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33 2001

MINISTERIAL, PARLIAMENTARY AND JUDICIAL OFFICES AND OIREACHTAS MEMBERS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT, 2001

PART 9

Amendment of Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998

Interpretation: Part 9.

38. —In this Part, “the 1998 Act” means the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998 .

Amendment of section 3 of the 1998 Act — allowances to whips and others.

39. —Section 3 of the 1998 Act is amended—

(a) by deleting subsection (1) (a)(iii), and

(b) in subsection (1)(a)(vii), by deleting “or”, and

(c) by inserting the following word and subparagraph after subsection (1)(a)(viii):

“or

(ix) Assistant Party Whip in Dáil Éireann,”,

and

(d) by inserting in subsection (3) the following definition immediately after the definitions of “Assistant Government Whip in Seanad Éireann”, “Deputy Leader of the House in Seanad Éireann” and “Government Whip in Seanad Éireann”:

“Assistant Party Whip in Dáil Éireann” means a member of Dáil Éireann nominated by the leader of a party in Dáil Éireann to be an assistant whip for the party (but only if the party has at least 7 members in Dáil Éireann),”,

and

(e) in subsection (3), by deleting the definition of “Leader of the House in Seanad Éireann”.

Amendment of the 1998 Act — insertion of section 3A (allowances payable to certain Ministers of State).

40. —The 1998 Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 3:

“Allowances payable to certain Ministers of State.

3A.—(1) The Government may, by order—

(a) provided for the payment of an annual allowance to not more than 2 specified holders of the office of Minister of State who regularly attend meetings of the Government, and

(b) determine the rate of the allowance, and the date or dates on and from which the allowance is payable.

(2) An order under this section may, if so expressed, have retrospective effect.”.

Substitution of section 6 of the 1998 Act (payment of allowances and allocations).

41. —The 1998 Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 6:

“Payment of allowances.

6.—(1) An allowance referred to in section 3, 3A, 4 or 5 of this Act is payable in addition to the salary payable to the member concerned under section 2 of the Principal Act (as amended by the Act of 1992), but is not payable for a period for which that salary is not payable.

(2) An allowance referred to in section 3, 4 or 5 of this Act is not payable to a member who holds an office referred to in Part II of the Act of 1938 (as amended by the Act of 1977).

(3) If a member would, but for this section, be eligible to receive during a period more than one of the allowances referred to in sections 3, 3A, 4 and 5, the member is entitled to be paid only the highest or higher amount of those allowances during that period.

(4) An allowance referred to in sections 3, 3A, 4 and 5 is payable out of money provided by the Oireachtas.”.

Amendment of section 7 of the 1998 Act — increase of allowances and allocations corresponding with general increase of remuneration in Civil Service.

42. —Section 7(1) of the 1998 Act is amended by inserting “3A,” after “3,”.

Amendment of section 8 of the 1998 Act — orders relating to allowances under sections 3, 3A and 4 and allocations under section 5.

43. —Section 8 of the 1998 Act is amended by inserting “3A,” after “3,” wherever occurring.

Amendment of the 1998 Act — insertion of section 8A Act (right of Ministers and others to elect not to accept increase in allowance).

44. —The 1998 Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 8:

“Right of Ministers and others to elect not to accept increase in allowance.

8A.—(1) A person who is entitled to be paid an allowance under section 3, 3A or 4 may, by notice in writing given to the Minister for Finance, elect not to accept the amount of an increase of the allowance that would or could otherwise become payable under that section.

(2) Such an election does not affect the application of section 7, or an order made under section 3, 3A or 4, to the remaining part of the allowance whenever the relevant allowance is generally increased.

(3) A person who has made an election under this section may revoke the election by a further notice in writing given to the Minister for Finance, but the revocation has effect only prospectively.

(4) Subject to subsection (3), an election made by a person under this section is not affected by the fact that the person ceases to hold the office to which the allowance relates and the person is subsequently reappointed to that office.”.