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19 1957

ARMY PENSIONS ACT, 1957

PART III.

Amendment of the Acts.

Amendment of the Act of 1923.

31. —(1) The Act of 1923 is hereby amended by the substitution for section 9 of the following section:

Authority for grant of pensions, etc.

“9.—The authority for the grant of every pension, allowance and gratuity which may be granted under this Act shall be the Minister.”

(2) Section 46 of the Act of 1953 is hereby repealed.

Alteration of scales of wound pensions in case of officer discharged after the passing of this Act.

32. —In the case of an officer who is discharged from the forces on or after the date of the passing of this Act and who is entitled on such discharge to a wound pension under the Act of 1923, that Act shall apply to him as if, for the scales of pensions contained in the First Schedule thereto, there were substituted the scales of pensions contained in the Tables to subsection (2) of section 4 of this Act.

Provisions in relation to qualified persons and the payment of special allowances.

33. —(1) Where a person is a qualified person for the purposes of section 7 of the Act of 1943 by reason of—

(a) being a person who was a member of an organisation to which Part II of the Act of 1932 applies, and

(b) having been granted a medal in respect of continuous membership during the period of three months which ended on the 11th day of July, 1921, the Minister being satisfied that it was duly awarded,

and the Minister ceases to be satisfied that the medal was duly awarded, then, that person shall cease to be a qualified person for the purposes of the said section 7 of the Act of 1943 and, if a special allowance is in course of payment to him, the Minister may stop payment thereof.

(2) Where, by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, a person ceases to be a qualified person for the purposes of section 7 of the Act of 1943 and the Minister subsequently becomes satisfied that the medal referred to in paragraph (b) of the said subsection (1) was duly awarded to him, that person shall become a qualified person for the said purposes and section 7 of the Act of 1943 shall again operate to enable a special allowance to be granted to him from such date, not being earlier than the date on which payment of the allowance was stopped under subsection (1) of this section, as the Minister may determine.

(3) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the date of the passing of the Act of 1946.

Reconsideration of applications refused under section 4 of the Act of 1953.

34. —Where, either before or after the passing of this Act, an application for the grant of an allowance under paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 4 of the Act of 1953 was or is refused by reason of the fact that the applicant should not, in the opinion of the Minister for Finance, be treated, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, as a dependant of the deceased person in respect of whom the application was made, the Minister may from time to time reconsider the application at the request of the applicant and the said section 4 of the Act of 1953 shall operate in relation to every such request in the same manner as if it were the original application.

Amendment of Part II of the Act of 1953.

35. —(1) Where—

(a) an application for the grant of an allowance under Part II of the Act of 1953 was duly made by a relative of a deceased person in respect of whom that Part applies (in this section referred to as such deceased person), and

(b) the applicant dies before a decision on the application is reached, and

(c) the time within which such application may be made has expired,

then, notwithstanding section 6 of the Act of 1953, an application for the grant of an allowance under the said Part II may, not later than twelve months after the death of the deceased applicant or twelve months after the date of the passing of this Act, whichever is the later, be entertained from another relative of such deceased person (being a relative mentioned in section 4 of that Act).

(2) An allowance under Part II of the Act of 1953 which is granted pursuant to an application made by virtue of subsection (1) of this section shall, notwithstanding section 7 of that Act, commence on such date as the Minister may determine but such date shall not be earlier than the date of the passing of the Act of 1953.

Amendment of section 41 of the Act of 1953.

36. —The reference in subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 41 of the Act of 1953 to an application made not later than twelve months after the date of the passing of that Act shall be construed as a reference to an application made not later than twelve months after the date of the passing of this Act.

Gratuities to relatives of certain deceased persons.

37. —(1) Where a person who had been in receipt of a pension or an allowance (including a special allowance) under the Acts dies after the termination of the last award and before a new award had been made and where a new award would have been made but for the death of such person, the Minister may pay, in respect of such person a gratuity equal to the amount of the pension or allowance which would, at such person's death, have accrued due on foot of the new award.

(2) Where a gratuity in respect of any person may be paid under subsection (1) of this section, such gratuity shall (if granted) be paid—

(a) if such person leaves only one relative, to such relative,

(b) if such person leaves two or more relatives, to such one or more, exclusively of the others or other, of the said relatives as the Minister may appoint, and if such power is exercised in favour of more than one of them, in such shares as the Minister may appoint.

(3) For the purposes of this section, each of the following and no other persons shall be a relative of a deceased person—

(a) his widow,

(b) his son,

(c) his daughter,

(d) his mother,

(e) his father,

(f) his brother,

(g) his sister.

(4) section 12 of the Act of 1949 and section 44 of the Act of 1953 are hereby repealed.

(5) The preceding subsections of this section shall be deemed to have come into operation on and shall have effect on and from the 1st day of November, 1955.

Obligation to notify Minister of certain occurrences.

38. —(1) On the occurrence, in the case of a person who is in receipt of a special allowance and who was married before the 1st day of October, 1942, of the death of that person's spouse or child, that person shall, within one month of the date of such occurrence, notify the Minister or cause the Minister to be notified thereof in writing.

(2) Where a person fails to comply with subsection (1) of this section, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Where a person fails to comply with subsection (1) of this section and, as a consequence thereof, moneys to which he was not entitled have been paid to him by way of special allowance, that person or, if he is dead, his personal representative, shall be liable to repay to the Minister on demand such moneys.

(4) Where a person fails to comply with subsection (1) of this section, the amount of any moneys paid to him by way of special allowance in respect of his spouse or child, as the case may be, in respect of a period subsequent to the death of such spouse or child shall be a debt due by such person to the Minister and may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction or by deduction from any moneys payable under or by virtue of the Acts to or in respect of such person.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 10 of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, a prosecution for an offence under this section may be brought within six months after the date when evidence to sustain the prosecution came to the notice of the Minister, and a certificate under the hand of the Minister as to the date on which evidence to sustain such prosecution came to his notice shall, for the purposes of this section, be conclusive.

(6) In this section “child” has the same meaning as in section 7 of the Act of 1943.

(7) Section 43 of the Act of 1953 is hereby repealed.

Miscellaneous amendments of the Acts.

39. —The enactments mentioned in the Seventh Schedule to this Act are hereby amended in the manner indicated in the third column of that Schedule.