PART V

Staff of Industrial Development Agency (Ireland)

36. —(1) IDA may appoint such and such number of persons to be members of the staff of IDA as it may determine with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(2) A subsidiary may appoint such and such number of persons to be members of the staff of the subsidiary as it may determine with the consent of IDA, the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(3) The grades of the staff of IDA or a subsidiary and the numbers of staff in each grade and the appropriate level of remuneration for each grade shall be determined by the Board or the board of the subsidiary, as the case may be, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(4) Where a member of the staff of IDA or the staff of a subsidiary—

(a) is nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann,

(b) is elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative into the European Parliament, or

(c) is regarded, pursuant to section 19 of the European Parliament Elections Act, 1997 , as having been elected to the European Parliament to fill a vacancy,

he or she shall thereupon stand seconded from his or her employment with IDA or a subsidiary and shall not be paid by, or be entitled to receive from IDA, remuneration or allowances in respect of the period commencing on such nomination or election, or when he or she is so regarded as having been elected (as the case may be), and ending when he or she ceases to be a member of that House or a representative in that Parliament.

(5) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein or who is a representative in the European Parliament shall, while he or she is so entitled or is such a representative, be disqualified from becoming a member of the staff of IDA or a subsidiary.

(6) In this section “subsidiary” means a subsidiary acquired or formed and registered by IDA pursuant to section 5 of the Act of 1995.

(7) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.

37. —(1) A person seconded from Forfás under paragraph 2(2) of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1993 to IDA, who is on such secondment immediately before the commencement of this section, shall cease to be a member of the staff of Forfás and shall become a member of the staff of IDA.

(2) Save in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated with any recognised trade unions or staff associations concerned, a person referred to in this section, shall not while in the service of IDA, receive a lesser scale of pay or be made subject to less beneficial terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office) than the scale of pay to which he or she was entitled and the terms and conditions of service (including conditions relating to tenure of office) to which he or she was subject immediately before becoming a member of the staff of IDA.

(3) Superannuation benefits granted under schemes under section 38 to persons who, immediately before the commencement of this section, were members of the staff of Forfás seconded to IDA and the terms and conditions relating to those benefits shall not be less favourable to those persons than those to which they were entitled immediately before that day.

(4) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.

38. —(1) IDA shall prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of such members of the staff of IDA as it may think fit.

(2) Every such scheme shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to or in respect of whom superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme or schemes and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(3) Every such scheme may be amended or revoked by a subsequent scheme prepared, submitted and approved under this section.

(4) A scheme submitted by IDA under this section shall, if approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by IDA in accordance with its terms.

(5) No superannuation benefit shall be granted by IDA nor shall any other arrangements be entered into by IDA for the provision of such a benefit to or in respect of a member of the staff of IDA otherwise than in accordance with a scheme under this section or with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(6) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit payable in pursuance of a scheme or schemes under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister who shall refer it to the Minister for Finance, whose decision shall be final.

(7) A scheme 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 scheme is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(8) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.