The Bill, it will be seen, deals with a number of matters which, while unrelated to one another, have the feature in common of dealing in one way or another with electricity supply.
The first matter to which I may refer are the provisions relating to general regulations under Sections 33 and 34 of the Electricity (Supply) Act of 1927. The board are empowered to make regulations for various purposes and did in fact make regulations in matters relating to the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity When made, the board found that the absence of any specific provision in regard to the publication of the regulations made by it created a position in which any of its regulations would not be judicially noticed in the courts. It would, accordingly, be necessary for the secretary of the board to prove the regulations in a court of law on each occasion on which they might come into reference.
Apart from these considerations, it has for long been regarded as objectionable in principle that the board should be enabled to make regulations enforceable mainly against itself.
The object, therefore, of Section 2 of the Bill is to enable the board to make regulations for various necessary purposes and, having made them, to submit them to the Minister for Industry and Commerce who may then, if he approves the regulations so made, by Order confirm them. This procedure has at least a double advantage. Firstly, confirmation by Order gives the regulations the force of law and, secondly, since the Order and the regulations attached to it as a schedule will be published as a statutory instrument under the imprint of the Stationery Office production of a copy of the Order must, in accordance with the provisions of the Documentary Evidence Act, be accepted prima facie in any proceedings before a court as being a true and valid copy of the regulations as made and confirmed. The Bill also provides in Section 17 and a schedule for the repeal of Sections 33 and 34 of the Act of 1927 referred to earlier. It may be pointed out that every Order made by the Minister confirming these regulations will be laid on the table of both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Another important matter dealt with in the Bill is the establishment of a tribunal to arbitrate in the case of disputes which may arise between general employees of the board and the board. This tribunal will be on exactly the same lines as that for manual workers which was set up under the provisions of the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act of 1942. The experience of that tribunal to date shows that it has functioned smoothly and effectively and has been the means of removing many possible causes of friction between the board and its manual workers in regard to conditions of employment. It should also be noted that the representatives of the general employees of the board have by an overwhelming majority voted in favour of the establishment of such a tribunal.
In the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act, 1942, the board has power to pay allowances supplementary to the pension payable from the board's pension schemes to employees transferred from the services of other electricity undertakings with pension rights at the date of their transfer. It has similar powers in regard to certain elderly employees recruited directly to the board's service and at the date of the passing of the Superannuation Act in 1942 were over 40 years of age. By reason of their age at the date of the establishment of the pension scheme the rate of contribution required of them was very high and the maximum benefits obtainable by them were less than the maximum benefits normally payable under the scheme.
It is proposed in the present Bill to give both these classes of employees power to seek a declaration from the board as to the extent to which it intends to apply its discretionary powers in regard to supplementary allowances when these employees are due for retirement on pension.
The next matter to be considered is Section 9 which deals with the superannuation of certain persons formerly employed by local bodies.
Provision was made in the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927, that on the acquisition by the Electricity Supply Board of an undertaking formerly owned and administered by a local authority the pension rights of any employees who possessed such rights at the time of the transfer should be preserved to them in respect of their service with the former undertaker. In other words, they were to suffer no loss of pensionable service by reason of their transfer.
In the year 1929 the Electricity Supply Board acquired certain electricity undertakings owned by local authorities, notably those of Rathmines, Pembroke and Dún Laoghaire and on acquisition the electricity staffs of those authorities became employees of the board. Those employees had no pension rights at the time of transfer. Subsequently, the urban districts of Rathmines and Pembroke were merged in the Dublin County Borough and that of Dún Laoghaire with other local authorities in the newly formed Borough of Dún Laoghaire. Following this rearrangement the employees of the various bodies constituting these new authorities who possessed no pension rights up to then acquired them under the statutory provisions covering the mergers, both in respect of their service with the dissolved authorities and such later service as they might have with the newly created boroughs. These benefits did not, however, extend to those of the former employees of the dissolved bodies who had, prior to the mergers, been transferred to and entered the service of the Electricity Supply Board.
