4.— The following section is inserted after section 16 of the Gas Act 1976:

“16A.— (1) In this section—

‘Gaslink’ means Gaslink Independent System Operator Ltd., being the company formed pursuant to Regulation 5 of the European Communities (Internal Market in Natural Gas) (BGE) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 760 of 2005);

‘terms and conditions’ includes a term existing under subsection (2);

‘transfer date’ means the date fixed by the Minister under subsection (3) on which the transfer plan takes effect;

‘transfer plan’ means the plan prepared under subsection (2)(a) and approved under subsection (2)(b);

‘vary’, in relation to terms and conditions, includes vary by—

(a) omitting any of those terms and conditions,

(b) adding to those terms and conditions, or

(c) substituting new terms and conditions for any of the first-mentioned terms and conditions.

(2) (a) The Board shall prepare a transfer plan for the transfer of assets and staff to Gaslink specified in subsection (1).

(b) The transfer plan shall be submitted to the Minister by the Board for his or her approval.

(c) The employment of those officers and servants of the Board who are designated in the transfer plan is transferred to Gaslink.

(d) An officer or servant of the Board whose employment is transferred to Gaslink and who was, immediately before the transfer, a member of a superannuation scheme established under section 18 for officers or servants of the Board, is entitled to continue to be a member of the scheme in accordance with its terms as in force from time to time.

(e) Subject to this section, each person whose employment is transferred in accordance with paragraph (c) is employed by Gaslink on terms and conditions no less favourable to that person than those on which the person was employed by the Board immediately before the transfer date.

(f) Nothing in this section has the effect of breaking a person’s contract of employment or continuity of employment for the purpose of applying to the person any other law relating to employment that would, apart from this section, apply to the person. In particular, this section does not affect a person’s accrued rights that the person had immediately before the transfer date in respect of any kind of leave.

(g) It is a term of employment of each transferred employee that the terms and conditions of that employment may be varied to the extent to which, and in the manner in which, the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment could, immediately before the transfer date, be lawfully varied.

(h) Nothing in this section prevents the terms and conditions of a transferred employee’s employment after the transfer date from being varied—

(i) in accordance with those terms and conditions, or

(ii) by or under an applicable law or agreement.

(3) The Minister may fix a date on which the transfer plan takes effect.”.