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20 1961

INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND STANDARDS ACT, 1961

PART VI.

Administration of the Institute.

The seal of the Institute.

32. —(1) The seal of the Institute shall be affixed to any document only by direction of the Board and its affixation shall be attested by the signature of a member of the Board.

(2) The seal of the Institute shall be judicially noticed and every document purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Institute and to be attested in accordance with this section shall, unless the contrary is shown, be received in evidence without further proof.

Offices and premises.

33. —(1) For the purpose of providing offices and premises necessary for the performance of its functions, the Institute may—

(a) purchase or take on lease any land, and

(b) build, equip and maintain offices and premises.

(2) The Institute may sell or lease any land, offices or premises held by it and no longer required for the performance of its functions.

Officers and servants of the Institute.

34. —(1) The Institute shall appoint such and so many persons to be officers and servants of the Institute as the Institute from time to time thinks proper, but, subject to subsection (2) of this section, a person shall not be appointed under this section to be an officer of the Institute unless he has been selected by means of a public competition.

(2) The requirement under subsection (1) of this section of being selected by means of a public competition shall not apply in relation to—

(a) an office to which appointments are made for limited periods only, being periods not exceeding two years, or

(b) an appointment consisting of the promotion of a person who is already an officer of the Institute, other than an officer holding an office to which paragraph (a) of this subsection relates.

(3) The Institute shall from time to time determine the numbers, grades, remuneration, tenure of office and conditions of service of the members of the staff of the Institute.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section—

(a) the Minister may designate not more than two offices in the service of the Institute as offices of special responsibility,

(b) a person shall not be appointed to an office so designated save with the consent of the Minister,

(c) the remuneration, tenure of office and conditions of service of a person appointed to an office so designated shall be determined from time to time by the Minister subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance.

(5) No person shall be appointed to an office or situation in a clerical grade on the staff of the Institute unless, in the opinion of the Board, such person possesses a competent knowledge of Irish, and in making any other appointment to the said staff preference shall be given to a person who, in the opinion of the Board, possesses a competent knowledge of Irish.

(6) An officer or servant of the Institute appointed under section 31 of the Act of 1946 shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been appointed under this section and shall have the same remuneration, tenure of office, conditions of service and superannuation rights as he had immediately before the commencement of this Act.

Superannuation.

35. —(1) The Institute may from time to time and shall, on being requested by the Minister, prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of pensions, gratuities and other allowances on retirement to the permanent staff of the Institute.

(2) A scheme submitted to the Minister under this section may and shall, if so requested by the Minister, be a scheme establishing a fund to which the Institute and the members of the permanent staff thereof pay contributions.

(3) A scheme submitted to the Minister under this section shall, if approved of by the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by the Institute in accordance with its terms.

(4) The Institute may, at any time, with the approval of the Minister given with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, amend a scheme under this section.

(5) A scheme approved of under section 32 of the Act of 1946 shall be deemed to be a scheme approved of under this section and may be amended accordingly.

(6) A scheme submitted and approved of under this section shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to whom pensions, gratuities or allowances on retirement are payable under the scheme, and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(7) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of any pension, gratuity or allowance payable in pursuance of a scheme under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister who shall refer it to the Minister for Finance, whose decision thereon shall be final.

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

Scholarships and grants for industrial research.

36. —(1) The Institute may, with the approval of the Minister, provide scholarships and other awards for the training of persons in industrial research.

(2) The Institute may render such assistance, financial or otherwise, as it thinks proper to persons undertaking research of a kind which the Institute is itself authorised to undertake.

State endowment of the Institute.

37. —(1) There shall be paid to the Institute in every financial year out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas such grants towards its expenses as may be determined by the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.

(2) In determining the amount of any such grant to be paid in any financial year, the Minister shall give due consideration to the income and expenditure of the Institute and for that purpose the Board shall furnish to the Minister as and when required by him information regarding such income and expenditure.

Power to charge fees.

38. —The Institute shall have power to charge, receive and recover fees for researches, tests, investigations and analyses undertaken by the Institute on behalf of any person other than the Minister.

Subscriptions from industrial firms and other bodies.

39. —The Institute may accept subscriptions of money from industrial firms or other bodies in return for the use by such firms or other bodies of such services and facilities of the Institute as the Institute may determine.

Power to accept donations.

40. —(1) The Institute may accept gifts of money, land or other property, upon such trusts and conditions, if any, as may be specified by the person making the gift.

(2) The Institute shall not accept any gift if the conditions attached by the donor to the acceptance thereof are inconsistent with the functions of the Institute.

Finances, accounts and audits.

41. —(1) The Institute shall keep, in such forms as shall be approved by the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, all proper and usual accounts of all money received or expended by the Institute, and in particular shall keep in such forms as aforesaid all such special accounts as the Minister of his own motion or at the request of the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct.

(2) Accounts kept in pursuance of this section shall be submitted annually by the Institute to the Comptroller and Auditor-General for audit at such time as the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, shall direct and the said accounts, when so audited, shall, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General thereon, be presented to the Minister who shall cause copies thereof to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Annual report.

42. —(1) The Institute shall, in every financial year, prepare a report of the work of the Institute in the preceding financial year and a general programme of future work.

(2) Every such report shall be submitted by the Institute to the Minister at the same time as the accounts of the Institute for the year to which the report relates.

(3) A copy of every such report shall be submitted by the Minister to the Government and laid before each House of the Oireachtas.