38. Section 18 of the Act of 1976 is amended—

(a) subject to paragraph (b), by substituting “majority-shareholding Minister” for “Minister” in each place that it occurs,

(b) in subsections (3) and (4), by substituting “having consulted with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform” for “with the concurrence of the Minister for the Public Service” in each place where it occurs,

(c) by substituting for subsection (6) the following:

“(6) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any pension, gratuity or allowance payable in pursuance of a scheme under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the majority-shareholding Minister who shall, having consulted with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, decide on the matter and this decision shall be final.”,

and

(d) by substituting for subsection (7A) (inserted by section 4 of the Act of 1987) the following:

“(7A) In this section—

‘officers or servants of the Board’ and ‘officer or servant of the Board’ each includes the following:

(a) persons who are, or were at any time, an officer or servant of the Dublin Gas Company, a company that is, or was at any time, a subsidiary (within the meaning of the Companies Act 1963) of the Dublin Gas Company or a company whose assets are acquired at any time by the Board;

(b) persons who are employees of Gaslink Independent System Operator Ltd., being the company formed pursuant to Regulation 5 of the European Communities (Internal Market in Natural Gas) (BGÉ) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 760 of 2005);

(c) persons who are at any time prior to the disposal date in relation to an energy company (each within the meaning of the Gas Regulation Act 2013) employees of that energy company; and

(d) persons who are employees of the network company (within the meaning of the Gas Regulation Act 2013),

‘on retirement or death’ includes in respect of retirement or death, and

‘on the resignation, retirement or death’ includes in respect of the resignation, retirement or death.”.