PART II

An Chomhairle Oiliúna

8. —(1) On the establishment day there shall be established a body to be known as An Chomhairle Oiliúna (in this Act referred to as An Chomhairle) to perform the functions assigned to it by this Act.

(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to An Chomhairle.

9. —(1) An Chomhairle shall, in addition to the functions assigned to it by any other provision of this Act, have the following general functions, namely:

(a) to provide for the training of persons for the purposes of any activity of industry, and

(b) to promote, facilitate, encourage, assist, co-ordinate and develop the provision of such training by such means as An Chomhairle considers necessary or desirable.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, An Chomhairle may do all or any of the following:

(a) provide or secure the provision of such courses or other facilities for the training of persons employed or intending to be employed in an activity of industry (including any class of such persons which by reason of age or physical or other disability is, in the opinion of An Chomhairle, at a disadvantage) as it considers necessary, having regard to any courses or other facilities otherwise available to such persons;

(b) approve such courses or facilities provided by other persons;

(c) at any time consider any employment in an activity of industry and make recommendations with regard to the nature and length of the training for any such employment and the further education to be associated with the training, the persons by and to whom the training ought to be given, the standards to be attained as a result of the training and the methods of ascertaining whether those standards have been attained;

(d) apply or make arrangements for the application of tests or other methods for ascertaining the attainment by persons employed in an activity of industry or intending to be so employed of any standards recommended by An Chomhairle and award certificates of the attainment of those standards;

(e) assist persons in finding facilities for being trained for employment in an activity of industry;

(f) carry on or assist persons in carrying on research into any matter relating to training for the purposes of an activity of industry;

(g) pay maintenance and travelling allowances to persons attending courses provided or approved by An Chomhairle;

(h) pay fees to persons providing further education in respect of persons who receive it in association with their training in courses provided or approved by An Chomhairle;

(i) for the purpose of making available to persons employed in an activity of industry or intending to be so employed better facilities for receiving training and instruction in the activity, grant scholarships to such persons as An Chomhairle selects in such manner as it considers appropriate, and such scholarships may provide for the payment of fees at educational establishments and such other payments as An Chomhairle determines;

(j) award prizes to such persons employed in an industrial activity or intending to be so employed as An Chomhairle selects in such manner as it considers appropriate;

(k) pay allowances to persons employed in an industrial activity or intending to be so employed who are going outside the State for the purpose of undergoing training or taking part in competitions and are selected in such manner as An Chomhairle considers appropriate.

10. —(1) The Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, may make a scheme for the payment, subject to such conditions and limitations as may be prescribed in the scheme, of superannuation benefits on retirement to whole-time chairmen of An Chomhairle and may, with the like concurrence, amend any such scheme.

(2) A scheme under this section may provide for the machinery for settling any dispute that may arise as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any benefit payable in pursuance of such scheme.

(3) A scheme under this section shall be carried out by An Chomhairle in accordance with its terms.

(4) Every scheme made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made 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.

11. —(1) The Minister shall from time to time appoint, on such terms and conditions as he shall determine, a person to be the chief executive officer of An Chomhairle, and such person shall be known, and is in this Act referred to, as the Chief Officer.

(2) The Chief Officer shall be paid, out of moneys at the disposal of An Chomhairle, such remuneration and such allowances for expenses, as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determines.

12. —(1) An Chomhairle shall appoint such and so many persons to be officers (other than the Chief Officer) and servants of An Chomhairle as An Chomhairle from time to time thinks proper.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, an officer (other than the Chief Officer) or servant of An Chomhairle shall hold his office or employment on such terms and conditions as An Chomhairle from time to time determines.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, an officer or servant mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be paid, out of moneys at the disposal of An Chomhairle, such remuneration and allowances as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determines.

(4) Where a person who is either an officer (other than the Chief Officer) or a servant in the employment of An Chomhairle becomes a member of either House of the Oireachtas—

(a) he shall, during the period (in this section referred to as the secondment period) commencing upon his becoming entitled under the Standing Orders of that House to sit therein and ending either when he ceases to be a member of that House or, if it should sooner happen, upon his resignation or retirement from such employment or upon the termination of such employment by An Chomhairle, stand seconded from such employment,

(b) he shall not be paid by, or entitled to receive from, An Chomhairle any remuneration or allowances in respect of the secondment period,

(c) if there is in force a scheme made in pursuance of section 13 of this Act and the scheme establishes a fund to which An Chomhairle and the person pay contributions—

(i) the secondment period shall for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to be service of that person which is reckonable for superannuation benefits under the scheme if, but only if—

