8.—(1) An Foras may, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, make a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of persons appointed, or transferred by section 7, to whole-time positions on the staff of An Foras.

(2) A scheme under subsection (1) shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to or in respect of whom superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme or schemes and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(3) An Foras may, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, make a scheme amending or revoking a scheme under this section including a scheme under this subsection.

(4) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit payable in pursuance of a scheme or schemes 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.

(5) No superannuation benefit shall be granted by An Foras on the resignation, retirement or death of a member of the staff of An Foras otherwise than in accordance with a scheme or schemes under this section.

(6) A scheme under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the scheme is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything done thereunder.

(7) (a) A scheme or schemes under subsection (1) shall, as respects a person transferred by section 7 to a whole-time position on the staff of An Foras, provide for the granting to or inrespect of him of superannuation benefits upon and subject to terms and conditions that are not less favourable to him than the terms and conditions applied to him immediately before the day on which he was so transferred in relation to the grant of such benefits.

(b) Where, during the period between the establishment day and the coming into operation of a scheme under this section, superannuation benefits would have been granted to or in respect of a person transferred by section 7 to the staff of An Foras in respect of his employment with An Chomhairle or the Agency or as an officer of the Minister, the superannuation benefits shall be granted and paid to or in respect of the person by An Foras.

(c) (i) The assets, rights and liabilities (including the obligation to make payments in respect of superannuation benefits) of or under any scheme for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of members of the staff of An Chomhairle or the Agency shall on the establishment day vest in An Foras without any further conveyance, transfer or assignment for, as respects the assets, all the estate, term or interest, as the case may be, for which the assets were vested in An Chomhairle or the Agency, as the case may be, immediately before the establishment day.

(ii) All moneys, stocks, shares and securities transferred to An Foras by this subsection that, on the establishment day, are standing in the books of any corporation or company in the name of An Chomhairle or the Agency or of any person who, on the establishment day, is a trustee of a scheme for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of members of the staff of An Chomhairle or the Agency shall, upon the request of An Foras, be transferred into its name or into the name of such person as it may specify.

(8) (a) The Minister for Finance shall make such contribution as may, with his consent, be specified in a scheme or schemes under this section towards the superannuation benefits related to reckonable service (within the meaning of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1963) given before the day on which he was transferred by section 7 to the staff of An Foras which may be granted to or in respect of a member of such staff who, immediately before that day, was an officer of the Minister and who was designated by the Minister under section 7 and such scheme or schemes shall, with the like consent, fix the manner and times of the payment of such contribution.

(b) Moneys required to be paid by the Minister for Finance under paragraph (a) shall be advanced out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(9) In this section and in section 9 “superannuation benefits” means pensions, gratuities and other allowances payable on resignation, retirement or death.