[Preamble.]
Lands may be conveyed to trustees for recreation grounds, &c.  1. Any lands may be lawfully conveyed to trustees, to be held by them as open public grounds for the resort and recreation of adults, and as playgrounds for children and youth, or either of such purposes, and for any estate, and subject to any reservation, restrictions, and conditions which the donor or grantor may think fit: But this enactment shall not extend to authorise any lands to be so conveyed for any greater estate or interest than the donor or grantor would, independently of this Act, have power to dispose of.

Form of conveyance.                                            2. Any such conveyance of land to trustees may be in the following form, subject to any modification thereof which the case may require:
9 Geo. 2. c. 36.
“I, A.B., do hereby convey and grant to , as trustees for public ground for the parish [or parishes] of [here describe the lands conveyed or granted], to be held by them as public ground for the purposes of the Recreation Grounds Act, 1859.”

And it is hereby enacted, that the grant or conveyance of such lands shall not require enrolment, nor to be by indenture, and shall be valid, although the donor or grantor shall die within twelve calendar months after the making of such grant,[1] any of the provisions of the Act passed in the ninth year of the reign of King George the Second, chapter thirty-six, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Grants by municipal corporations.                              3. With respect to lands belonging to any municipal corporation, such grant may be lawfully made by the body corporate, with the consent of the Treasury, signified by their executing the deed of conveyance.

Grants of parish land.                                         4. With respect to lands belonging to any parish, such grant may and shall be made by the trustees or feoffees (if there shall be such), or otherwise by the church wardens and overseers of the parish, in pursuance of a resolution for that purpose of the vestry or other body having the management of the affairs of such parish, passed in meeting duly assembled for the purpose, and with the approbation of the Poor Law Board, to be testified by their seal being affixed to the deed of conveyance.

Appointment of Trustees, managers, and directors.              5. With respect to the appointment of trustees for holding any such grounds for the purpose aforesaid, the lord of any manor, or the churchwardens of any parish, or the overseers of the poor of any parish or township, or all or any of such persons to whom lands shall have been conveyed as aforesaid, shall be a body corporate for taking, holding, and disposing of such grounds, and instituting, maintaining, and defending any proceedings relating thereto; but the management and direction of the same shall be and remain in such persons as may be named in the deed of conveyance thereof; and in case no such persons shall be so named, or there shall be a failure of such managers and directors, the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales shall have power to settle a scheme for the appointment of the managers and directors.

Byelaws and regulations.                                       6. The managers and directors may from time to time make and enforce any such byelaws, orders, and regulations for the management, preservation, disposition, and care of the said grounds, and the government of all persons using or frequenting the same, as shall be approved by the said Commissioners and in accordance with the conditions of the grant; and no byelaws, orders, or regulations in any manner restricting the public use or enjoyment of the said grounds shall be valid unless sanctioned with such approbation.

Bequests of personal property.                                 7. It shall be lawful for any person to bequeath any personal property, not exceeding one thousand pounds in amount, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of purchasing, preparing, maintaining, and preserving such grounds for the purposes aforesaid, and ornamenting the same.

Extent of Act, and short title.                                8. This Act shall extend to England and Ireland only, and may be cited for all purposes by the title of “The Recreation Grounds Act, 1859.”

[1 Short title, “The Recreation Grounds Act, 1859.” See s. 8.]

[1 The provisions of 9 Geo. 2. c. 36, referred to, are rep. 51 & 52 Vict. c. 42. s. 18, but see terms of repeal.]


[Preamble.]
Preliminary.
Short title.                                                                                1. This Act may be cited as the Elementary Education Act, 1876.

Extent of Act.                                                                                2. This Act shall not, save as otherwise expressly provided, apply to Scotland or Ireland.

[S. 3 rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R.)]
Part I.
Law as to Employment and Education of Children.
Declaration of duty of parent to educate child.                                                                                4. It shall be the duty of the parent of every child to cause such child to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arthmetic, and if such parent fail to perform such duty, he shall be liable to such orders and penalties as are provided by this Act.

