PART III

Provisions Relating to Judges and Court Officers

24. —In the case of a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court who is serving as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996, paragraph 2 of Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall have effect as if the following subparagraphs were substituted for subparagraphs (2) and (3) of that paragraph:

“(2) There shall be granted to a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court to whom this paragraph applies and who, having reached the age of 65 years, vacates his office after 15 years or more of service a pension for life of one-half of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office.

(3) There shall be granted to a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court to whom this paragraph applies and who, owing to age or permanent infirmity, vacates his office after 5 years or more of service a pension for life of one-eighth of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office with the addition of three-eightieths of such remuneration for every completed year of service in excess of five, subject to a maximum pension of one-half of such remuneration.”.

25. —In the case of a judge of the Circuit Court who is serving as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996, paragraph 5 of Part II of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall have effect as if the following subparagraphs were substituted for subparagraphs (2) and (3) of that paragraph:

“(2) There shall be granted to a judge of the Circuit Court to whom this paragraph applies and who, having reached the age of 65 years, vacates his office after 15 years or more of service a pension for life of one-half of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office.

(3) There shall be granted to a judge of the Circuit Court to whom this paragraph applies and who, owing to age or permanent infirmity, vacates his office after five years or more of service a pension for life of one-eighth of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office with the addition of three-eightieths of such remuneration for every completed year of service in excess of five, subject to a maximum pension of one-half of such remuneration.”.

26. —In the case of a judge of the District Court who is serving as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996—

(a) paragraph 8 of Part III of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall have effect as if the following subparagraphs were substituted for subparagraphs (2) and (3) of that paragraph:

“(2) There shall be granted to a judge of the District Court to whom this paragraph applies and who having reached the age of 65 years, vacates his office after 20 years or more of service a pension for life of one-half of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office.

(3) There shall be granted to a judge of the District Court to whom this paragraph applies and who, owing to age or permanent infirmity, vacates his office after five years or more of service a pension for life of one-eighth of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office with the addition of one-fortieth of such remuneration for every completed year of service in excess of five, subject to a maximum pension of one-half of such remuneration.”,

and

(b) paragraph 10 of Part III of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall have effect as if the words “a pension for life of one-eighth of his remuneration at the time of such vacation of office with the addition of 3/160ths of such remuneration for every completed year of service in excess of ten, subject to a maximum pension of one-half of such remuneration.” were substituted for everything after “he shall be entitled to”.

27. —In the case of a court officer who is serving as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996, section 57 of the Principal Act shall have effect as if in subsection (1) of that section the following paragraphs were substituted for paragraphs (i) and (ii):

“(i) if he has completed twenty or more years of such service, one-half of the annual remuneration in respect of the office which he ceases to hold, or

(ii) if he has not completed twenty years of such service, one-eighth of the annual remuneration in respect of the office which he ceases to hold together with one-fortieth of that remuneration for each (if any) completed year of service in excess of five.”.

28. —In the case of a judge or court officer who is serving as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996, section 2 (in relation to such a judge) and section 4 (in relation to such a court officer) of the Act of 1961 shall have effect as if—

(a) in subsection (2) of the applicable section—

(i) the reference to one and one-half the yearly amount of the pension were a reference to three times the yearly amount of the pension, and

(ii) the words “as reduced under subsection (5) of this section” were deleted,

(b) in subsection (3) of the applicable section the words “or, if greater, the gratuity that would have been payable to him under subsection (2) of this section if, on the date of his death, he had retired owing to permanent infirmity” were inserted after “at the time of his death”, and

(c) the following subsection were substituted for subsection (5) of the applicable section:

“(5) Any gratuity payable under this section shall fall to be reduced by reference to any contribution due in accordance with the terms of the Scheme of Pensions for Spouses and Children of the Judiciary and Court Officers.”.

29. —In the case of a judge or court officer who ceased to serve as such before the 19th day of December, 1996, and to whom the Act of 1961 applied, the Minister for Finance may, if, after consulting with the Attorney General, he considers it necessary to do so, pay such supplementary gratuity, together with such interest thereon as he considers appropriate, as if, at the time of the retirement of the person concerned, the words “an amount not exceeding one and nine-tenths times the yearly amount of the pension” had been substituted for the words “an amount equal to one and one-half times the yearly amount of the pension” in section 2(2) or 4(2) of that Act, as the case may be.

30. —In the case of a judge or court officer who ceased to serve as such on or after the 19th day of December, 1996, the Act of 1991 shall have effect as if—

(a) in section 3(1)(a) of that Act “3/80ths” were substituted for “one-twentieth”,

(b) in section 3(1)(b) of that Act “1/40th” were substituted for “one-thirtieth”,

(c) in section 3(1)(c) of that Act “3/160ths” were substituted for “one-fortieth”,

(d) in section 3(2) of that Act “1/40th” were substituted for “one-thirtieth”, and

(e) in section 6(4) of that Act “one-half” were substituted for “two-thirds”.

31. — Sections 24 to 2 8 and section 30 of this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 19th day of December, 1996.