Results 281-300 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The rationale for the exclusion of members of the Judiciary from this legislation is that judges are different to other civil servants, primarily because they are appointed under Article 34 of the Constitution, which guarantees their tenure and terms of office. Their conditions cannot be varied by Acts of the Oireachtas. The retirement age for judges of the District Court is already 65 but...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: In the Courts of Justice Act, wherein the retirement ages of judges are specified. In the Supreme and High Courts, retirement age is 72 and in the Circuit Court it is 70. In the District Court it is 65 but there is a statutory provision enabling the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to extend the tenure of a District Court judge from year to year after the age of 65. All these...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Was the Senator not dealing with the non-scheduled bodies?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: If it is not listed a body is not excluded other than as stated in the Bill——

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——or if it does not fall within the definition of a public service body. I discussed that provision when I moved the technical amendments regarding the Companies Acts. Some commercial sponsored bodies could fall within the definition and for that reason there was an express exclusion in Schedule 1. Otherwise it is a matter of interpretation. The definition of a qualifying office refers to...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: No.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Yes.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We are not aware of any commercial bodies that are included. Essentially, the purpose of the definition is to exclude all non-commercial bodies. The Senator is quite right in what he says about judges and court officers. It is open to the Oireachtas to amend the courts of justice legislation for new entrants to the Judiciary. However, I made the point more generally to stress that it has...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We are talking about the definition of a public servant in this section. The definition of a public servant might be taken to encompass a judge, the President, the master of the High Court, a taxing master or a county registrar. For that reason they are expressly excluded in the definition of a public servant. The other categories referred to by the Senator can clearly be addressed in the...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I declare an interest as a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. The staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission are civil servants of the State. They are not civil servants of the Government, but of the State. They are within the definition of civil servants in section 1(1). The legislation applies to them.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am not quite clear about the secretaries and I would have to check whether each is engaged under a contract to a particular Member.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I agree with Senator O'Toole. I was making clear to Senator McDowell that the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas are civil servants of the State, but it is far from clear that where a Member engages a secretarial assistant by way of contractual fixed-term arrangement, such a person is a member of the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas and therefore a civil servant. My understanding is...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: They are not covered, strictly speaking.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We might return to this matter on Report Stage. Civil servants of the Government or of the State are a defined, ascertainable group of persons. I am not clear about whether the group of persons to which the Senator is referring are in that category or not.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am happy to advise the House that an unestablished civil servant is not covered by this legislation. That is the current position, but they will later fall within the scope of the legislation.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Once they become established they are, by definition, civil servants.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: No.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: They are civil servants. They are unestablished civil servants. They are not established under legislation; that is why the expression "unestablished" is used to refer to them. They have already arrived as civil servants.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I understand the intention behind Senator O'Toole's amendment, but there is an issue of principle involved. In the budget, 1 April 2004 was announced as the effective date after which the new arrangements would apply and the Minister sees no reason to depart from this. Besides, if the amendment was accepted it would undermine the current link between a non-new entrant and the existence of an...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: If a person resigns his office he has made a conscious decision to terminate his contract of employment, so he can only come back as a new entrant in that instance. Naturally, if a person is on leave, paid or unpaid, there is no difficulty under the legislation.