Regulation as to employment of child under 10, and certificate of education or previous school attendance being condition of employment of child over 10.  5. A person shall not take into his employment (except as herein-after in this Act mentioned) any child—
33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
36 & 37 Vict. c. 86.
(1.) Who is under the age of ten years; or
(2.) Who, being of the age of ten years or upwards, has not obtained such certificate either of his proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, or of previous due attendance at a certified efficient school, as is in this Act in that behalf mentioned, unless such child, being of the age of ten years or upwards, is employed, and is attending school in accordance with the provisions of the Factory Acts, or of any byelaw of the local authority (herein-after mentioned) made under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by the Elementary Education Act, 1873, and this Act, and sanctioned by the Education Department.

Penalty for employing a child in contravention of Act.                                                                                6. Every person who takes a child into his employment in contravention of this Act shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

Enforcement of Act.                                                                                7. The provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children shall be enforced—
33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
(1.) In a school district within the jurisdiction of a school board, by that board; and
(2.) In every other school district by a committee (in this Act referred to as a school attendance committee) appointed annually, if it is a borough, by the council of the borough, and if it is a parish, by the guardians of the union comprising such parish.

A school attendance committee under this section may consist of not less than six nor more than twelve members of the council or guardians appointing the committee
Every such school board and school attendance committee (in this Act referred to as the local authority) shall, as soon as may be, publish the provisions of this Act within their jurisdiction in such manner as they think best calculated for making those provisions known.

Provided that it shall be the duty of the inspectors and subinspectors acting under the Acts regulating factories workshops and mines respectively, and not of the local authority, to enforce the observance by the employers of children in such factories workshops and mines of the provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children; but it shall be the duty of the local authority to assist the said inspectors and sub-inspectors in the performance of their duty by information and otherwise.

It shall be the duty of such local authority to report to the Education Department any infraction of the provisions of section seven of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, in any public elementary school within their district which may come to their knowledge, and also to forward to the Education Department any complaint which they may receive of the infraction of those provisions.

[S. 8 rep. 41 & 42 Vict. c. 16. s. 107.]
Exception to prohibition of employment of children.                                                                                9. A person shall not be deemed to have taken any child into his employment contrary to the provisions of this Act, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court having cognizance of the case either—
(1.) That during the employment there is not within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the residence of such child any public elementary school open which the child can attend; or
(2.) That such employment, by reason of being during the school holidays, or during the hours during which the school is not open, or otherwise, does not interfere with the efficient elementary instruction of such child, and that the child obtains such instruction by regular attendance for full time at a certified efficient school or in some other equally efficient manner; or
(3.) That the employment is exempted by the notice of the local authority herein-after next mentioned; (that is to say,)

The local authority may, if it thinks fit, issue a notice exempting from the prohibitions and restrictions of this Act the employment of children above the age of eight years, for the necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of crops, for the period to be named in such notice: Provided that the period or periods so named by any such local authority shall not exceed in the whole six weeks between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of December in any year.

The local authority shall cause a copy of every notice so issued to be sent to the Education Department and to the overseers of every parish within its jurisdiction, and the overseers shall cause such notice to be affixed to the door of all churches and chapels in the parish, and the local authority may further advertise any such notice in such manner (if any) as it may think fit.

Payment of school fees for poor parents.                                                                                10. The parent, not being a pauper, of any child who is unable by reason of poverty to pay the ordinary fee for such child at a public elementary school, or any part of such fee, may apply to the guardians having jurisdiction in the parish in which he resides; and it shall be the duty of such guardians, if satisfied of such inability, to pay the said fee, not exceeding threepence a week, or such part thereof as he is, in the opinion of the guardians, so unable to pay.

The parent shall not by reason of any payment made under this section be deprived of any franchise right or privilege, or be subject to any disability or disqualification.

