10.— (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5), in this Part “Scheme member” means a person who is not serving in a public service body as a pensionable public servant on the day immediately preceding the operative date but becomes a pensionable public servant on or after such date.

(2) Where—

(a) on the day immediately preceding the operative date a pensionable public servant—

(i) stands seconded from the public service to a body not in the public service (whether or not within the State), or

(ii) is absent on leave with or without pay from the public service,

and

(b) that pensionable public servant is entitled to resume his or her office or position or another office or position within the public service,

then that pensionable public servant shall not be a Scheme member on such resumption within the public service on or after the operative date and, accordingly, the provisions applicable in respect of his or her pensionable public service shall apply in the same manner as those provisions would have applied to such a pensionable public servant if he or she had been serving in the public service on the day immediately preceding the operative date.

(3) Where—

(a) a person duly receives a written offer of appointment as a pensionable public servant before the operative date and takes up that offer on or after that date,

(b) subject to section 48, a person was serving in a public service body as a pensionable public servant before the operative date and left the relevant office or position but, subsequently, takes up appointment as a pensionable public servant—

(i) under the same contract of employment as he or she had been so serving under, or

(ii) within 26 weeks after his or her last day of service before that date,

or

(c) a person stood admitted immediately before the operative date as a trainee Garda to the Garda College,

and where—

(I) but for this subsection, the person concerned would be a Scheme member, and

(II) where paragraph (a) applies, the terms of the offer of appointment would be contravened if subsection (1) were to apply,

then the person shall not be a Scheme member and the provisions applicable in respect of his or her pensionable public service shall apply in the same manner as those provisions would have applied to that person if he or she had been serving in the public service on the day immediately preceding the operative date.

(4) Where at any time before the operative date a person was a member of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament or was a holder of a qualifying office but was not such a member or holder on the operative date, then, subject to section 48, such person shall not be regarded as a Scheme member for the purposes of any superannuation benefit payable in respect of any subsequent membership of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament or the holding of any qualifying office.

(5) Where on or after the operative date a pensionable public servant who is not a Scheme member ceases to serve in a public service body, then, subject to section 48, that person shall, if he or she subsequently takes up a pensionable office or position within the public service, be regarded as a Scheme member in respect of such subsequent service unless he or she takes up appointment—

(a) under the same contract of employment, or

(b) as a public servant no later than 26 weeks following the last day of service prior to cessation.