1.— In this Act—

“Act of 2009” means the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009;

F1["aggregation of public service pensions" means the aggregation under subsection (3) of section 2 or subsection (5) of section 2A of two or more public service pensions payable to a pensioner for the purposes of the application of subsection (1) or (2) of section 2 or subsection (3) of section 2A, as the case may be, in relation to the pensioner;]

“Civil Service” means the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State;

“lump sum” means a lump sum payment or gratuity payable on retirement, at a preserved pension age or on death, under a public service pension scheme;

“Minister” means the Minister for Finance;

“office holder” means—

(a) the President,

(b) the holder of a qualifying office,

(c) a member of either House of the Oireachtas,

(d) a member of the judiciary,

(e) a military judge appointed under Chapter IVC of Part V of the Defence Act 1954 (as amended by the Defence (Amendment) Act 2007),

(f) a member of a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2001, or

(g) a member of the European Parliament for a constituency in the State, being a member who is in receipt of the salary specified in section 2(2) of the European Parliament (Irish Constituency Members) Act 2009;

“paying authority”, in relation to a public service pension, means the person or body responsible for making payments of the public service pension under the public service pension scheme concerned, or causing such payments to be made, to or in respect of a public servant or former public servant;

F2["pension adjustment order" means an order under—

(a) section 12 of the Family Law Act 1995,

(b) section 17 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996,

(c) section 121 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, or

(d) section 187 of that Act; ]

“pensioner” F3[, subject to section 2A (inserted by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013),] means a person who—

(a) is entitled to payment of a public service pension under a public service pension scheme,

(b) has a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme in respect of which the preserved pension age of the person falls on or before the relevant date, or

(c) is a spouse or child of a public servant or former public servant and who becomes entitled to payment of a public service pension as a spouse or child of that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, under a public service pension scheme at any time after the relevant date but only if that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, was entitled before that date to payment of a public service pension under a public service pension scheme in respect of service as a public servant from which the entitlement of the spouse or child derives;

“preserved benefit” has the meaning it has in the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004;

“preserved pension age”, in relation to a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme, means the age of the public servant or former public servant concerned at which the preserved benefit becomes payable to him or her under the scheme;

“public servant” means a person who is employed by, or who holds any office or other position in, a public service body and includes an office holder;

“public service body” means—

(a) the Civil Service,

(b) the Garda Síochána,

(c) the Permanent Defence Force,

(d) a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001,

(e) the National Treasury Management Agency,

(f) the Health Service Executive,

(g) F4[subject to section 1A,] the Central Bank of Ireland,

F5[(h) an education and training board,]

(i) the Economic and Social Research Institute,

(j) the Institute of Public Administration,

(k) a body (other than a body specified or referred to in the Schedule) established—

(i) by or under an enactment (other than the Companies Acts), or

(ii) under the Companies Acts in pursuance of powers conferred by or under another enactment, and financed wholly or partly by means of moneys provided, or loans made or guaranteed, by a Minister of the Government or the issue of shares held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government,

in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made,

(l) a body (other than a body specified or referred to in the Schedule) that is wholly or partly funded directly or indirectly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas or from the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund and in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made,

(m) any subsidiary of, or company controlled (within the meaning given by section 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) by, a body to which paragraph (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) or (l) relates and in respect of which a public service pension scheme exists or applies or may be made;

“public service pension” means a periodic payment of a pension or other benefit by whatever name called, which is not a lump sum, payable to or in respect of a public servant or former public servant under a public service pension scheme;

“public service pension scheme” means an occupational pension scheme or pension arrangement, by whatever name called, for any part of the public service which—

(a) is provided for under—

(i) the Superannuation Acts 1834 to 1963, or

(ii) any other enactment or administrative measure for the like purpose and to the like effect as those Acts, or

(b) is made by a relevant Minister or has been approved or requires the approval or consent, however expressed, of a relevant Minister or the Minister or both of those Ministers of the Government,

F6[but, other than a scheme made in respect of the Central Bank of Ireland, does not include]—

(i) such a scheme or arrangement—

(I) in respect of a body specified or referred to in the Schedule, or

(II) in respect of a body other than a body specified or referred to in the Schedule that is a relevant scheme within the meaning of section 40 of the Pensions Act 1990 and to which Part IV of, and the Third Schedule to, that Act apply, or

(ii) the scheme entitled the Eircom Superannuation Scheme;

“qualifying office” has the same meaning as it has in section 13 (inserted by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act 1977) of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938, that is to say—

(a) a ministerial office within the meaning of that section as amended by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1973), or

(b) a secretarial office within the meaning of that section as amended by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act 1983 and the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001);

“relevant date” means the date specified by the Minister in an order made pursuant to section 3(1)(b)(ii) of the Act of 2009;

“relevant Minister”, in relation to a public service pension scheme, means the Minister or Ministers of the Government responsible for the making or approval of, or the giving of consent to, the scheme;

“subsidiary” means a subsidiary within the meaning of the Companies Acts.

