No. 3/1992:

OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) AND MINISTERIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY OFFICES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1992

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1. Definitions.

2. Salary for members of Oireachtas.

3. Allowances for expenses for members of Oireachtas.

4. Allowance payable under section 3 to be exempt from income tax.

5. Termination allowances for former members of Oireachtas.

6. Amendment of section 13 of Principal Act.

7. Ministerial pensions and secretarial pensions.

8. Pensions for widowers of deceased office holders.

9. Restrictions of sections 13A and 13B of Principal Act.

10. Amendment of Principal Act (new Part).

11. Amendment of Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1962.

12. Amendment of section 4 of Act of 1938.

13. Clarification of section 19 (3) of Principal Act.

14. Amendment of section 4 of European Assembly (Irish Representatives) Act, 1979.

15. Repeal.

16. Short title and collective citation.

ACTS REFERRED TO

Number 3 of 1992

No. 3/1992: OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) AND MINISTERIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY OFFICES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1992

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE OIREACHTAS (ALLOWANCES TO MEMBERS) ACTS, 1938 TO 1983, THE MINISTERIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY OFFICES ACTS, 1938 TO 1983 AND SECTION 4 of THE EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY (IRISH REPRESENTATIVES) ACT, 1979 .

[18th March, 1992]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1.—In this Act—

"the Act of 1938" means the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1938 ;

"the Act of 1952" means the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1952 ;

"the Act of 1977"' means the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1977 ;

"the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions Scheme" means the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions Scheme which was made under section 6A of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1938 (inserted by section 5 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1960 ), and came into operation on the 1st day of December, 1960, as amended by the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1986 ( S.I. No. 431 of 1986 ), the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Scheme, 1986 ( S.I. No. 432 of 1986 ) and the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions (Amendment) Scheme, 1988 ( S.I. No. 223 of 1988 );

"Minister of State" means a person appointed under section 1 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1977 , to be a Minister of State at a Department of State;

"the Principal Act" means the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act, 1938 .

2.—The allowance payable to each member of the Oireachtas under section 2 of the Act of 1938 shall be designated as an annual sum by way of salary and references to the said allowance in that Act or any other Act of the Oireachtas or in any instrument made under any Act of the Oireachtas shall be construed accordingly.

3.—(1) There shall be paid to each member of the Oireachtas out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas an annual sum (referred to subsequently in this section as "an allowance") in full settlement of expenses—

( a ) which are. not otherwise reimbursed, directly or indirectly, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, and

( b ) which the member is obliged to incur—

(i) in the performance of his duties as a member of the Oireachtas, and

(ii) in case the member is also the holder of an office referred to in Part II of the Principal Act, in the performance of the duties of that office.

(2) An allowance shall be payable monthly in respect of periods for which the person concerned is paid an annual sum by way of salary under section 2 of the Act of 1938 (as amended by section 2 of this Act).

(3) An allowance shall not be taken into account for the purposes of calculating superannuation benefits or the allowances payable under section 5 of this Act or under Part V of the Principal Act (inserted by section 10 of this Act).

(4) The Minister for Finance may by regulations determine—

( a ) the date from which an allowance is payable,

( b ) the rate of an allowance payable to a member or members of Dáil Éireann,

( c ) the rate of an allowance payable to a member or members of Seanad Éireann,

( d ) any method of future revision of an allowance, and

( e ) conditions governing payment of an allowance.

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

4.—(1) An allowance payable under section 3 of this Act shall be exempt from income tax and shall not be reckoned in computing income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts.

(2) The provisions of rules 3 and 4 of Schedule 2 to the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall not apply or have effect in relation to expenses in full settlement of which an allowance is payable under the said section 3 and no claim shall lie under those rules in respect of those expenses:

Provided that where a Minister of the Government, the Attorney General or a Minister of State, being—

( a ) a member of Dáil Éireann for a constituency which is outside the county borough and the administrative county of Dublin, or

( b ) a member of Seanad Éireann whose main residence is situated outside the said county borough and administrative county,

is, arising out of the performance of his duties as an office holder or as a member of the Oireachtas, obliged to maintain a second residence, in addition to his main residence, he shall be granted a deduction under the said rule 3 in respect of expenses incurred by him in maintaining that second residence.

