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11 1952

SOCIAL WELFARE ACT, 1952

PART II.

Insured Persons and Contributions.

Insured persons.

4. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act—

(a) every person who on or after the appointed day, being over the age of sixteen years and under pensionable age, is employed in any of the employments specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, not being an employment specified in Part II of that Schedule, shall be an employed contributor for the purposes of this Act, and

(b) every person becoming for the first time an employed contributor shall thereby become insured under this Act and shall thereafter continue throughout his life to be so insured.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, where a person ceases to be an employed contributor otherwise than by reason of attaining pensionable age and not less than one hundred and fifty-six employment contributions have been paid in respect of him, he shall, on making application in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period, be entitled to become an insured person paying contributions under this Act voluntarily (in this Act referred to as a voluntary contributor).

(3) A voluntary contributor shall, if he becomes an employed contributor, cease to be a voluntary contributor.

(4) Regulations may provide for including among employed contributors persons employed in any of the employments specified in Part II of the First Schedule to this Act.

(5) Regulations may provide for—

(a) excluding particular employments or any classes of employment from the employments specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, or

(b) adding to the employments so specified particular employments or any classes of employment,

and, where the Minister considers that any modifications of this Act are appropriate having regard to the purpose for which the regulations are made, the regulations may make those modifications.

(6) Where regulations are proposed to be made for the purposes of subsection (4) or subsection (5) of this section, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.

General provision as to moneys for benefits, etc.

5. —For the purpose of providing moneys for meeting the expenditure on benefit and making any other payments which under this Act are to be made out of the Fund, there shall be—

(a) contributions (in this Act referred to as employment contributions) in respect of employed contributors, each of which shall comprise a contribution by the employed contributor and a contribution (in this Act referred to as the employer's contribution) by the employer of the employed contributor,

(b) contributions (in this Act referred to as voluntary contributions) in respect of voluntary contributors, and

(c) payments out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Contributions generally.

6. —(1) Employment contributions shall be weekly contributions which shall be paid by employed contributors and employers of employed contributors at the rates specified in the Second Schedule to this Act.

(2) Voluntary contributions shall be weekly contributions which shall be paid by voluntary contributors who are under pensionable age at the rate of one shilling and sixpence for a contribution week in the case both of male voluntary contributors and of female voluntary contributors.

(3) Employment contributions and voluntary contributions shall be paid into the Fund.

(4) An employment contribution shall be payable for each contribution week during the whole or any part of which an employed contributor has been employed by an employer, but—

(a) where one contribution has been paid in respect of an employed contributor for any such week, no further contribution shall be payable in respect of him for the same week, and

(b) where no remuneration has been received for, and no services have been rendered by an employed contributor during, any such week, or where no services have been rendered by an employed contributor during any such week and the employed contributor has been in receipt of disability benefit or maternity allowance for the whole or any part of that week, the employer shall not be liable to pay any contribution either on his own behalf or on behalf of the employed contributor for that week.

(5) The employer shall, as respects any employment contribution, be liable in the first instance to pay both the employer's contribution comprised therein and also, on behalf of and to the exclusion of the employed contributor, the contribution comprised therein payable by such contributor.

(6) An employer shall be entitled, subject to and in accordance with regulations, to recover from an employed contributor the amount of any contribution paid or to be paid by him on behalf of that contributor, and, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, regulations for the purposes of this subsection may authorise recovery by deductions from the employed contributor's remuneration, but any such regulations shall provide that—

(a) where the employed contributor does not receive any pecuniary remuneration either from the employer or from any other person, the employer shall not be entitled to recover the amount of any such contribution from him, and

(b) where the employed contributor receives any pecuniary remuneration from the employer, the employer shall not be entitled to recover any such contribution otherwise than by deductions.

(7) Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, an employer shall not be entitled to deduct from remuneration of a person employed by him, or otherwise to recover from such a person, the employer's contribution in respect of that person.

(8) Any sum deducted by an employer from remuneration under regulations for the purposes of this section shall be deemed to have been entrusted to him for the purpose of paying the contribution in respect of which it was deducted.

(9) Regulations may alter the rates of employment or voluntary contributions, but, where such regulations are proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.

Exception from liability for, and crediting of, contributions.

