70.—(1) Where a member of the staff of the Board—

(a) accepts nomination as a member of Seanad Éireann,

(b) is elected to either House of the Oireachtas or to the European Parliament,

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

(d) becomes a member of a local authority,

he or she shall thereupon stand seconded from employment by the Board for the period specified in subsection (2).

(2) A person who stands seconded under subsection (1) shall not be paid by, or be entitled to receive from, the Board any remuneration in respect of the period commencing on such nomination or election or his or her membership of the local authority or the date on which he or she is so regarded as having been elected, as the case may be, and ending on the date on which he or she ceases to be a member of either such House or such Parliament or such local authority.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), that subsection shall be construed as prohibiting, among other things, the reckoning of a period mentioned in that subsection as service with the Board for the purposes of any superannuation benefits.

(4) 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 representative in the European Parliament or a member of a local authority shall, while he or she is so entitled or is such a representative or member, be disqualified from becoming a member of the staff of the Board.