5.—(1) A member of either House of the Oireachtas who ceases to be such a member may, on such cesser and subject to regulations made under this section, be granted an allowance, referred to subsequently in this section as "a termination allowance", payable out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) The Minister for Finance may by regulations determine—

( a ) the rate or rates of a termination allowance payable to a former member or members of Dáil Éireann,

( b ) the rate or rates of a termination allowance payable to a former member or members of Seanad Éireann, and

( c ) in respect of a former member or members of either House of the Oireachtas, such restrictions and conditions governing entitlement to and payment of a termination allowance as the Minister thinks fit.

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

(4) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order, being a day not earlier than the passing of this Act.

6.—Section 13 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion of the following definitions—

"the operative date" means the first day on which a Taoiseach is elected by Dáil Éireann following the general election for Dáil Éreann which next occurs after the passing of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992 ;

'pre-qualified person' means a person to whom section 13A of this Act (inserted by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992 ) does not apply, and who, on or prior to the operative date, has completed not less than 3 years' service in a qualifying office or in a number of such offices.".

7.—The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 13 of the following sections:

"13A. Ministerial pensions and secretarial pensions.

(1) This section shall apply to—

( a ) any person who, on the operative date—

(i) has not previously served in a qualifying office, or

(ii) has served in a qualifying office, or in a number of such offices, for less than 1,095 days,

( b ) any person who—

(i) is on the operative date a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament or is appointed as Attorney General on that date or who, on the last day on which Dáil. Éireann met prior to that date—

(I) held a qualifying office, or

(II) was a member of Dáil Éireann and had previously held the office of Taoiseach,

and

(ii) on or prior to the operative date has completed not less than 1,095 days' service in a qualifying office, or in a number of such offices, and

(iii) not later than 3 months after the operative date—

(I) elects, in such a manner as the Minister for Finance may determine, that this section should apply in his case, or

(II) dies and has not so elected,

and

( c ) any person, other than a person referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection, who—

(i) prior to the operative date has completed not less than 1,095 days' service in a qualifying office, or in a number of such offices, and

(ii) after the operative date, becomes a member of either House of the Oireachtas or becomes a representative in the European Parliament or is appointed as Attorney General, and

(iii) who, not later than 3 months after the date on which he becomes a member of either such House or becomes a representative in the European Parliament or the date of such appointment, as appropriate—

(I) elects, in such a manner as the Minister for Finance may determine, that this section should apply in his case, or

(II) dies and has not so elected:

Provided that this section shall not apply to—

( a ) a person who satisfies the conditions set out in subparagraphs (b) (i) and (b) (ii), or in subparagraphs (c) (i) and (c) (ii), of this subsection and who, within the period of 3 months referred to in subparagraph (b) (iii) or subparagraph (c) (iii) of this subsection, as appropriate, elects, in such a manner as the Minister for Finance shall determine, that this section should not apply in his case, or

( b ) a deceased person referred to in sub-paragraph (b) (iii) (II) or subparagraph (c) (iii) (II) of this subsection, if the amount of a pension payable under section 20 of this Act to the widow or widower of that person would thereby be reduced.

(2) With effect from the operative date or, in the case of a person to whom this section applies by virtue of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section, the date referred to in subparagraph (iii) of the said paragraph (c), sections 14, 16 and 17 of this Act shall cease to apply to any person to whom this section applies and any pension in payment to such person pursuant to the said sections 14, 16 and 17 shall be discontinued.

(3) Subject to subsection (7) of this section—

( a ) a person to whom this section applies and who on ceasing to hold a qualifying office has completed not less than 3 years of ministerial service shall, on such cesser, be entitled to a ministerial pension, and

( b ) any other person to whom this section applies and who on ceasing to hold a qualifying office has completed not less than 3 years of secretarial service shall, on such cesser, be entitled to a secretarial pension.