1A.— (1) This Act applies in respect of the Central Bank of Ireland only with its consent, given in writing to the Minister by the Governor of that Bank, and with the consent of the Minister for Finance given in writing to the Minister.

(2) Where the consents referred to in subsection (1) have been given to the Minister, the Minister shall cause a notice to that effect to be published in Iris Oifigiúil and shall specify in the notice the date from which this Act applies to the persons concerned, which date shall not be earlier than the date on which the last such consent was given. ]

2.— (1) The annualised amount of a public service pension payable in accordance with his or her entitlement to a person who—

(a) is a pensioner, or

(b) becomes a pensioner on or at any time before the relevant date or, in the case of a pensioner falling under paragraph (c) of the definition of “pensioner” in section 1, at any time after that date,

where the annualised amount payable is not more than €34,132 shall be reduced—

(i) with effect on and from 1 January 2016 and subject to subparagraphs (ii) and (iii), in accordance with Table A to this subsection,

(ii) with effect on and from 1 January 2017 and subject to subparagraph (iii), in accordance with Table B to this subsection, and

(iii) with effect on and from 1 January 2018, in accordance with Table C to this subsection.

TABLE A

TABLE B

TABLE C

(2) The annualised amount of a public service pension payable in accordance with his or her entitlement to a person who—

(a) is a pensioner, or

(b) becomes a pensioner on or at any time before the relevant date or, in the case of a pensioner falling under paragraph (c) of the definition of “pensioner” in section 1, at any time after that date,

where the annualised amount payable is not more than F9[€39,000] shall be reduced—

(i) with effect on and from 1 January 2016 and subject to F10[the following subparagraphs], in accordance with Table A to this subsection,

(ii) with effect on and from 1 January 2017 and subject to F11[the following subparagraphs], in accordance with Table B to this F12[subsection,]

(iii) with effect on and from 1 January 2018, F13[and subject to the following subparagraphs] in accordance with Table C to this F14[subsection,]

F15[(iv) with effect on and from 1 January 2019 and subject to subparagraph (v), in accordance with Table D to this subsection, and

(v) with effect on and from 1 January 2020, in accordance with Table E to this subsection.]

TABLE A

TABLE B

TABLE C

F16[TABLE D

TABLE E

(3) If—

(a) two or more public service pensions are payable to a person, and

(b) the annualised amount of all such pensions payable in accordance with the person’s entitlements exceeds €32,500,

all such pensions shall be aggregated for the purposes of the application of subsections (1) and (2).

(4) (a) Where the application to a pensioner of subsection (2) would result in the annualised amount of his or her public service pension being lower than would be the case if he or she had been on a pension specified in subsection (1) and that subsection applied to him or her, then subsection (2) shall be deemed to operate, in relation to that pensioner, in such a manner and by reference to the provisions of subsection (1) (the “relevant provisions”), as will result in his or her pension standing at the highest it would have stood at, as a result of that operation of subsection (2) by reference to the relevant provisions, had he or she been on whichever lower amount of pension produces the most beneficial result for him or her in consequence of the relevant provisions.

(b) In this subsection a reference to a subsection or to the provisions of a subsection includes a reference to the Tables in that subsection.

(5) Where a pension adjustment order has been made in relation to a public service pension, the annualised amount of the public service pension shall be reduced under this section before it is paid in accordance with the provisions of the pension adjustment order.

(6) This section has effect notwithstanding—

(a) any provision by or under—

(i) any other enactment,

(ii) any statute or other document to like effect of a university or other third level institution,

(iii) any pension scheme or arrangement,

(iv) any circular or instrument or other document, or

(v) any written agreement or contractual arrangement, or

(b) any verbal agreement, arrangement or understanding or any expectation.