At a much later stage the responsibility for public lighting in the Rathmines, Pembroke and Dun Laoghaire areas, which had been assumed by the Electricity Supply Board on its acquisition of the relevant electricity undertakings was, by arrangement, retransferred to the two boroughs concerned and, in consequence, a certain number of the former employees of the Rathmines, Pembroke and Dun Laoghaire Urban Councils who had been engaged upon maintenance of public lighting were retransferred to the service of the bodies which had succeeded the urban councils, namely, the Boroughs of Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. By the provisions of the Local Authorities (Electrical Employees) Act, 1937, the employees so retransferred were given the benefit of their (i) past service with the local authorities; and (ii) service whilst with the board; and (iii) later and future service with the relevant boroughs, the aggregate service under the three heads counting for pension purposes on ultimate retirement.
Those of the transferred employees who had no option but to remain in the service of the board made representations pointing out that their former colleagues who at no time had left the service of the local authorities concerned, and, more particularly, those who had been transferred with them to the service of the board and later retransferred to the two boroughs, had acquired pension rights for their entire aggregate service whilst they who were still in the service of the board had obtained no such corresponding rights. Following these representations, which were supported by the board and by the Arbitration Tribunal established under the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act, 1942, it has been decided that it would be only fair and equitable to give to the transferred employees remaining in the service of the board the same pension rights as have been acquired by their former colleagues. The number of persons concerned is 32 and the cost, which will be borne by the board, will be relatively small.
Section 10 of the Bill relates to the superannuation of certain persons who were employed at the Pigeon House generating station when it was closed down following its acquisition by the board and is framed to meet the case of a few former employees of the Dublin Corporation who were compensated by means of lump sum gratuities on the termination of their employment by the board following the acquisition by the board of the Pigeon House generating station. Other such employees who had longer service at the relevant time were compensated by way of pension in respect of their service up to the closing of the station. At a subsequent stage the board found it necessary to reopen and maintain continuously in commission the Pigeon House station, the former employees being reemployed.
Those who had been compensated by way of pension were, on re-employment, paid at the appropriate rate for the work on which they were reemployed, the pension being abated during their employment.
It was pointed out in the case of these persons that the break which had occurred in their service during the short period in which the Pigeon House station had been closed by the board operated to deprive them of the pension rights on ultimate retirement in respect of service after the reopening which they would otherwise have possessed under the Dublin Corporation pension scheme. Provision was, accordingly, made in the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1942, to enable, on final retirement, the pension already awarded at the time of the closing of this station to be terminated and a fresh pension substituted, the latter being based upon the aggregate service: (a) up to the closing of the station, and (b) from the date of re-employment to the date of final retirement.
The position of those persons employed at the station who had been compensated by means of gratuities has only recently been brought to notice and it is felt that these persons should not, through no fault of their own, be prejudiced by losing pension rights in respect of their service from the time of re-employment by the board. In their case, however, since these persons were awarded lump sum gratuities in respect of their service up to the closing of the station it was felt when the Bill was drafted that credit could not be given for the service in respect of which the gratuity had been paid.
In the course of the Committee Stage debate in the Dáil certain Deputies, however, referred to this fact and suggested that some means should be found whereby the previous service could be counted for pension purposes, and on the Report Stage in the Dáil I made an offer which, if accepted, could be given effect to by an amendment on the Committee Stage in the Seanad. Senators will appreciate that to give credit twice for the same period of service would introduce a most undesirable principle and possibly constitute a precedent which might have serious repercussions in other directions in the future.
Briefly, I offered to count the prior years of service in respect of which gratuities had been paid if the persons concerned elected to take the benefits of the board's superannuation scheme and agreed to set off against the gratuity payable to them under the board's scheme on their final retirement the gratuity which was paid to them by way of compensation for loss of employment in 1930. I propose to have this amendment introduced on the Committee Stage.
In the course of the Committee Stage debate in the Dáil reference was made to the case of a few persons at present employed by the board who formerly had been employed by the Dublin United Tramway Company in connection with the generation or distribution of electricity by that company. These persons possessed no pension rights when in the employment of the company and had no such rights on their entry to the service of the board. Nevertheless, it was pressed upon me by various Deputies in the other House that had these men's employment with the company not been interrupted by reason of the company taking its requirements of electricity from the board and closing their own generating station they would have eventually qualified for a pension under the scheme now operated by Córas Iompair Éireann. In this class also, I undertook to have the matter considered in the interval between the Committee and Report Stages of the Dáil, and having done so and having consulted the Electricity Supply Board I decided to make provision in the Bill to enable the board at its discretion to pay supplementary pensions to these former employees of the tramway company on the same basis as supplementary pensions are payable by the board to employees transferred from other electricity undertakings without pension rights or prospects of pension rights in their former employment.
The Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act, 1942, enabled the board amongst other things to establish a superannuation scheme on a contributory basis for these manual workers. It was provided in that Act that in the event of any manual worker through wilful action on his part causing an interruption in the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity by the board or impeding the due performance of any of the functions or duties of the board, penalties by way of loss of service and of contributions made by him to the superannuation fund would be imposed on him. This "penal" clause as it has been called had many objectionable features and I decided during the course of the Bill through the Dáil to remove the penal clause for the 1942 Act. Section 12 of this Bill removes those parts of Section 7 of the 1942 Act, while retaining the remaining provisions of that section.
I come now to Section 13 of the Bill which amends sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the Superannuation Act of 1942. Amongst other things, that Act authorised the payment of pensions to whole-time members of the board under certain conditions. Under the provisions of the sub-section of the Act referred to, a member of the board, in order to qualify for a pension, must have at least ten years' whole-time service as a member and that service must include at least one term of office of five years as a whole-time member of the board. In the case of one existing member of the board who has served as a whole-time member since the 11th February, 1935, the various warrants under which he was appointed by the Government have been for the periods of four years; 77 days one year; three years; three years; one year; and the warrant at present in operation is also for one year only. Consequently, having regard to the terms of sub-section (1) referred to this member of the board or any other member who might be similarly circumstanced would fail to qualify for a pension under the Act as it stands for the reason that he has not completed one term of office of five years as a whole-time member and this position would continue until he had the opportunity of completing at least one term of office of five years under one warrant. It is considered that this limitation is inequitable and Section 13 of the Bill amends the provisions of the Act of 1942 so as to provide that a pension will be awarded (a) after not less than ten years' continuous whole-time membership, or (b) after two or more periods (whether continuous or discontinuous) of whole-time membership of the board which amount in the aggregate to not less than ten years and include at least one term of office of five years as a whole-time member of the board.
This amendment, it will be appreciated, will enable any whole-time member of the board to qualify for a pension provided he has at least ten years' continuous whole-time membership and without having had one term of office of five years. A member who has not had ten years' continuous service must have at least one term of office of five years' duration in an aggregate service of at least ten years.
Section 14 of the Bill amends Section 8 of the Superannuation Act of 1942 which latter section relates to certain financial provisions in relation to superannuation schemes. Under the section of the 1942 Act referred to the trustees of the superannuation fund set up under that Act may lend superannuation moneys to the board and the board may accept such loans, the rate of interest on which must be approved by the Minister for Finance. The amendment provided for in this section of the Bill merely provides that the consent of the Minister for Finance to the interest rates will no longer be required, but in lieu of that consent provision is being made that the rate of interest shall not exceed 4 per cent. per annum.
The superannuation funds and the contributions thereto and the benefits payable are calculated upon an actuarial basis and for this purpose it is essential that the actuary and management of the funds should be placed in a position to know that when they lend moneys to the board as an investment that a definite interest rate will be paid. The funds in this case have, by agreement, been based upon an interest rate of 4 per cent. and this section of the Bill will authorise up to that rate to be paid on future loans.
Section 15 amends Section 11 of the Superannuation Act, 1942, which relates to the reference of disputes to the Manual Workers' Tribunal. Under the definition of the expression "manual worker" as set out in the Manual Workers' Superannuation Scheme made under the 1942 Act, workers whose employment is of a casual character are excluded and there is, therefore, no means by which disputes in which they are involved can be brought before this tribunal. The effect of Section 16 of the Bill will be to enable the Manual Workers' Tribunal to deal with disputes in which such casual workers are involved.