Payment under this section shall not be made on condition of the child attending any public elementary school other than such as may be selected by the parent, nor refused because the child attends, or does not attend any particular public elementary school.

. . . . . . . . . .
Provision as to order of court for attendance at school of certain children.                                                                               11. If either—
(1.) The parent of any child above the age of five years who is under this Act prohibited from being taken into full time employment, habitually and without reasonable excuse neglects to provide efficient elementary instruction for his child; or
(2.) Any child is found habitually wandering or not under proper control, or in the company of rogues vagabonds disorderly persons or reputed criminals;
it shall be the duty of the local authority, after due warning to the parent of such child, to complain to a court of summary jurisdiction, and such court may, if satisfied of the truth of such complaint, order that the child do attend some certified efficient school willing to receive him and named in the order, being either such as the parent may select, or, if he do not select any, then such public elementary school as the court think expedient, and the child shall attend that school every time that the school is open, or in such other regular manner as is specified in the order.

An order under this section is in this Act referred to as an attendance order.

Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse:
(1.) That there is not within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the residence of such child any public elementary school open which the child can attend; or
(2.) That the absence of the child from school has been caused by sickness or any unavoidable cause.

Proceedings on disobedience to order of court for attendance at school.                                                                                12. Where an attendance order is not complied with, without any reasonable excuse within the meaning of this Act, a court of summary jurisdiction, on complaint made by the local authority, may, if it think fit, order as follows:
29 & 30 Vict. c. 118.
(1.) In the first case of non-compliance, if the parent of the child does not appear, or appears and fails to satisfy the court that he has used all reasonable efforts to enforce compliance with the order, the court may impose a penalty not exceeding with the costs five shillings; but if the parent satisfies the court that he has used all reasonable efforts as aforesaid, the court may, without inflicting a penalty, order the child to be sent to a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to the court that there is no such school suitable for the child, then to a certified industrial school; and
(2.) In the second or any subsequent case of non-compliance with the order, the court may order the child to be sent to a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to the court that there is no such school suitable for the child, then to a certified industrial school, and may further in its discretion inflict any such penalty as aforesaid, or it may for each such non-compliance inflict any such penalty as aforesaid without ordering the child to be sent to an industrial school:
Provided that a complaint under this section with respect to a continuing non-compliance with any attendance order shall not be repeated by the local authority at any less interval than two weeks.

A child shall be sent to a certified industrial school or certified day industrial school in pursuance of this section in like manner as if sent in pursuance of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and when so sent shall be deemed to have been sent in pursuance of that Act and the Acts amending the same; and the parent, if liable under the said Acts to contribute to the maintenance and training of his child when sent to an industrial school, shall be liable so to contribute when his child is sent in pursuance of this section.

Duty of local authority as to taking proceedings under this Act or 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118.                                                                   13. Where the local authority are informed by any person of any child in their jurisdiction who is stated by that person to be liable to be ordered by a court under this Act to attend school, or to be sent under this Act, or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to an industrial school, it shall be the duty of the local authority to take proceedings under this Act or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, accordingly, unless the local authority think that it is inexpedient to take such proceedings.

Provided that nothing in this section shall relieve the local authority from the responsibility of performing their duty under the other provisions of this Act.

Industrial School.
License to child sent to industrial school to live out while attending school.                                                                             14. Where a child is sent to a certified industrial school under this Act or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, upon the complaint or representation of the local authority under this Act, the managers of such school may, if they think fit, at any time after the expiration of one month after the child is so sent give him a license under section twenty-seven of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to live out of the school, but the license shall be conditional upon the child attending as a day scholar, in such regular manner as is specified in the license, some school willing to receive him and named in the license, and being a certified efficient school.

