PART III

Provisions Relating to Finance and Staff

20. —(1) The Commission shall establish a fund which shall be known as the Western Investment Fund and is referred to in this Act as “the Fund”.

(2) The Fund shall be managed and controlled by the Commission and shall consist of a current account (“the current account”) and an investment account (“the investment account”).

(3) There shall be paid into the current account all moneys paid to the Commission in respect of grants to it by the Minister, and any other moneys paid to it, for use for capital purposes and there shall be paid out of the current account all moneys in respect of expenditure by the Commission in the provision of assistance under section 8 .

(4) Moneys standing to the credit of the current account and not required to meet current liabilities shall be paid into the investment account of the Fund.

(5) Whenever the moneys in the current account of the Fund are not sufficient to meet the current liabilities of that account, there shall be paid into that account from the investment account of the Fund such moneys as are necessary to meet those liabilities.

(6) Moneys in the investment account of the Fund that are not required to meet current and prospective liabilities of that account shall be invested and the investments shall be realised or varied from time to time as occasion requires and the proceeds of any such realisation, and any dividends or other payments received in respect of moneys invested under this paragraph, shall be paid into the investment account of the Fund or invested under this paragraph.

(7) An investment under subsection (6) shall be in securities in which trustees are for the time being authorised by law to invest funds or in any of the stocks, funds or securities in which moneys of the Post Office Savings Bank are for the time being authorised to be invested.

21. —The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, advance to the Commission out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas such sums as the Minister may determine.

22. —(1) The Commission shall keep in such form and in respect of such accounting periods as may be approved of by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, all proper and usual accounts of moneys received or expended by it, including an income and expenditure account, a cash flow statement and a balance sheet, and in particular, shall keep in such form as aforesaid all such special accounts as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, or at his or her request shall, from time to time direct.

(2) Accounts kept in pursuance of this section shall be submitted not later than 3 months after the end of the accounting period to which they relate by the Commission to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and, immediately after the audit, a copy of the accounts, statement and balance sheet and of such other (if any) accounts kept pursuant to this section as the Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, may direct and a copy of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the accounts shall be presented to the Minister who shall cause copies thereof to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(3) In this section “cash flow statement” means an account showing the derivation of the income of the Commission and the purposes to which it is applied.

23. —(1) The Commission shall not later than the 31st day of March in each year prepare and submit to the Minister a report on its activities in the immediately preceding year and the Minister shall, as soon as may be, cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(2) The Commission shall furnish the Minister with such information regarding the performance of its functions as the Minister may from time to time require.

24. —(1) The Commission may, for the purpose of providing for current expenditure, from time to time borrow money (whether on the security of the assets of the Commission or otherwise), but shall not do so without the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(2) The aggregate at any time of borrowings under subsection (1) shall not exceed £200,000.

25. —(1) The Commission may accept gifts of money, land or other property upon such trusts or conditions (if any) as may be specified by the donor.

(2) The Commission shall not accept a gift if the trusts or conditions attached to it would be inconsistent with its functions.

26. —(1) The Commission shall appoint with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance such and so many persons to be members of the staff of the Commission as it may from time to time determine.

(2) The terms and conditions of service of a member of the staff of the Commission shall be such as may be determined from time to time by the Commission.

(3) There shall be paid by the Commission to the members of its staff such remuneration and allowances as it, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, from time to time determines.

27. —The Commission, in determining the remuneration or allowances for expenses to be paid to members of its staff or the other terms or conditions subject to which such members hold or are to hold their employment, shall have regard to Government or nationally agreed guidelines which are for the time being extant and to Government policy concerning remuneration and conditions of employment which is so extant and, in addition to the foregoing, the Commission shall comply with any directives with regard to such remuneration, allowances, terms or conditions which the Minister may give to the Commission with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

28. —The Commission may perform any of its functions through or by any member of the staff of the Commission duly authorised in that behalf by the Commission.

29. —(1) As soon as may be after its establishment, the Commission shall prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of such of its staff (including the Chief Executive) as the Commission shall think fit.

(2) Every such scheme shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to, or in respect of whom superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme, and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(3) The Commission may at any time prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme amending a scheme previously submitted and approved under this section.

(4) A scheme or amending scheme submitted to the Minister under this section shall, if approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by the Commission in accordance with its terms.

(5) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit 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 shall be final.

(6) No superannuation benefit shall be granted by the Commission to or in respect of any of its staff (including the Chief Executive) who are members of a scheme under this section, nor shall any other arrangement be entered into for the provision of any superannuation benefit to such persons on their ceasing to hold office, other than in accordance with such scheme or schemes submitted and approved under this section.

(7) Every scheme submitted and approved under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is approved, 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.