32.— (1) In respect of the service of a Scheme member, pension benefit and lump sum benefit (including any such benefit that is a preserved pension or a preserved lump sum) accrued under the Scheme shall only be paid in accordance with this Part.

(2) Pensions payable under this Part shall be paid in arrears by a relevant authority and shall continue—

(a) throughout the life of the former Scheme member concerned, and

(b) where appropriate, after the former Scheme member’s death, during the period of entitlement in respect of any other person concerned.

(3) Where either or both a pension and lump sum benefit are payable under the Scheme to a relevant person with respect to whom the relevant authority is satisfied, on the certificate of a registered medical practitioner to whom subsection (6) applies, that the relevant person is unable by reason of mental or physical disability to give a receipt for the amount, that authority may, unless a court of competent jurisdiction has otherwise ordered, pay either or both the pension and lump sum benefit—

(a) wholly or partly to any institution or person having care of the relevant person, or

(b) as to part thereof, to any institution or person having care of the relevant person and, as to the remainder, wholly or partly to either or both—

(i) the spouse or civil partner of the relevant person, and

(ii) such persons as the relevant authority considers to be dependants of the relevant person,

and in such manner as the relevant authority thinks fit.

(4) Nothing in subsection (3) affects any enduring power of attorney provided for in accordance with Part II of the Powers of Attorney Act 1996.

(5) Any payments made under this section shall discharge such relevant authority as makes them as fully as if they were made directly to the relevant person.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (3) the certificate of a registered medical practitioner shall only be admissible if the practitioner satisfies the relevant authority that he or she has practised medicine for a period of 6 years since—

(a) his or her name was entered in the register of medical practitioners, or

(b) where the medical assessment to which the certificate relates has been carried out in a place outside the State, being entitled to practise medicine under the law of such place.

(7) In this section “relevant person” means a person in receipt of a pension under the Scheme.