Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo arís chun deileáil leis an dara Bille seo.
The Courts (Supplemental Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 1990 which was initiated in the Seanad and passed by it on 14 March last has since been passed by Dáil Éireann with some amendments. I would now like to explain these amendments to this House.
Amendment No. 1 is purely a drafting amendment. It is desirable because of the frequency with which reference is made in the Bill to the Courts of Justice Act, 1936.
Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are consequential on amendment No. 1. Amendments Nos. 4 and 12 are connected. The purpose of amendment No. 4 is to extend the range of persons in respect of whom the Minister for Finance under section 4 of this Act may provide, by regulations, for the grant of a contributory spouses' and children's pension in order to include a person who dies while serving as a temporary judge of the Circuit Court or as a temporary justice of the District Court.
Amendment No. 12 would enable payment of a death gratuity to be made in respect of a deceased temporary judge or justice, thereby alleviating to some degree at least the hardship which occurs where a person appointed to act as a temporary Circuit Court judge or as a temporary justice of the District Court under section 14 and 51, respectively, of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936 dies before receiving a permanent appointment.
As the Minister mentioned in his Second Stage speech in Dáil Éireann, within the last year or so two justices of the District Court died in such circumstances and their spouses and children are left without entitlement to any benefit in respect of their judicial service. Had their appointments been of a permanent nature their spouses would receive a death gratuity under section 2 of the Courts of Justice and Court Officers Superannuation Act, 1961, as amended by section 8 of this Act. Also under section 4 of this Act, they would become eligible for a grant of pension under the contributory spouses' and children's pension scheme and their spouses and children would benefit accordingly. These two were the only deaths of temporary judges or justices which occurred in the period covered by this Act and the Minister for Justice considered it appropriate to make legislative provision for them and for similar cases in the future to give their next-of-kin the same benefits they would have received had the appointments been of a permanent nature.
Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 are connected and are consequential on amendment No. 4. They provide the means whereby the appropriate contributions can be made to the spouses' and children's pension schemes in respect of all the temporary service given by a deceased temporary judge or justice. This would be done by way of a reduction in the amount of the death gratuity which, as a result of amendment No. 12, would become payable in such circumstances.
Amendments No. 7 and 8 are connected and are also consequential on amendments No. 4. They extend the provision which would enable retrospective effect to be given to regulations made under section 4 of the Act to include temporary judges or justices. Without these amendments, no benefit under the contributory spouses' and children's pensions scheme would accrue to the widows and children of the deceased justices to whom I have already referred.
The purpose of amendments Nos. 9 and 10 is to enable transfer payments to be made to the European Community institutions in respect of members of the Judiciary or court officers who leave office with entitlement to preserved superannuation benefits and take up European Community appointments in the interests of Ireland. Under these arrangements, which would be optional for the persons affected, the amount of transfer payment would be equivalent to the estimated cost to the Exchequer of the preserved benefits. The European Community institution would award extra service credits under its own pension scheme to the person concerned based on the amount of the payment. Once a transfer payment is made, the person concerned would forfeit all entitlement to preserved benefits under this Act.
The introduction of transfer payment arrangements would not be incompatible with the purpose of the Bill as it would simply extend to judges and court officers a facility which has been available for some years to other public servants who take up European Community appointments. It would not involve an extra charge on public funds as the value of the transfer payments would match the value of the preserved benefits which would be surrendered.
Amendment No. 11 is consequential on amendment No. 4 which I have already explained. This amendment provides the mechanism for the laying of regulations before the Houses of the Oireachtas in respect of the grant of pension to the spouse or any child of a temporary judge or justice who dies in office.
Amendment No. 12 refers to payment of death gratuities in respect of temporary judges or justices. I have already dealt with this in conjunction with amendment No. 4.
Amendments Nos. 13, 14 and 15 are consequential on amendment No. 9 and provide that a transfer payment which would be made to European Community institution in respect of members of the Judiciary would be a charge on the Central Fund.
I trust that these new detailed explanations on the amendments which have been made by the Dáil are to the satisfaction of the House. I am sure the House will agree to these very important provisions.
