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9 1955

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1955

PART II.

Offices and Employments and Amendments of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926.

Chapter I.

Offices and Employments.

Definitions for Chapter I of Part II.

6. —In this Chapter of this Part of this Act “appropriate Minister”, “local authority”, “major office” and “office” have the same meanings respectively as in Part II of the Act of 1941.

Alteration of duties in certain cases.

7. —Where, by an agreement or arrangement entered into under this or any other Act, a local authority exercise or perform a power, function or duty of another body—

(a) it shall be the duty of every officer of the local authority to perform such duties appropriate to the nature of the power, function or duty as the local authority may decide, and

(b) in case the other body is a local authority, it shall be the duty of every officer of that local authority to refrain from performing such duties appropriate to the nature of the power, function or duty as that local authority may decide.

General sanction or consent by appropriate Minister.

8. —In relation to any power of the appropriate Minister which—

(a) is a power under Part II of the Act of 1941, Part III of the Act of 1946 or this Chapter of this Part of this Act, and

(b) is a power to sanction or to consent to acts of any local authorities,

the appropriate Minister may, as respects all or any one or more of those authorities or any class of those authorities, give a general sanction or consent applying to future such acts in cases in which he is the appropriate Minister and having effect on fulfilment, and only on fulfilment, by the authority or authorities concerned of specified conditions or requirements.

Inclusive remuneration.

9. —(1) The appropriate Minister may direct that the remuneration of all the offices in relation to which he is the appropriate Minister, or of such of those offices as belong to a specified class, description or grade, or of a specified one of those offices, shall be inclusive remuneration.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, a holder of an office to which a direction under this section relates shall pay over to the local authority under whom he holds the office any fees or other moneys (other than his inclusive remuneration) payable to and received by him by virtue of the office or in respect of services which a holder of the office is required by or under any enactment to perform.

(3) A direction under this section shall not apply, save with his consent, to a person who, at the time when the direction is given, is the holder of an office to which the direction relates while he continues to hold that office.

(4) Where a holder of an office to which a direction under this section relates also holds an office under a Department of State, any fees or other moneys received by him by virtue of the latter office shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be received by him by virtue of the former office.

(5) A direction which, immediately before the commencement of this section, was in force under section 22 (repealed by this Act) of the Act of 1941 in relation to the holder of an office shall continue to have effect as if it were a direction under this section in relation to that office.

Amalgamation of offices.

10. —(1) Where the same Minister is the appropriate Minister in relation to any particular offices, such Minister may, subject to the provisions of this section and after consultation with the local authority or local authorities concerned, by order amalgamate the offices, and thereupon the offices shall become and be one office under such title (if any) as is specified in the order.

(2) Where, as respects any particular offices, there are two or more Ministers each of whom is the appropriate Minister in relation to one or more than one of such offices, those Ministers may, subject to the provisions of this section and after consultation with the local authority or local authorities concerned, by order amalgamate the offices, and thereupon the offices shall become and be one office under such title (if any) as is specified in the order and having such Minister as is specified in the order as appropriate Minister for the purposes of Part II of the Act of 1941, Part III of the Act of 1946 and this Chapter of this Part of this Act.

(3) Offices shall not be amalgamated under this section unless—

(a) each of the offices is vacant, or

(b) each of the offices is held by the same person, or

(c) one only of the offices being not vacant, the holder thereof consents to the making of the order, or

(d) in any other case, the same person holds each of such of the offices as are not vacant and such person consents to the making of the order.

(4) Where offices amalgamated under this section are not all under the same local authority, the following provisions shall have effect:

(a) appointments to the amalgamated office shall be made by such one of the local authorities concerned as the appropriate Minister shall by order specify,

(b) the holder of the amalgamated office shall be paid remuneration by such local authority as makes appointments to the amalgamated office, and that local authority may recover from any other local authority concerned such portion of the remuneration as may be settled by agreement between them or, in default of agreement, by the appropriate Minister or where two or more Ministers are concerned, by agreement between them.

(5) An order made or deemed to have been made under section 36 (repealed by this Act) of the Act of 1946 and in force immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue in force and shall be deemed to have been made under this section and to be capable of being amended or revoked accordingly.

Determination of certain doubts, etc.

11. —(1) Where any doubt, dispute or question arises, or in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, is likely to arise as to whether any particular person, or any particular class, description or grade of persons, employed by a local authority or local authorities is or is not an officer, or are or are not officers, for the purposes of this Act or any of the Local Government Acts, 1925 to 1946, or as to whether any particular position, or any particular class, description or grade of positions, under a local authority or local authorities is or is not an office, or are or are not offices, for those purposes, the doubt, dispute or question shall be decided by the appropriate Minister and such decision shall be final.

(2) A decision made under section 12 (repealed by this Act) of the Act of 1941 shall continue in force and shall be deemed to have been made under this section.

