This Bill provides for an increase in the personal remuneration of the President and for certain improvements in the superannuation provisions that apply to a President or to the widow of a President. These provisions received a general welcome in the Dáil and I am confident that they will be given a similar reception in this House. The Bill complies with the provisions of the Constitution under which it is prescribed, in Article 12.11.2º, that the President shall receive such emoluments and allowances as may be determined by law.
Provision was first made for the emoluments and allowances of the President in the Presidential Establishment Act, 1938. This Act has been amended to date on only one occasion. Section 1 of the 1938 Act, as amended by the Presidential Establishment (Amendment) Act of 1947, prescribed a total sum of £11,500 as the emoluments and allowances to be received by the President. The sum of £11,500 is inclusive of the personal remuneration of the President. On 13th March last, our predecessors in Government decided that the President should in future receive a rate of personal remuneration 10 per cent in excess of the salary currently payable to the Chief Justice. This Bill gives effect to that decision and to certain other decisions taken by the former Government in regard to the pensions payable to ex-Presidents and their widows.
It was the intention of the former Government that the entertainment expenses of the President should in future fall as a charge on the miscellaneous Expenses Vote of the Department of Finance. Having regard to the Constitutional provisions relating to the emoluments of the President, the Government do not consider that it would be appropriate to charge such expenses in that way. This Bill maintains, therefore, the arrangement whereby the allowances and emoluments of the President consist, in accordance with the constitutional provisions, of two separate elements, the first to meet the expenses of the President's domestic establishment and the second, the personal remuneration of the President.
The provision to cover the expenses of the President's domestic establishment has stood at £6,500 since 1947. It is now being increased to £15,000. The increased figure is intended to do no more than to enable the President to meet the essential expenses of his office. Out of the £15,000 he will have to meet all the expenses that arise in connection with his performance of the duties of President, including the wages of the domestic establishment required for official purposes, together with the cost of official entertainment. The provision of £15,000 has been carefully calculated and I can give the House an assurance that it represents no more than is considered necessary to enable the President to discharge the obligations of his high office in a fitting fashion.
The basis of the President's personal remuneration, the salary proper of his post, is the subject of a fundamental change under this Bill. In future it will be determined at a rate of 10 per cent in excess of the salary currently payable to the Chief Justice, so that an increase in the President's rate of personal remuneration will follow automatically upon any increase in the Chief Justice's remuneration.
As far back as 1938, when the rate of pay of the first President was being determined, there was a link between the remuneration of the President and that of the Chief Justice. At that time, the President's rate of personal remuneation was fixed quite deliberately at a level 25 per cent above that of the Chief Justice. It is considered that it is only appropriate that there should be a differential in favour of the President. It is also considered that the differential of 10 per cent now being provided for is the appropriate one in present-day terms. When this Bill comes into operation the President's personal remuneration will, therefore, be fixed at £11,413 a year, a rate greater by £1,038 than that of the Chief Justice.
The existing rates of pension for a former President and for the widow of a former President have remained unchanged at £1,200 and £500 respectively since they were first fixed 35 years ago under the Presidential Establishment Act, 1938. They are clearly in need of revision by reference to present-day values.
Under this Bill a former President's pension will, for the future, be equal at any time to half the rate per annum of the personal remuneration of the President at that time. A President's widow's pension will in turn be equal to a quarter of the rate per annum of the personal remuneration of the President at that time. The new arrangements are in line with the practice that is generally followed in regard to public service pensions under which pensions are subject to a maximum of half of retiring pay while a widow's pension is half of her husband's pension entitlement.
Under this Bill the pension of a President, in present-day terms, will be £5,707 a year and that of his widow, £2,853 a year.
I commend this Bill for the approval of the Seanad.