(4) For the purposes of this section—

( a ) the number of years of a person's ministerial service shall be taken to be the result obtained by dividing by 365 the aggregate of—

(i) the number of days during which the person held a ministerial office,

and, if the number of such days is not less than 1,095,

(ii) half the number of days, if any, during which the person held a qualifying office other than a ministerial office,

( b ) the number of years of a person's secretarial service shall be taken to be the result obtained by dividing by 365 the total number of days during which the person held a qualifying office:

Provided that any fraction of a year in the result obtained under paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection shall be disregarded.

(5) ( a ) A pension under this section shall be at the rate of 25 per cent. of the appropriate salary, plus 5 per cent. of the appropriate salary for each additional year of service in excess of 3 years, subject to a maximum of 7 such additional years.

( b ) In this subsection 'the appropriate salary' means:

(i) as respects a ministerial pension—

(I) in case the person concerned has held the office of Taoiseach, the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to the Taoiseach,

(II) in case the person concerned has held the office of Tánaiste for a period of not less than 3 years, the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to the Tánaiste,

(III) in case the person concerned has held the office of Tánaiste for a period of less than 3 years, the amount arrived at by the formula

D x S1 + (T—D) x S2

T T

where D is the number of days during which the person served as Tánaiste, T is the total number of days during which the person served in a ministerial office (subject to a maximum of 3,650 days), S1 is the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to the Tánaiste and S2 is the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste,

(IV) in any other case, the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste,

(ii) as respects a secretarial pension—

(I) in case the person concerned—

(A) held a ministerial office on or after the 1st day of January, 1978, or

(B) has served for not less than 3 years in a qualifying office, or in a number of such offices, other than an office which became a qualifying office by virtue of sub section 5 (1) of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices (Amendment) Act, 1983 ,

the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to the holder of the office of Minister of State,

(II) in any other case, the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary in respect of the last qualifying office, other than a ministerial office, held by the person concerned.

( c ) In this subsection 'service' means ministerial service in the case of a person who is entitled to a ministerial pension and secretarial service in the case of a person who is entitled to a secretarial pension.

(6) A person shall not be entitled to a pension under this section with effect from a date which is earlier than the operative date.

(7) ( a ) Where a person who is entitled to a pension under this section applies to the Minister for Finance therefor, such pension shall commence to be payable—

(i) in case he so applies not later than 6 months after the date on which he became so entitled, as and from that date, and

(ii) in any other case, as and from the date of his application.

( b ) Subject to paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subsection, a person shall not be entitled to a pension under this section if—

(i) he is in receipt of a severance allowance under Part V of this Act, or

(ii) he has not attained the age of 55 years.

( c ) Subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of this subsection shall not apply to a person in respect of whom it is established to the satisfaction of the Minister for Finance that he is precluded from earning a lively-hood by reason of permanent physical or mental disability.

( d ) Notwithstanding the said subparagraph (ii), a person who has attained the age of 50 years and who, but for the said subparagraph (ii), would be entitled to a pension under this section may, on application to the Minister for Finance therefor, be paid such pension—

(i) in case he applies not later than 6 months after the date on which, but for the said subparagraph (ii), he would have been entitled to such pension, as and from that date, and

(ii) in any other case, as and from the date of his application,

but such pension (referred to subsequently in this section as 'a discounted pension') shall be reduced by such amount as, having regard to the person's age on the date on which the pension commences to be paid, shall be prescribed by regulations made from time to time by the Minister for Finance.

( e ) Where a discounted pension is paid to a person, and such pension ceases to be payable pursuant to subsection (1) of section 23 of this Act, then, if the person concerned subsequently becomes entitled to a pension under this section, the provisions of paragraph (d) of this subsection shall continue to apply in respect of that portion of the pension which relates to service given prior to his application to the Minister for Finance under the said paragraph (d).

( f ) Subject to subsection (8) of this section, the amount of a pension or a discounted pension under this section shall be reduced by 50 per cent. during any period during which the person to whom it is payable is a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament.

(8) Subsection (7) (f) of this section shall not apply to a person who has held the office of Taoiseach.

13B. Special pension arrangements for pre-qualified persons.

(1) This section applies to any person who is a pre-qualified person and who holds a qualifying office on or after the operative date.

