme hereby made are provisions which are authorised to be inserted therein by the said Act:
AND WHEREAS by virtue of section 4 of the said Act, as adapted by the Seanad Eireann (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1936 (No. 26 of 1936), no pension scheme shall come into force unless and until it has been laid before Dáil Eireann and has been confirmed by resolution of Dáil Eireann:
NOW, the Minister for Defence, with the consent of the Minister for Finance testified by his signature hereto, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Defence Forces (Pensions) Act, 1932 (No. 26 of 1932), and of every and any other power him in this behalf enabling, doth hereby make the following Scheme, that is to say:—
PART I. PRELIMINARY.
	1 Short title and commencement.	1. (1) This Scheme may be cited as the Defence Forces (Pensions) Scheme, 1937.
(2) This Scheme shall come into operation immediately upon it being confirmed by resolution of Dáil Eireann.
	2 Application of the Interpretation Act, 1923 .	2. The Interpretation Act, 1923 (No. 46 of 1923), applies to the interpretation of this Scheme in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas.
	3 Definitions.	3. In this Scheme—
the expression "the Minister" means the Minister for Defence;
the expression "the appointed day" means the date of the coming into force of this Scheme;
the expression "the Forces" means the forces established under Part I of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 30 of 1923 );
the expression "the National Army" means the following forces, that is to say:—
(a) the armed forces under the control of the Minister for Defence during the period commencing on the 1st day of February, 1922, and ending on the 31st day of March, 1922, and
(b) the armed forces maintained by the Provisional Government, and
(c) the armed forces maintained by the Government of Saorstát Eireann up to and including the 30th day of September, 1924, and
(d) the Forces;
the word " officer " means a commissioned officer;
the expression " existing officer " means a person who is serving as an officer of the Forces on the appointed day;
the expression " future officer " means a person who becomes an officer of the Forces after the appointed day;
the word " soldier " includes a non-commissioned officer;
the word " member " means a member of the Army Nursing Service;
the word " retirement " means in relation to a person who held commissioned rank in the National Army, retirement from the National Army;
the expression " the Civil Service " means the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann;
the expression " the Superannuation Acts " means the Superannuation Acts for the time being in force;
the expression " disablement pension " means a pension under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1937, as amended by any subsequent enactment;
the expression " military service pension " means a pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 to 1934;
the expression " the appropriate Gárda Síochána Pensions Order " means the Order for the time being in force regulating pensions, allowances, and gratuities of members of the Gárda Síochána.
PART II. RETIRED PAY AND GRATUITIES PAYABLE TO OFFICERS AND PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES PAYABLE TO WIDOWS AND CHILDREN OF DECEASED OFFICERS.
	4 Pensionable service of officers.	4. (1) Pensionable service for the purpose of this Part of this Scheme shall be computed in accordance with the rules contained in the First Schedule hereto.
(2) The number of years of pensionable service of a person for the purposes of this Part of this Scheme shall be taken to be the result obtained by dividing the number of days of his pensionable service by the number three hundred and sixty-five, any fraction over being disregarded.
Retired Pay and Gratuites Payable to Officers.
	5 Retired pay of officers retiring whose service is 20 years or more.	5. (1) Where an officer whose pensionable service is twenty years or more retires there may, subject to the provisions of this Scheme, be granted to such officer retired pay of an amount computed in accordance with the rules contained in the Second Schedule hereto.
(2) This Article shall not apply in the case of an officer who is compulsorily retired while serving as a member of the Council of Defence.
	6 Retired pay of officer serving as member of the Defence Council who is compulsorily retired	6. There may, subject to the provisions of this Scheme, be granted to an officer who is compulsorily retired while serving as a member of the Council of Defence, retired pay at the rate of, in case the rank held by such officer is that of Colonel, four hundred pounds per annum, or, in case the rank held by such officer is that of Major-General or higher rank, five hundred pounds per annum.
	7 Retired pay of officer retired for any cause (other than age, misconduct, inefficiency or incapacity) whose service is 12 years or more and less than 20 years.	7. Where an officer whose pensionable service is twelve years or more and less than twenty years is retired for any cause (other than age, misconduct, inefficiency or mental or physical incapacity) there may, subject to the provisions of this scheme, be granted to such officer retired pay of an amount computed...