7. —Regulations may provide for—

(a) making exceptions from the liability to pay contributions for any specified periods, and

(b) crediting contributions to insured persons for any specified periods, including, in particular—

(i) periods for which there is an exception from the liability to pay contributions by virtue of paragraph (a) of this section, and

(ii) the period between the beginning of the contribution year last preceding that in which they become insured persons and their entry into insurance.

Regulations as to payment of contributions.

8. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, regulations may provide for any matters incidental to the payment and collection of contributions and in particular for—

(a) payment of contributions by means of adhesive stamps (in this Act referred to as insurance stamps) affixed to cards (in this Act referred to as insurance cards) or otherwise, and for regulating the manner, times, and conditions in, at, and under which insurance stamps are to be affixed or payments are otherwise to be made;

(b) the issue, custody, production, and surrender of insurance cards and the replacement of insurance cards which have been lost, destroyed, or defaced;

(c) treating, for the purpose of any right to benefit, contributions paid after the due dates as paid on those dates or on such later dates as may be prescribed, or as not having been paid;

(d) the recovery (without prejudice to any other remedy), on prosecutions brought under or by virtue of this Act, of contributions.

(2) Regulations for the purposes of this section providing for the payment of contributions, at the option of the persons liable to pay, either—

(a) by means of insurance stamps, or

(b) by some alternative method, the use of which involves greater expense in administration to the departments of State concerned than would be incurred if the contributions were paid by means of insurance stamps,

may include provision for the payment to the Minister by any person who adopts any alternative method, and for the recovery by the Minister, of the prescribed fees.

(3) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of the fees referred to in subsection (2) of this section and all such fees shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs from time to time and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of that Minister.

Return of sums paid in error by way of contributions.

9. —Regulations shall provide for the return, subject to any conditions, restrictions and deductions specified in the regulations, of any sums paid in error by way of contributions.

Preparation and issue of insurance stamps, etc.

10. —(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, insurance stamps shall be prepared and issued in such manner as the Revenue Commissioners, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may direct, and the said Commissioners may, by regulations made by them, provide for applying, with the necessary adaptations, as respects insurance stamps, all or any of the provisions, including penal provisions, of the following enactments, that is to say, sections 21, 35 and 36 of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act, 1890, the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891, section 9 of the Stamp Act, 1891, and section 65 of the Post Office Act, 1908, and may, with the consent of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, provide for the sale of insurance stamps through the Post Office.

(2) The Government may by order provide that any powers and duties of the Revenue Commissioners with reference to insurance stamps shall be exercised and performed by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, either to the exclusion of the Revenue Commissioners or concurrently with the Revenue Commissioners, and any such order may contain such provisions as appear to the Government to be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the exercise and performance of the duties to which such order relates in the manner provided by such order.

Persons employed by more than one employer, etc.

11. —(1) In relation to persons who—

(a) are employed by more than one employer in any contribution week, or

(b) work under the general control or management of some person other than their immediate employer,

and in relation to any other cases for which it appears to the Minister that special provision is needed, regulations may provide that for the purposes of this Act the prescribed person shall be treated as their employer.

(2) The regulations made by virtue of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section may provide for adjusting the rights between themselves of the person prescribed as the employer, the immediate employer and the persons employed.

Modifications in the case of persons in certain employments.

12. —(1) Regulations may modify the provisions of this Act in their application in the case of—

(a) persons employed in any of the employments specified in paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, or

(b) persons employed in a statutory transport undertaking, or

(c) persons employed as teachers in national schools under the Rules and Regulations for National Schools, or

(d) persons employed as teachers in secondary schools recognised by the Minister for Education under the Rules and Programme for Secondary Schools, or

(e) persons employed as members of the Army Nursing Service.

(2) The provisions of this section are without prejudice to the generality of any other provision of this Act providing for regulations.

Modifications in the case of insured persons outside the State.

13. —(1) Regulations may modify the provisions of this Act in their application in the case of persons who are or have been outside the State while insured under this Act.

(2) The modifications which may be made by regulations for the purposes of this section shall, in particular, include the deletion of the words “in the State” in paragraph 1 of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act.

(3) The provisions of this section are without prejudice to the generality of any other provision of this Act providing for regulations.