PART IV

Cesser of Local Pension Committees, etc., and Consequential Provisions

18. —Sections 162 (2), 164, 165 and 166 of the Principal Act are hereby repealed.

19. —(1) The Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for the Public Service, appoint such and so many persons as he thinks fit to be social welfare officers for the purposes of Chapter 3 of Part III of the Principal Act.

(2) Every officer so appointed shall investigate into and report to the Minister upon every claim for or in respect of an old age pension and any question arising out of or in relation to such pension which may be referred to him by the Minister.

20. —(1) The offices of clerk to a local pension committee and clerk to a local pension sub-committee shall cease to exist.

(2) The Minister may provide for the payment of compensation to a clerk who, at the time of the cesser of his office by virtue of this section, was in receipt of and entitled to retain the remuneration payable in respect of his office.

(3) The amount of the compensation payable to a person under this section shall be equal to—

(a) one week's remuneration for each completed year of his service up to fifteen years, and

(b) two weeks' remuneration for each completed year of his service in excess of fifteen years,

subject to a maximum of seventy-eight weeks' remuneration, his remuneration being taken to be the remuneration payable to him at the time of the cesser of his office by virtue of this section.

21. —Section 4 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion in subsection (1) of “and the expenses of the local pension committees under Chapter 3 of Part III up to an amount approved by the Minister”.

22. —Section 159 of the Principal Act (as amended by the Amendment Act of 1981) is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of the following paragraph:

“(c) the means of the person as calculated in accordance with the Rules contained in the Third Schedule must not exceed the appropriate highest amount of means at which pension may be paid to that person in accordance with section 161.”.

23. —Section 167 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2) Subject to regulations under section 170 (4), where old age pension is first allowed the pension shall commence to accrue on the first Friday after the date on which the claim for the pension is received by the Minister or on the first Friday after the date on which the claimant first becomes entitled to the pension, whichever is the later or, if the later of those two dates is a Friday, on that Friday.”.

24. —Section 169 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the deletion of subsection (6), and

(b) by the substitution for subsection (7) of the following subsection:

“(7) Where a person who is in receipt of old age pension is liable to repay to the Minister any sums under subsection (3), the Minister shall be entitled, without prejudice to his powers under that subsection, to direct the deduction of those sums from any sums to which that person becomes entitled on account of old age pension, as provided by regulations made for the purpose under section 170: provided that, in the case of a personal representative the deduction shall only be made from any sum to which that person becomes entitled as a personal representative.”.

25. —Section 170 of the Principal Act (as amended by the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 ) is hereby amended by the substitution for subsections (1) to (3) of the following subsections:

“(1) The Minister may, in consultation with An Post (so far as relates thereto), make regulations for the purposes of this Chapter—

(a) specifying the evidence to be required as to the fulfilment of statutory conditions, and

(b) specifying the manner in which claims to pensions may be made.

(2) The regulations shall provide for enabling claimants for pensions to make their claims and obtain information as respects old age pensions under this Chapter through An Post and for provisionally allowing claims to pensions before the date on which the claimant will become actually entitled to the pension, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be laid down by the regulations.

(3) Regulations may also be made for enabling a person to be appointed to exercise, on behalf of any claimant or pensioner who is, by reason of any mental or other incapacity, unable to act, any right to which that claimant or pensioner may be entitled under this Chapter and to authorise any person so appointed to receive, on behalf of and for the benefit of the claimant or pensioner, any sums payable by way of old age pension.”.

26. —Section 175 of the Principal Act (as amended by the Amendment Act of 1981) is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:

“(1) Every blind person who has attained the age of 18 years shall be entitled to receive and to continue to receive such pension (in this Act referred to as a blind pension) as under this Chapter he would be entitled to receive if he had attained pensionable age; and the provisions of this Chapter shall apply in all respects in the case of such person subject to the modification that, for the statutory condition contained in section 159 (1) (a) there shall be substituted the conditions that the person must be a person who has attained the age of 18 years and that he is so blind that he either cannot perform any work for which eyesight is essential or cannot continue his ordinary occupation.”.

27. —Section 296 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of the following paragraph:

“(b) Part III (social assistance) other than Chapter 6 (supplementary welfare allowance),”.

28. —Section 298 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of—

(a) in subsection (1) “or by a local pension committee”, and

(b) subsection (2).

29. —The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of securing the continuity of this Part with any provisions repealed or amended by this Part.

30. —This Part shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.