(7) In this section a reference to the annualised amount of a public service pension payable in accordance with a person’s entitlement is a reference to that entitlement not taking into account any reduction imposed by virtue of the operation of this Act whether as enacted or as amended by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013.]

2A.— (1) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the definition of "pensioner" in section 1 shall apply with the modification that references to the relevant date in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the definition shall be read as references to 31 August 2014 or such other date as may be specified in accordance with section 9(1)(b)(ii) of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013;

(b) "relevant (post 29 February 2012) pensioner" means, subject to subsection (2), a person who became a pensioner after 29 February 2012, or becomes such after the passing of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013, but no later than 31 August 2014 or such other date as may be specified in accordance with section 9(1)(b)(ii) of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 and the annual pension of whom (in either case) exceeds €32,500.

(2) In subsection (1)(b) the words "but no later than 31 August 2014 or such other date as may be specified in accordance with section 9(1)(b)(ii) of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013" shall be disregarded in the case of a pensioner falling under paragraph (c) of the definition in section 1 of "pensioner", as that definition applies by virtue of subsection (1)(a).

F18[(3) The annualised amount of a public service pension payable in accordance with his or her entitlement to a person who is a relevant (post 29 February 2012) pensioner shall be reduced—

(a) with effect on and from 1 January 2016 and subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), in accordance with Table A to this subsection,

(b) with effect on and from 1 January 2017 and subject to paragraph (c), in accordance with Table B to this subsection, and

(c) with effect on and from 1 January 2018 in accordance with Table C to this subsection.

TABLE A

TABLE B

TABLE C

(4) Where the application to a pensioner of subsection (3) F18[and the appropriate Table] in that subsection would result in the annualised amount of his or her public service pension being reduced to less than €32,500, then that subsection and Table shall only operate to reduce the annualised amount of his or her public service pension to €32,500.

(5) If two or more public service pensions, the annual amount of which, taken together, exceeds €32,500, are payable to a pensioner, all such pensions shall be aggregated for the purposes of applying subsection (3) in relation to the pensioner.

(6) Where a pension adjustment order has been made in relation to a public service pension, the annualised amount of the public service pension shall be reduced under this section before it is paid in accordance with the provisions of the pension adjustment.

(7) This section has effect notwithstanding—

(a) any provision by or under—

(i) any other enactment,

(ii) any statute or other document to like effect of a university or other third level institution,

(iii) any pension scheme or arrangement,

(iv) any circular or instrument or other document,

(v) any written agreement or contractual arrangement,

or

(b) any verbal agreement, arrangement or understanding or any expectation.]

F22[3.— Nothing in section 2 or 2A shall affect the calculation of any public service pension entitlement (including an entitlement to a lump sum and an entitlement to periodic payments of pension or other benefits) of a person who—

(a) in the case of section 2, is a pensioner or becomes a pensioner on or at any time before the relevant date or, in the case of a pensioner falling under paragraph (c) of the definition of “pensioner” in section 1, at any time after that date; and

(b) in the case of section 2A, falls within the definition of "relevant (post 29 February 2012) pensioner" in that section.]

4.—F23[(1) Without prejudice to subsection (2), reductions of public service pensions under section 2 F24[or 2A] shall be paid or disposed of as the Minister may direct and, in particular, the Minister may, for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions, direct a paying authority—

(a) to reduce the annualised amount of a public service pension payable by the paying authority to a pensioner by the total amount of the reduction that applies in relation to the pensioner under section 2 F24[or 2A] in respect of all public service pensions payable to him or her, or

(b) not to reduce the annualised amount of a public service pension payable by the paying authority to a pensioner in accordance with section 2 F24[or 2A].]

(2) Where the amount of any reduction in a public service pension under section 2 F25[or 2A] has not been duly paid or disposed of in accordance with a direction of the Minister under subsection (1), the Minister may recover the amount from the paying authority concerned as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(3) If a paying authority, having failed or refused to pay or dispose of reductions of public service pensions under section 2 F25[or 2A] in accordance with a direction of the Minister under subsection (1), does not do so within 28 days after the service by post by the Minister of a notice on the authority requiring it to do so, the High Court may, on an application made to the Court by the Minister, make an order directing the authority to remit the reductions to the Minister within such time as may be specified in the order.