(I) he was in the permanent employment of An Chomhairle and was a contributor under the scheme immediately before the commencement of the secondment period,

(II) he elects, by notice in writing given to An Chomhairle within three months after the commencement of the secondment period, to pay contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period in accordance with the provisions of this section, and

(III) he pays, at such times and in such manner as the person duly appointed to administer the scheme may specify, contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period equal in amount to the aggregate of the contributions which he would have paid and the contributions which An Chomhairle would have paid in respect of the secondment period if he had remained without secondment under this subsection in the service of An Chomhairle during the secondment period and had been in receipt of remuneration from An Chomhairle during that period,

(ii) An Chomhairle shall not pay any contributions under the scheme in respect of the secondment period, but that part of the contributions payable by him as aforesaid which is equal to the amount of the contributions which An Chomhairle would have paid under the scheme in respect of the secondment period if he had remained without secondment under this subsection in the service of An Chomhairle during the secondment period and had been in receipt of remuneration from An Chomhairle during that period shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have been paid by An Chomhairle,

(iii) if the secondment period is terminated by his death or by his retirement from such employment, he shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have died in or to have been retired from the service of An Chomhairle, as the case may be, and to have been in receipt of remuneration from An Chomhairle immediately before such death or retirement, as the case may be,

(iv) if he does not pay or if, having paid contributions under the scheme in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, he ceases to pay contributions as aforesaid, he shall, for the purposes of the scheme, be deemed to have resigned from such employment,

(I) in case he ceases to pay contributions as aforesaid—on the date of the last payment, and

(II) in any other case—immediately before the commencement of the secondment period.

(5) If a person who is or was an officer or servant of An Chomhairle becomes entitled to a pension under the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Acts, 1938 to 1960—

(a) he shall not be entitled to reckon the whole or any part of his period of pensionable service, within the meaning of those Acts, for any superannuation benefits payable under a scheme made in pursuance of section 13 of this Act,

(b) if he has paid any contributions in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of this section in respect of that period, so much thereof as is equal to the amount of the contributions which he would have paid in respect of that period under the scheme if he had remained without secondment under the said subsection (4) in the service of An Chomhairle during that period and had been in receipt of remuneration from An Chomhairle during that period, shall be returned to him if and when a payment of benefit or a return of other contributions is made to him under the scheme.

(6) A reference in subsections (4) or (5) of this section to the receipt by any person of remuneration from An Chomhairle shall be taken as a reference to the receipt by that person of remuneration from An Chomhairle at the rate at which he was being remunerated by An Chomhairle on the last day of his whole-time employment with An Chomhairle before his secondment under the said subsection (4).

(7) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein shall, while so entitled, be disqualified from becoming an officer or servant of An Chomhairle.

13. —(1) As soon as may be after the establishment day An Chomhairle shall prepare and submit to the Minister a contributory scheme or schemes for the granting of pensions, gratuities and other allowances on retirement to or in respect of its permanent staff (including the Chief Officer).

(2) Every such scheme shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to or in respect of 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.

(3) An Chomhairle 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 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 An Chomhairle in accordance with its terms.

(5) 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 shall be final.

(6) 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.

14. —(1) An Chomhairle shall, in such form as may be approved by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, keep all proper and usual accounts of all moneys received or expended by it and in particular shall keep in such form as aforesaid all such special accounts as the Minister may from time to time direct.

(2) Accounts kept in pursuance of this section shall be submitted annually by An Chomhairle to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit at such times as the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, directs 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.

15. —(1) An Chomhairle shall in each year, at such date as the Minister may direct, make a report to the Minister of both its proceedings under this Act and the proceedings of any industrial training committee set up under this Act, during the preceding twelve months ending on that date, and the Minister shall cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(2) An Chomhairle shall supply the Minister with such information as he may from time to time require.

16. —(1) In each financial year there may be paid to An Chomhairle, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, a grant of such amount as the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, may sanction towards the expenses of An Chomhairle in the performance of its functions.

(2) An Chomhairle may invest money in such manner as the Minister may approve.

17. —An Chomhairle may, with the consent of the Minister, given with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, borrow temporarily by arrangement with bankers such sums as it may require for the purpose of providing for current expenditure.

18. —(1) An Chomhairle may accept gifts of money, land or other property upon such trusts and conditions, if any, as may be specified by the donor.

(2) An Chomhairle shall not accept a gift if the conditions attached by the donor are inconsistent with the functions of An Chomhairle.