asked the Minister for Local Government if he will take the necessary steps to enable retired officers of local authorities to commute portion or all of their pensions along the same lines as civil servants, etc.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Retired Officers of Local Authorities: Commutation of Pensions.
28.
Up to the coming into operation of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948, pensionable local officers were entitled, on retirement, to an annual allowance based on 1/60th of pensionable remuneration for each year of service without any lump sum. The 1948 Act, which applied to officers appointed on or after the 1st April, 1948, and to existing officers at their option, provided for a lump sum and a smaller annual allowance based on 1/80th of pensionable remuneration for each year of service.
Existing legislation does not enable a local officer who has retired on pension to accept a lump sum in lieu of the whole or part of that pension and the introduction of amending legislation on the matter is not contemplated. Civil servants are in the same position as local officers in this respect.
In view of the hardship involved in certain cases would the Minister not consider introducing legislation to enable some of these retired local officers to commute part of their pension for a lump sum after they have been in receipt of a pension for some time?
In reply to the Deputy, possibly I should say—and it may cover the cases of hardship he has in mind—that there is in Section 51 of the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1956 a provision whereby an officer or servant of a local authority may on retirement surrender portion of his pension in consideration of an allowance for his wife or one specified dependant. This provision has been in operation since 1956.