Section 16 increases the advances which may be made to the board from the Central Fund by £16,000,000. Capital Expenditure by the Electricity Supply Board is financed by means of repayable advances made to the board by the Minister for Finance from the Central Fund. The limit up to which such advances may be made is fixed by the Electricity (Supply) Acts and that limit has been increased from time to time according as the undertaking has developed. Provision must be made for future commitments. As the demand for electricity expands and it becomes necessary to provide additional generating capacity, the means of transmitting and distributing that energy, and the services and assets auxiliary and ancillary to the supply of that energy, the statutory limit within which advances may be made must be increased so that the necessary capital expenditure may be financed. The current capital programme of the board referred to below requires that provision for further advances be now made.
The board has submitted an estimate of the capital required for its projected programme during the period to 31st March, 1952, including capital expenditure to which the board is already committed. This programme envisages expenditure totalling £29,500,000 (allowing for the provisions for advances in the Act of 1945), viz.:—
£ |
|
Generation |
18,783,000 |
Transmission and Distribution |
12,440,000 |
General |
2,762,000 |
Shannon Fisheries |
15,000 |
Rural Development |
8,000,000 |
42,000,000 |
|
Deducting therefrom the amounts of £7,500,000 and £5,000,000 provided in the 1945 Act under Sections 38 and 41, respectively |
12,500,000 |
Total |
£29,500,000 |
Having regard to the magnitude of the amount involved, and in view of the uncertainty as to the trend of prices and supplies of materials within the next few years, there would be no useful result in attempting at this stage to estimate with even approximate exactitude the capital expenditure which the board may find it necessary to incur in the period in question, or the advances which the board may require. It is, however, abundantly clear that the board's development programme within the next few years will entail very substantial commitments, if the demand for electricity is to be adequately provided for, and it is, therefore, proposed in the Bill, as an interim measure until the situation becomes clearer, that the existing statutory limit of the advances which may be made for general development purposes be increased by £16,000,000. It is not proposed to provide in the Bill for further advances for rural electrification, as the existing limit of such advances is considered to be sufficient for the present.
The remaining two sections of the Bill deal merely with the repeal of the provisions set out in the Schedule and the Short Title, Collective Citation, etc. The repeal of Section 33 and 34 of the Act of 1927 is a necessary consequence of the provisions of Section 2 of the Bill. As regards sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Superannuation Act, 1942, this sub-section of the 1942 Act, relates to a case in which a whole-time member of the board is entitled to a pension in respect of other and previous service, either with a public department or under a local authority, and has the following effect:—(a) if a Civil Service or local authority pension equals or exceeds the amount of any pension calculated under the Superannuation Act of 1942, the latter pension does not become payable, and (b) if a Civil Service or local authority pension happens to be less than the amount of any pension calculated under the Superannuation Act of 1942, only the difference between the two rates of pension may be paid.
This provision of the 1942 Act affects one member of the present board who is entitled to receive a pension from a local authority in respect of his services with that authority before he was appointed to be a member of the Electricity Supply Board. If the member in question had been allowed to complete 40 years' service with the local authority, his pension, under the Local Government Act, 1925, would have been very much higher than that which he was granted when he left the local authority to take up the appointment with the Electricity Supply Board.
It is considered that, although the case is an exceptional one, if the Act of 1942 is not amended in the manner proposed, this member of the Electricity Supply Board will, on retirement, be prejudiced by reason of his transfer from a local authority to the Electricity Supply Board, and it is, therefore, proposed to remove the sub-section of Section 3 of the 1942 Act which precludes the payment of pension in respect of service with the board in the particular circumstances of this case.
The Schedule also provides for the exclusion from Section 8 (3) (c) of the Electricity Supply Board (Superannuation) Act of 1942 of the words "or by the board to such trustees". The trustees of the superannuation funds find it convenient to lend the moneys in their hands to the board and regulations made by the Minister under the Act mentioned provide for the repayment of such moneys on 90 days' notice by either party. It has been represented by the board, the trustees, and the matter was also raised in the Dáil on an amendment by Deputy Larkin, that it is desirable that the board should be in a position to give a guarantee to the trustees that they will hold the moneys lent to the board for a reasonably long term, so that for actuarial purposes stable conditions over a period may be assured. The deletion of the words referred to will enable the board to do this.
The third matter dealt with in the Schedule is consequential on the deletion of the penal clause from the 1942 Act.