.
Local Government {Ireland) Acts. ix.
Swperannuation of Officers.
A great diversity of practice has been growing among local
authorities in regard to the fixing of superannuation allowances
granted to retiring officers, and in some cases the pensions pro¬
posed have been excessive having regard to the length of service
of the officers concerned. Our consent to such allowances is
required in the case of officers pensionable under the Union
Officers' Superannuation Acts, and it seemed to us desirable, in
order to safeguard the interests of present and future ratepayers,
to indicate for the guidance of local authorities the scale which
in ordinary cases we considered should be applied when fixing
the amount of pensions.
The basis of calculation for such allowances in the case of poor
law officers, as originally suggested by us in our circular letter
of the 25th Noveml)er, 1881, was that applicable to the super¬
annuation of Civil Servants of the Grown under the Superannua¬
tion Act of 1859, viz., for 10 years' service, ten-sixtieths of the
amount of salary and emoluments, and a further one-sixtieth in
respect of each additional year of service up to a maximum not
exceeding forty-sixtieths, or two-thirds of the annual salary and
emoluments. Tn tlie case of appointments where the holder
possessed professional or other special qualifications, additional
years might be added to the actual service. In course of time
this addition of years has come to be regarded as more or less
the normal right of every officer on retirement, irrespective of
whether he was professionally qualified or had rendered excep¬
tionally meritorious service.
We accordingly issued a circular to local bodies pointing out
that in all ordinary cases pensions should be calculated on the
Civil Service scale, and that the addition of years to actual
service should only be made in special cases. Where the condi¬
tions of an officer's appointment entitle him to such an addition,
we have suggested the following scale as the one which, in
ordinary circumstances, we think should be applied :—
In the case of an officer (professionally or otherwi.se specially
qualified)—
with 10 to 15 years' completed service, an addition of 5 years.
,, 15 to 20 ,, ,. ,, 7 years.
,, over 20 ,, ,, ,, 10 years.
A copy oc our circular letter on the sul)ject will be found in the
* Appendices.
Constitution and Proceedings of Local Bodies.
The following are the Orders of chief interest dealing with
the constitution and proceedings of local bodies ;—
(1). Orders altering day or hour of holding statutory
monthly meeting of Castleblayney, Ennis, Fermoy,
Naas, Nenagh, and Newry Urban District Councils,
and of Ban don and Buncrana Town Commissioners.
* See page 8
