PART III

National Rehabilitation Board

35. — In this Part “the Act of 1961” means the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act, 1961 .

36. —(1) Save in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated with any recognised trade union or staff association concerned, any person appointed under section 27 (1) who immediately before that appointment was serving as an officer or servant of the Board shall not, while in the employ of the Authority, receive a lesser scale of pay or be made subject to less beneficial terms and conditions of service than the scale of pay to which that person was entitled and the terms and conditions of service to which he or she was subject immediately before such appointment.

(2) Until such time as the scale of pay and conditions of service of a person, appointed under section 27 (1) and who immediately before such appointment had been serving as an officer or servant of the Board, are varied by the Authority following consultation and after agreement with recognised trade unions or staff associations concerned, the scale of pay to which that person was entitled and the terms and conditions to which he or she was subject immediately before his or her appointment, shall continue to apply to that person and may be applied or imposed by the Authority or its Director while that person remains a member of staff.

(3) In this section “recognised trade union or staff association” means a trade union and staff association recognised by the Authority for the purpose of negotiations which are concerned with the renumeration, conditions of employment or working conditions of members of the staff, including the Director, of the Authority and employees of the Authority.

37. —(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 7 of the Act of 1961, the Minister for Health and Children may, with the consent of the appropriate Minister, by order transfer or assign on a specified day or days to the Authority or other public body in respect of which there is an appropriate Minister—

(a) all or a specified part of the property enjoyed by the Board and rights in relation to such property so transferred or assigned, and

(b) all or any specified class of liabilities incurred by the Board that have not been discharged prior to such transfer or assignment,

and, accordingly, without further conveyance, transfer or assignment—

(i) the said property, real and personal, shall on that day, vest in the public body for all the estate, term or interest for which, immediately before the day concerned, it was so vested in the Board, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the property and capable of being performed,

(ii) the said rights shall, as on and from the day concerned, be enjoyed by the public body, and

(iii) the said liabilities shall, as on and from the day concerned, be liabilities of the public body.

(2) All property and rights relating thereto transferred or assigned to the public body by order under subsection (1) that, on the day concerned, were so standing in the name of the Board shall, upon the request of the public body, be transferred into the name of the public body.

(3) Any liabilities incurred by the Board which are transferred or assigned to the public body by order under subsection (1) may, from the day they are so transferred or assigned, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the public body in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the public body to give notice to the person whose liability has been so transferred or assigned.

(4) In this section “the appropriate Minister”, in relation to a public body, means—

(a) in the case of the Authority, the Minister,

(b) in the case of a public body for which the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has, by virtue of any enactment, specific functions vested in him or her in respect of the body which are or include functions exercisable directly or indirectly of a general supervisory nature, that Minister,

(c) in the case of a public body for which the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs has, by virtue of any enactment, specific functions vested in him or her in respect of the body which are or include functions exercisable directly or indirectly of a general supervisory nature, that Minister, and

(d) in the case of a public body for which the Minister for Education and Science has, by virtue of any enactment, specific functions vested in him or her in respect of the body which are or include functions exercisable directly or indirectly of a general supervisory nature, that Minister.

38. — An order made under section 37 (1) shall not be construed so as to prevent the Minister for Health and Children from making an order under section 7(2) of the Act of 1961 dissolving the Board and that section shall have effect—

(a) to enable the transfer or distribution of the property rights and liabilities not transferred to the Authority or other public body under section 37 (1) to be transferred to one or more than one person, body or authority specified in section 7(2)(a) of the Act of 1961,

(b) to enable staff, other than persons appointed to the Authority under section 27 (1) and to whom section 36 relates, to be transferred in accordance with section 7(2)(d) of the Act of 1961, and for the purposes of that provision in so far as it relates to the Board, reference to any other body established by an establishment order shall be deemed to include a reference to the Authority or other public body.