(2) As and from the operative date, section 14 or section 16 of this Act, as appropriate, shall not apply to a person to whom this section applies in respect of service given by him after that date.

(3) In this section, 'original pension', in relation to a person to whom this section applies, means the pension to which that person was entitled under section 14 or section 16 of this Act, as appropriate, on the operative date, or, if the person held a qualifying office on that date, the pension to which he would have been so entitled if he had ceased to hold office on that date.

(4) Subject to subsection (7) of this section, a person to whom this section applies who ceases to hold a qualifying office after the operative date shall be entitled to receive, in addition to his original pension, a further pension (referred to subsequently in this section as 'a supplementary pension').

(5) ( a ) The amount of a supplementary pension shall be—

(i) in the case of a person whose original pension is a ministerial pension, 5 per cent. of the appropriate salary (within the meaning of section 13A of this Act) multiplied by the number of relevant years,

(ii) in the case of a person whose original pension is a secretarial pension and who on ceasing to hold a qualifying office after the operative date would, but for subsection (2) of this section, have been entitled to a ministerial pension under section 14 of this Act, an amount equal to the difference between—

(A)the amount of the ministerial pension which would then be payable to the person if such pension was calculated in accordance with subsections (4) and (5) of section 13A of this Act, and

(B) the amount of the person's original pension,

(iii) in the case of a person, other than a person referred to in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, whose original pension is a secretarial pension, 5 per cent. of the appropriate salary (within the meaning aforesaid) multiplied by the number of relevant years.

( b ) The number of relevant years for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be taken to be—

(i) in the case of a person to whom sub-paragraph (i) of the said paragraph (a) applies, the result obtained by dividing by 365 the aggregate of:

(A) the number of days, if any, during which such person held a ministerial office after the operative date, and

(B) one-half of the number of days, if any, during which such person held a secretarial office after the operative date, and

(C) the number of days, if any, of such person's pensionable service (within the meaning of section 14 of this Act) which were, or would have been, disregarded in the calculation of such person's original pension,

(ii) in the case of a person to whom sub-paragraph (iii) of the said paragraph (a) applies, the result obtained by dividing by 365 the aggregate of:

(A)the number of days during which such person held a qualifying office after the operative date, and

(B) the number of days, if any, of such person's pensionable service (within the meaning of section 16 of this Act) which were, or would have been, disregarded in the calculation of such person's original pension:

Provided that—

(I) any fraction of a year in either of the results aforesaid shall be disregarded, and

(II) in any case where the aggregate of the number of relevant years as defined above and the number of years of pensionable service which were or would have been reckoned in the calculation of the original pension of the person concerned exceeds 10, the number of relevant years shall be taken to be the result obtained by subtracting from 10 the number of such years of pensionable service.

(6) As and from the operative date, section 17 of this Act shall, in the case of a person to whom this section applies, apply only in respect of that person's original pension.

(7) Subsections (7) and (8) of section 13A of this Act shall apply in respect of a supplementary pension as if such supplementary pension were a pension under the said section 13A.".

8.—The provisions of the Act of 1952 and of section 20 of the Principal Act shall apply to widowers of deceased holders of qualifying offices (within the meaning of Part IV of the Principal Act) and the provisions of the said section 20 shall apply to the children of all such holders and, accordingly—

( a ) references in the Act of 1952 and in the said section 20 to a widow, a widow's pension and a mother, shall be construed as including references to a widower, a widower's pension and a father, respectively,

( b ) the reference in section 21 (4) of the Principal Act to widows' pensions shall be construed as including a reference to widowers' pensions, and

( c ) the reference in section 10 (2) of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1968 , to a widow's pension shall be construed as including a reference to a widower's pension.

9.—Where a widow's pension or a widower's pension is payable under section 20 of the Principal Act or under the Act of 1952 in respect of a deceased person who has held a qualifying office—

( a ) the amount of such pension shall be calculated as if paragraphs (b) and (f) of subsection (7) of section 13A of the Principal Act (inserted by section 7 of this Act) or, where appropriate, subsection (7) of section 13B (inserted by the said section 7) of The Principal Act did not apply in the case of the said deceased person, and

( b ) if the said deceased person held a qualifying office before the operative date as defined in section 13 of the Principal Act (amended by section 6 of this Act), the amount of such pension shall not in any case be less than the pension which would have been payable if—

(i) the said deceased person had served for less than 1,095 days in a qualifying office other than a ministerial office (within the meaning of Part IV of the Principal Act), and

(ii) the said section 13A did not apply in the case of the said deceased person.

