21.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (5) of section 7 of the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act, 1944, whenever an officer of a vocational education committee is suspended under section 7 of that Act the committee may, if it thinks fit, make with the consent of the Minister payments ex-gratia to the suspended officer in lieu of the remuneration which, but for that suspension, would have been payable to that officer.

(2) Any sum paid under subsection (1) of this section shall be repayable by the officer to the vocational education committee and may be deducted from any moneys payable by the committee to that officer.

(3) Any sum paid under subsection (1) shall not be reckoned as salary or emolument for the purposes of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1980.

(4) This section shall apply to officers of a college F59[to whom subsections (3) and (4) (inserted by the Institutes of Technology Act 2006) of section 12 apply] suspended under this Act as it applies to officers of a vocational education committee with the substitution, in subsection (1), for “the committee may, if it thinks fit,” of “the college may, if its governing body thinks fit,” and, in subsection (2), of references to the college for references to such committee.