(4) An order of the High Court under subsection (3) may contain such terms and conditions (if any) as to the payment of costs as the Court considers appropriate.

5.— (1) Where the amount of a public service pension is reduced by section 2 F26[or 2A]—

(a) a pensioner is not entitled to receive an amount of public service pension greater than the amount so reduced, and

(b) F27[subject to a direction given by the Minister under section 4(1) for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions,] no paying authority is entitled to pay an amount of public service pension to the pensioner greater than the amount so reduced.

(2) F28[Subject to a direction given by the Minister under section 4(1) for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions, if a paying authority pays to a pensioner] an amount of public service pension greater than the amount reduced under section 2 F26[or 2A], then—

(a) the pensioner shall have no legal entitlement to the overpayment, and

(b) the paying authority shall recover the amount of the overpayment from the pensioner, either directly or by a deduction taken from the public service pension subsequently payable to that pensioner 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 paying authority concerned, the Minister may direct in writing that authority to recover, by a specified date, the amount in accordance with subsection (2)(b) and, where that authority fails or refuses to so recover the amount, the Minister may deduct the amount from any grant or vote, or other payment, to that authority out of moneys provided directly or indirectly by the Oireachtas or from the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund.

6.— Where the Minister is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist (because of some particular aspect or condition relating to the public service pension or the public service pension scheme concerned, including the funding of that pension or scheme) in respect of a particular class or group of pensioners and those circumstances materially distinguish that class or group from other classes or groups of pensioners to which section 2 F29[or 2A] applies, then, the Minister, if he or she considers it to be just and equitable in all the circumstances to do so, may by direction—

(a) exempt that class or group from the operation of section 2, either entirely or to such extent as the Minister considers appropriate, or

(b) modify the operation of section 2 F29[or 2A] to reduce their public service pensions in such manner as the Minister thinks fit, having regard to the nature and degree of the financial burden that would otherwise be borne by that class or group,

and this Act, and any regulations made under this Act, shall be read subject to any such direction.

6A. — (1) A pensioner shall, in relation to himself or herself, provide to a paying authority such information as is necessary for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions in relation to that pensioner.

(2) Any person, other than a pensioner, who is in receipt (whether in respect of himself, herself or otherwise) of a public service pension, or a part thereof, payable to the pensioner shall provide to a paying authority such information as is necessary for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions in relation to that pensioner.

(3) A paying authority may transfer to the Minister or any other paying authority such information that is provided to the paying authority under subsection (1) or (2)—

(a) as the paying authority considers necessary,

(b) as may be requested by the Minister, or

(c) as may be requested by that other paying authority,

for the purposes of the aggregation of public service pensions in relation to the pensioner concerned.]

6B.— (1) A pensioner shall, in relation to a public service pension, supply his or her personal public service number to the paying authority concerned.

(2) A person, other than a pensioner, who is in receipt (whether in respect of himself, herself or otherwise) of a public service pension, or a part thereof, payable to the pensioner shall, in relation to the public service pension, supply the personal public service number of the pensioner to the paying authority concerned.

(3) A paying authority may use the personal public service number of a pensioner as a unique identifier to record information in respect of a public service pension payable to the pensioner and, whenever it transfers information in relation to that pensioner to the Minister or another paying authority, it may use that number which shall, where appropriate, be deemed to have been supplied under subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be.

(4) In this section "personal public service number", in relation to a pensioner, has the meaning it has in section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.]

7.— (1) Section 2 of the Act of 2009 is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(2A) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) and Table 1 to this section shall, for the purpose of the application of those provisions to the remuneration of the holders of certain offices specified in this subsection, have effect on and from 1 January 2011 as if the reductions provided for in subsection (2) and that Table were as follows and a relevant provision that fixes the remuneration, or any part of the remuneration, of the holders of any of those offices shall be taken to have been so amended with effect on and from that date:

(a) in the case of the Taoiseach, a 25 per cent reduction of remuneration in lieu of a reduction of 20 per cent of remuneration;

(b) in the case of the Tánaiste, a 19.5 per cent reduction of remuneration in lieu of a reduction of 15 per cent of remuneration; and

(c) in the case of a Minister of the Government, a 19.5 per cent reduction of remuneration in lieu of a reduction of 15 per cent of remuneration.”.

(2) The reference in Table 1 to section 2 of the Act of 2009 to “Minister” shall be construed as being, and always to have been, a reference to a Minister of the Government.

