15.—(1) Where an employee (including the Director) of the Council is—

(a) nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann, or

(b) elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or to be a representative in the European Parliament, or

(c) regarded pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act, 1997, as having been elected to that Parliament,

he or she shall thereupon stand seconded from employment by the Council and shall not be paid by, or be entitled to receive from, the Council any remuneration, fees and allowances for expenses in respect of the period commencing on such nomination or election or when he or she is so regarded as having been elected, as the case may be, and ending when he or she ceases to be a member of either such House or such Parliament.

(2) A period referred to in subsection (1) shall not, for the purposes of any superannuation benefit, be reckoned as service with the Council.

(3) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein or who is a member of the European Parliament shall, while he or she is so entitled or is such a member, be disqualified from employment in any capacity by the Council.