Amendment of section 10 of Act of 1941.

12. —(1) Section 10 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsections:—

“(4) For the purposes of this section, a local authority may, with the general or particular approval of the appropriate Minister, create offices either on a permanent or a temporary basis.

(5) A local authority may, with the general or particular approval of the appropriate Minister, abolish offices, but in the case of an office held by a person in a permanent capacity, it shall not be abolished save with the consent of that person.

(6) An appeal under subsection (2) of this section shall not be brought after the expiration of six months after the decision is communicated to the officer.”

(2) The reference in subsection (6) (inserted by subsection (1) of this section) of section 10 of the Act of 1941 to six months after the decision is communicated to the officer shall, in the case of a decision made before the commencement of this section, be construed as a reference to six months after the decision is communicated to the officer or after such commencement, whichever is the later.

Amendment of sections 13 and 16 of Act of 1941.

13. —The references in sections 13 and 16 of the Act of 1941 to Part II of that Act shall be construed as including references to Part III of the Act of 1946 and this Chapter of this Part of this Act.

Amendment of section 19 of Act of 1941.

14. Section 19 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended as follows:

(I) the following paragraphs shall be substituted for paragraph (j) of subsection (1):—

“(j) providing, in case of holders being ill, absent or incapacitated, for the performance of their duties by deputy or substitute,

(k) providing for restrictions on holders engaging in any other gainful occupation,

(l) providing for the removal from office by local authorities of holders who hold in a permanent capacity and prescribing the procedure to be adopted and the conditions to be fulfilled in relation to such removals,

(m) providing for the imposition by local authorities on holders of suspensions from performance of duties (including short-term disciplinary suspensions, not exceeding seven days), the non-payment of remuneration during the continuance of the suspensions and, upon the termination thereof, the forfeiture (in whole or in part), payment or disposal otherwise of remuneration which would, but for the suspensions, have been paid during the periods thereof,

(n) providing for the supplementing of the regulations by directions (being directions for the purpose of giving effect to the regulations, but neither extending the regulations nor widening their scope) given from time to time by the appropriate Minister.”

(II) the following subsections shall be added to the section:—

“(4) Where the making of any order or recommendation, the giving of any certificate, approval or sanction or the doing of any other act by the holder of an office is required for the purposes of any enactment or order, such order, recommendation, certificate, approval, sanction or act, when made, given or done by a deputy or substitute performing the duties of the holder pursuant to regulations under this section during a period when the holder is ill, absent or incapacitated, shall be as valid for all purposes as if it had been made, given or done by the holder in person.

(5) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”

Amendment of section 20 of Act of 1941.

15. Section 20 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection:—

“(3) The powers conferred by this section in relation to a specified office may be exercised notwithstanding that such office belongs to a class, description or grade in relation to which the powers conferred by this section have already been exercised.”

Amendment of section 21 of Act of 1941.

16. Section 21 of the Act of 1941, as amended by section 40 of the Act of 1946, is hereby further amended by the addition of the following subsection:—

“(12) Where, as respects any office, the qualification that any woman holding the office be either unmarried or a widow has been declared under this section to be a qualification, that qualification shall not apply in the case of a married woman holding in a permanent capacity an office the duties of which relate to matters the same as or similar to the matters to which the duties of the first-mentioned office relate and as respects which neither that qualification, nor the condition that the holder should resign on marriage, applied when she was appointed (including a case in which such non-application was by virtue of this subsection).”

Amendment of section 24 of Act of 1941.

17. Section 24 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended as follows:—

(I) the following word and paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph (b) of subsection (1):—

“or

(c) that, on account of any alteration (whether it has already occurred or is in contemplation) in the nature or extent of the duties attached to such office, it is in the public interest that such office should be abolished,”

(II) in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (b) of subsection (3) “any local authority” shall be substituted for “the relevant local authority”,

(III) in subparagraph (v) of paragraph (b) of subsection (3) “appropriate” shall be inserted before “Minister”,

(IV) the following subsection shall be added to the section:—

“(5) For the purposes of subparagraph (v) of paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section, the fact that the duties of the other office are to be performed at a distance from the place or places at which the duties of the first office were performed shall not of itself be regarded as rendering the position of the holder materially altered to his detriment.”

Amendment of section 27 of Act of 1941.

18. Section 27 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended by the deletion in subsection (1) of “of such local authority or”, “otherwise”, “such local authority or” (where those words occur secondly) and “(as the case may be)”.

Amendment of section 29 of Act of 1941.

19. Section 29 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended as follows:—

(I) “or holders of such major offices as belong to a specified class, description or grade” shall be inserted after “specified major office” and “or offices” shall be inserted after “such office”,

(II) the following paragraph shall be added to the section:—

“The powers conferred by this section in relation to the holders of a specified major office may be exercised notwithstanding that such office belongs to a class, description or grade in relation to which the powers conferred by this section have already been exercised.”