10.—The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 24 of the following Part:

"PART V

Severance payments to former holders of certain Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices

25 Definitions for the purposes of Part V

In this Part 'operative date', 'pre-qualified person' and 'qualifying office' have the meanings assigned to them by Part IV of this Act.

26 Entitlement to severance allowance

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, a person who ceases to hold a qualifying office on or after the operative date and who is not immediately appointed to another such office shall, if he is not a pre-qualified person, be entitled to a payment referred to subsequently in this Part as 'a severance allowance'.

(2) If a person who holds a qualifying office on the dissolution of Dáil Éireann next before the operative date ceases to hold the said office prior to the operative date and is not paid a pension under Part IV of this Act in respect of the period between such cesser and the operative date, then, for the purposes of this Part, such cesser shall be deemed to have occurred on the operative date.

27 Certain persons ineligible for severance allowance

A person who ceases to hold a qualifying office in order to take up a position to which he is appointed by the Government, or for which he is nominated by the Government for appointment, shall not be entitled to a severance allowance on foot of such cesser.

28 Commencement and cesser of severance allowance

Subject to section 30 of this Act, a person's entitlement to a severance allowance shall commence on the day following his cesser of office, and shall cease on the expiry of a period equal to the lesser of—

( a ) the period during which, immediately prior to such cesser, he has served in a qualifying office or offices without a break in such service, or

( b ) a period of 2 years,

or, if earlier, on his appointment to a qualifying office or on his appointment to a position referred to in section 27 of this Act:

Provided that a person may at any time apply in writing to the Minister for Finance for the cesser of the severance allowance payable to him, and if he so applies, his entitlement to such allowance shall cease with effect from such date as is specified in the application.

29 Annual rate of severance allowance

(1) The annual rate of a severance allowance shall be—

( a ) if the period during which the allowance is payable is not more than 6 months in duration, 75 per cent. of the relevant salary,

( b ) if the period during which the allowance is payable is more than 6 months and not more than 18 months in duration, 75 per cent. of the relevant salary for the first 6 months and 50 per cent. of the relevant salary for the remainder of that period, or

( c ) if the period during which the allowance is payable is more than 18 months in duration, 75 per cent. of the relevant salary for the first 6 months and 50 per cent. of the relevant salary for the next 12 months and 25 per cent. of the relevant salary for the remainder of that period.

(2) In subsection (1) of this section 'the relevant salary' means—

( a ) if throughout the relevant period the person held the same qualifying office or a number of qualifying offices to which the same rate of salary was applicable, the salary for the time being appropriate to the office which the person held on the last day of such period, and

( b ) in any other case, the aggregate of the amounts obtained by the formula—

S X D

P

in respect of each qualifying office held by the person during the relevant period, where S is the salary for the time being appropriate to such office, D is the number of days during which such office was so held and P is the total number of days in the relevant period, subject to a maximum of 730:

Provided that, where a person has held the office of Attorney General at any time during the relevant period, the relevant salary in the case of such person shall be calculated as if the salary for the time being appropriate to the office of Attorney General was the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to a member of the Government other than the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste.

(3) In subsection (2) of this section 'the relevant period' means the period referred to in paragraph (a) of section 28 of this Act or, in case such period exceeds 2 years in duration, the final 2 years of such period.

30 Recalculation or resumption of severance allowance in certain circumstances

(1) Where a person is entitled to a severance allowance in respect of a period of service in a qualifying office (referred to subsequently in this section as 'the first term'), and that entitlement ceases on his appointment to a qualifying office for a further period (referred to subsequently in this section as 'the second term'), he may, on the expiry of the second term, apply in writing to the Minister for Finance that his entitlement to a severance allowance in respect of the second term should be calculated as if the first and second terms had constituted an unbroken period of service, and if he so applies, his entitlement shall be so calculated, subject to an appropriate reduction in that entitlement, which reduction shall be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for Finance, having regard to the amount of the severance allowance paid to him in respect of the first term.

