Vol. 521 No. 4
227 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the pension payable to a retired district judge having served as a judge for ten years; for between ten to 20 years; for between 20 to 30 years; and the widow or widower's pension payable. [17373/00]
The provisions relating to judicial pensions are contained in the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts, 1961 to 1998, and the Court Officers Acts, 1926 to 1998.
Section 26 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Officers (Amendment) Act, 1998, sets out the pension entitlements for a judge of the District Court retiring at the age of 65 years. Under that section, when a judge vacates his office after five years or more of service a pension of one-eighth of final remuneration with the addition of one-fortieth of such remuneration for each additional year of service in excess of five subject to a maximum pension of one-half of the remuneration is payable. Part years of service are reckoned on a pro rata basis.
Accordingly, a pension of one-quarter of final remuneration would be payable in the case of a judge retiring with ten years service and a maximum pension of one-half final remuneration would be payable to a judge with 20 years service. A judge with service between 20 and 30 years service would be entitled to receive the maximum amount of pension. It might be noted that section 28 of the same Act provides for the payment of a retirement lump sum of three times the pension.
A spouse's pension, where awarded, is normally one half of the deceased's pension in the case where the judge has opted to join the spouses' and children's pension scheme.
