5.— (1) F25[…]

(2) If a public service body pays remuneration to a public servant F23[, in respect of a period falling between 1 January 2010 and the date on which the Public Service Pay Act 2021 comes into operation,] at a rate higher than that provided for by the appropriate relevant provision, as taken to have been amended in accordance with section 2 F22[or 2A], then—

(a) the public servant shall hold the overpayment in trust for the public service body, and

(b) the public service body shall recover the amount of the overpayment from the public servant, either directly or by a deduction taken from remuneration subsequently payable to that public servant or otherwise.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not be taken as limiting the liability under statute of any person to account for such overpayment.

(4) Where an overpayment of an amount to which subsection (2) relates has not been recovered by the public service body concerned, the Minister may direct in writing that body to recover, by a specified date, the amount in accordance with subsection (2)(b) and, where that body fails to so recover the amount, the Minister may deduct the amount from any grant or vote of, or other payment to, that body out of money provided directly or indirectly by the Oireachtas or from the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund.

F24[(5) Notwithstanding section 4 or anything in this section, an existing power to fix terms and conditions of public servants may be exercised so as to effect an increase (whether generally or in respect of a specified class of public servant) in remuneration as provided for in—

(a) a collective agreement registered for the purposes of section 7 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013, or

(b) the Public Service Stability Agreement (within the meaning of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017).

(6) The following shall have effect notwithstanding anything in this section—

(a) any subsequent provision of this Act, being a provision inserted by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2015, and

(b) Part 2 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017.]