Restriction on power to assign remuneration.

20. —(1) The power of a local authority under section 10 of the Act of 1941 to assign remuneration to an officer shall not be exercised except in accordance with such one or more of the following as may be appropriate from time to time:—

(a) any order made by the appropriate Minister under section 29 of the Act of 1941,

(b) any regulation made by the appropriate Minister under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 19 of the Act of 1941,

(c) any direction given by the appropriate Minister regarding the considerations that should govern levels of remuneration of officers generally,

(d) any direction given by the appropriate Minister regarding the considerations that should govern levels of remuneration of officers of a specified class, description or grade, the officer being in that class, description or grade,

(e) the sanction of the appropriate Minister.

(2) The power of a local authority under section 10 of the Act of 1941 to assign remuneration to a servant shall not be exercised except in accordance with such one or more of the following as may be appropriate from time to time:—

(a) any direction given by the appropriate Minister regarding the considerations that should govern levels of remuneration of servants generally,

(b) any direction given by the appropriate Minister regarding the considerations that should govern levels of remuneration of servants of a specified class, description or grade, the servant being in that class, description or grade,

(c) the sanction of the appropriate Minister.

(3) The appropriate Minister may give directions for the purposes of this section.

Restriction on holding office or being employed.

21. —(1) No person shall hold any office of profit under or be employed for remuneration by or under any local authority while he is a member of that authority.

(2) No person shall hold any major office under a local authority while he is a member of any other local authority whose functional area is, or is situate in, the same county or county borough as that of or within which is situate the functional area of such local authority or in any county or county borough adjoining to that county or county borough.

(3) Where a person ceases to be a member of a local authority otherwise than by reason of the expiration of his term of office, he shall be regarded for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) of this section as continuing to be such member for twelve months after such cesser or until his term of office would, but for such cesser, have expired, whichever is the shorter period.

(4) In this section any reference to a local authority shall be construed as not including a reference to any body whose functions are restricted to advice, consideration, report or consultation.

(5) Subsection (1) of section 70 of the Act of 1925 shall cease to have effect, subject to the proviso that every restriction on holding any office of profit or being employed for remuneration which resulted from the application by any other Act of that section and which was in operation immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue in operation.

Transfer of certain powers, etc.

22. —(1) Every power, function or duty conferred by statute on any surveyor or assistant surveyor under a local authority is hereby transferred to that local authority.

(2) The transfer from any surveyor or assistant surveyor effected by subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed not to alter his position materially to his detriment.

Special provisions for certain persons.

23. —(1) Where—

(a) a person, at the commencement of this section, has a period of pensionable local service for the purposes of Part II of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948 (No. 4 of 1948), and

(b) during any period or periods, being a period or periods not reckonable for the purposes of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1954, such person performed the duties of a local authority by virtue of an appointment made under statute,

the period referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection and the period or periods referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection may be aggregated and deemed to be service for the purposes of the said Part II.

(2) Where at the commencement of this section, Séamas O Murchadha holds the office of chief executive officer of the Dublin Board of Assistance:—

(a) his name shall be deemed to be entered in the register kept by that Board under Part II of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948 , and to have been so entered consequent upon an application duly made under subsection (1) of section 37 of that Act,

(b) the following may be aggregated and deemed to be service for the purposes of the said Part II:

(i) his service as chief executive officer of that Board,

(ii) his service as commissioner for that Board,

(iii) his service rendered prior to the service mentioned in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph which is reckonable for the purposes of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1954, and

(iv) his service as commissioner for Dublin Union, and

(c) he shall be deemed to be a pensionable officer of that Board in respect of the service mentioned in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iv) of paragraph (b) of this subsection, but subsection (6) of section 37 of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948 , shall not apply in respect of him.

Age limit for certain offices.

24. —(1) (a) Section 23 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended by the addition of the subsection set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(b) This subsection shall be deemed to have come into operation on the commencement of section 23 of the Act of 1941 and every declaration made before the passing of this Act and framed as a declaration under that section shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, as valid as if this section had then come into operation, subject to the proviso that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as affecting any proceedings instituted in the High Court before the 7th day of July, 1954, in relation to any such declaration as respects the parties to those proceedings.

(c) The amendment of section 23 of the Act of 1941 comprised in paragraph (a) of the new subsection added to that section by this subsection shall not be deemed to be or involve a declaration that the law under that section was, or was considered by the Oireachtas to have been, different from the law under that section as so amended.

(2) (a) Section 6 of the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act, 1944 (No. 9 of 1944), is hereby amended by the addition of the subsection set out in Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(b) This subsection shall be deemed to have come into operation on the passing of the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act, 1944 , and every declaration made before the passing of this Act and framed as a declaration under that section shall be, and be deemed always to have been, as valid as if this section had then come into operation.