(2) If a person referred to in subsection (1) of this section does not make the application provided for in the said subsection (1), and the severance allowance payable to him in respect of the second term ceases to be paid on a date which is earlier than the date on which his entitlement to a severance allowance in respect of the first term would have ceased if he had not been appointed to a qualifying office for the second term, his severance allowance in respect of the first term shall be resumed with effect from the first day following the cesser of his severance allowance in respect of the second term, and shall be paid for such further period, and at such rate, as would have applied on the said first day if his entitlement in respect of the first term had not previously ceased.

31 Special allowance for former Taoisigh

(1) Where a person who has held the office of Taoiseach for a period of not less than 1 year is entitled to a severance allowance under this Part and his entitlement to such allowance ceases otherwise than on his appointment to a qualifying office, and

( a ) he has not then attained the age of 55 years, and

( b ) he has not applied for a discounted pension, such person shall thereupon become entitled to an allowance (referred to subsequently in this Part as 'a special allowance') at the rate of 25 per cent. of the annual sum payable for the time being by way of salary to the Taoiseach.

(2) A special allowance under this section shall cease to be payable if the person concerned—

( a ) is appointed to a qualifying office, or

( b ) becomes entitled to a pension under Part IV of this Act, or

( c ) applies for a discounted pension under Part IV of this Act.

32 Payment of allowances under Part V out of Central Fund

Every allowance payable under this Part of this Act shall be granted by the Minister for Finance and shall be charged upon and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.".

11.—(1) The Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act, 1962, is hereby amended by the substitution for section 2 of the following section:

"2 Telephone and postal facilities

(1) The following facilities shall, subject to such exceptions, restrictions and conditions as may be provided for by regulations, be granted to a member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann:

( a ) free telephone calls from Leinster House, and

( b ) free postal facilities arising out of the member's parliamentary duties.

(2) A contribution towards the cost of telephone calls made by a member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann otherwise than from Leinster House shall, subject to such exceptions, restrictions and conditions as may be provided for by regulations, be granted to that member.

(3) In this section 'Leinster House' includes any office premises provided by the State in the vicinity of Leinster House for use by members of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann.

(4) Subsection (2) of this section shall come into, operation on such day as the Minister for Finance: may appoint by order, being a day not earlier than the passing of the Oireachtas (Allowances to, Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992. ".

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 25th day of December, 1962.

12.—(1) Section 4 of the Act of 1938, as amended by the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1964 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

"(2A) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, where on or after the 24th day of August, 1990, a member of either House is required, in connection with his parliamentary duties, to make a journey to Dublin from a place outside the State, in circumstances in which the Minister is satisfied that the necessity to make the journey in question could not reasonably have been foreseen by the member concerned, and the member thereby incurs travel expenses which are not recoupable from any other source, he may be granted travelling facilities in respect of that journey.".

(2) Subsection (4) of section 4 of the Act of 1938 shall not have effect in relation to a claim made by a member in respect of a journey to which subsection (2A) (inserted by this Act) of the said section 4 applies, if such journey was made before the passing of this Act.

13.—(1) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the reference in subsection (3) of section 19 of the Principal Act to "a pension or allowance" shall not be construed as a reference to any payment under the Houses of the Oireachtas (Members) Pensions Scheme.

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of December, 1960.

14.—(1) Section 4 of the European Assembly (Irish Representatives) Act, 1979 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (4):

"(5) In this section 'pensions' means pensions, gratuities and other allowances on death or on ceasing otherwise to hold office as a representative in the European Parliament.".

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of September, 1983.

15.—(1) Subsection (4) (inserted by section 6 (b) of the Act of 1977) of section 3 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 18th day of March, 1980.

16.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1992 .

(2) The Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Acts, 1938 to 1983, and sections 2 to 55 and 11 and 12 of this Act, and this subsection, may be cited together as the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Acts, 1938 to 1992.

(3) The Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Acts, 1938 to 1983, and this Act, in so far as it amends those Acts, may be cited together as the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Acts, 1938 to 1992.