8.— Section 3 of the Act of 2009 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), by the substitution of “in receipt of a pension under a public service pension scheme” for “in receipt of a pension or has a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme, and”,

(b) in subsection (1)(b), by the substitution of the following for subparagraph (ii):

“(ii) a later date specified by the Minister by order in accordance with subsection (3),

or a person who was at some time before the date specified under subparagraph (ii) a public servant and has a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme in respect of which the preserved pension age of the person falls on or before that date, and”,

(c) in subsection (1), by the addition of the following paragraph:

“(c) a person who is a spouse or child of a public servant or former public servant and who becomes entitled to payment of a public service pension as a spouse or child of that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, under a public service pension scheme at any time after the date specified under paragraph (b)(ii) but only if that public servant or former public servant, as the case may be, was entitled before that date to payment of a public service pension under a public service pension scheme in respect of service as a public servant from which the entitlement of the spouse or child derives.”, and

(d) by the addition of the following subsection:

“(4) In this section—

‘preserved benefit’ has the meaning it has in the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004;

‘preserved pension age’, in relation to a preserved benefit in a public service pension scheme, means the age of the public servant or former public servant concerned at which the preserved benefit becomes payable to him or her under the scheme.”.

9.— The Act of 2009 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 9:

“Restriction on application of direction given by Minister.

9A.— The direction given by the Minister under section 6 in respect of a particular class or group of public servants to whom Table 2 to section 2 applies shall apply only in relation to the remuneration payable to that class or group and shall not apply for the purposes of calculating the pension entitlements (including an entitlement to a lump sum and an entitlement to periodic payments of pension or other benefits) of members of that class or group at any time after the date specified in an order made under section 3(1)(b)(ii).”.

10.— F32[…]

11.— (1) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this Act or in consequence of any of its provisions or for the purpose of enabling any provision to have full effect.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations for the purposes of the calculation, making, collection, disposal and recovery of the reductions of public service pensions under section 2 F33[or 2A].

(3) Regulations made by the Minister under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

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

F34[12.— (1) Subsection (2) applies where a doubt, question or dispute arises in the operation of this Act in respect of—

(a) whether a person is or is not a person whose public service pension is subject to section 2 F35[or 2A], or

(b) a case in which section 2 F35[or 2A] applies to a public service pension, the manner in which it so applies, including in circumstances where a pension adjustment order has been made in relation to the public service pension.

(2) The doubt, question or dispute concerned shall—

(a) be submitted to the Minister by the paying authority in relation to the public service pension concerned, and

(b) be determined by the Minister after consulting such persons (if any) as the Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances,

and the determination of the doubt, question or dispute by the Minister shall be final.]

13.— The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following section for section 11:

“11.— (1) The Minister shall, by order, declare a national minimum hourly rate of pay for the purposes of this Act of €7.65.

(2) The Minister may, by order, amend or revoke an order under this section (including an order under this subsection).

(3) The Minister may make an order under subsection (2) whether or not a recommendation under section 12 or 13 has been made.

(4) The Minister shall, for the purpose of deciding whether or not to make an order under subsection (2), take account of the following matters:

(a) changes in earnings during the period since the most recent making of an order under this section;

(b) changes in currency exchange rates during that period;

(c) whether during that period—

(i) unemployment has been increasing or decreasing, and

(ii) employment has been increasing or decreasing;

(d) the likely effect that the proposed order will have on—

(i) levels of employment and unemployment,

(ii) the cost of living, and

(iii) national competitiveness; and

(e) where a recommendation has been made under section 12 or 13, that recommendation.

(5) The national minimum hourly rate of pay declared by order under this section may include an allowance in respect of board and lodgings, board only or lodgings only at such rates as are specified in the order.”,

(b) by the substitution, in subsection (2) of section 12, of “(4)” for “(1)”,

(c) in section 13, by—

(i) the substitution, in subsection (5), of the words “matters specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (4) of section 11.” for “following matters:”,

(ii) the deletion, in that subsection, of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c),

(iii) the insertion of the following subsection:

“(5A) A recommendation under subsection (4) or (5) shall not be made after the expiration of 13 weeks from the making of the request under subsection (3).”, and

(iv) the substitution, in subsection (7), of “section 11(4)” for “section 11(1)”.

14.— This Act may be cited as the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010.