Amendment as to provision of industrial school by school board.                                                                                15. The consent of one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and not of the Education Department, shall be required for the establishing, building, and maintaining of a certified industrial or certified day industrial school by a school board, and to the spreading of the payment of the expense of such establishment and building over a number of years not exceeding fifty, and to the borrowing of money for that purpose; and for the purpose of such borrowing section ten of the Elementary Education Act, 1873, shall be held to apply to the loan in like manner as if one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State were substituted therein for the Education Department, and such establishment and building shall be deemed to be a work for which a school board is authorised to borrow within the meaning of the First Schedule to the Public Works Loans Act, 1875.

36 & 37 Vict. c. 86.
38 & 39 Vict. c. 89.
Day Industrial School.
Establishment, &c. of day industrial schools.                                                                                16. If a Secretary of State is satisfied that, owing to the circumstances of any class of population in any school district, a school in which industrial training, elementary education, and one or more meals a day, but not lodging, are provided for the children, is necessary or expedient for the proper training and control of the children of such class, he may, in like manner as under the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, certify any such school (in this Act referred to as a day industrial school) in the neighbourhood of the said population to be a certified day industrial school.

29 & 30 Vict. c. 118.
29 & 30 Vict. c. 118.
Any child authorised by the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to be sent to a certified industrial school, may, if the court before whom the child is brought think it expedient, be sent to a certified day industrial school; any child sent to a certified day industrial school by an order of a court (other than an attendance order under this Act) may during the period specified in the order be there detained during such hours as may be authorised by the rules of the school approved by the said Secretary of State.

A certified day industrial school shall be deemed to be a certified efficient school within the meaning of this Act.

In the case of a certified day industrial school,—
(1.) A prison authority within the meaning of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and a school board shall respectively have the same powers in relation to a certified day industrial school as they have in relation to a certified industrial school; and
(2.) There may be contributed out of moneys provided by Parliament towards the custody, industrial training, elementary education, and meals of children sent by an order of a court other than an attendance order under this Act to a certified day industrial school such sums not exceeding one shilling per head per week, and on such conditions as a Secretary of State from time to time recommends; and
(3.) Where a court of summary jurisdiction orders otherwise than by an attendance order under this Act a child to be sent to a certified day industrial school, the court shall also order the parent of such child, if liable to maintain him, to contribute to his industrial training, elementary education, and meals in the school such sum not exceeding two shillings per week as is named in the order; it shall be the duty of the local authority to obtain and enforce the said order, and every sum paid under the order shall be paid over to the local authority in aid of their expenses under this Act; if a parent resident in any parish is unable to pay the sum required by the said order to be paid, he shall apply to the guardians having jurisdiction in the parish, who, if satisfied of such inability, shall give the parent sufficient relief to pay the said sum, or so much thereof as they consider him unable to pay, and the money so given shall be charged to the parish as provided by this Act in the case of money given for the payment of school fees; and
(4.) The managers of a certified day industrial school may, upon the request of a local authority and of the parent of a child, and upon the undertaking of the parent to pay towards the industrial training, elementary education, and meals of such child such sum, not less than one shilling a week, as a Secretary of State from time to time fixes, receive such child into the school under an attendance order or without an order of a court; and there may be contributed out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of that child such sum, not exceeding sixpence a week and on such conditions as a Secretary of State from time to time recommends.

It shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by Order in Council, to apply to a certified day industrial school the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and the Acts amending the same, with such modifications as appear to Her Majesty to be necessary or proper for adapting such provisions to a day industrial school, and bringing them into conformity with this Act; and such Order may provide that a child may be punished for an offence by being sent to a certified industrial in lieu of a certified reformatory school, or may otherwise mitigate any punishment imposed by the said Act.

It shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by Order in Council, to revoke and vary any Order in Council made under this section.

Every such Order shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within one month after it is made if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, within one month after the beginning of the then next session of Parliament, and while in force shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act.

A Secretary of State may from time to time make, and when made revoke and vary, the forms of orders for sending a child to a day industrial school, and the manner in which children are to be sent to such school.

If a Secretary of State is of opinion that, by reason of a change of circumstances or otherwise, a certified day industrial school ceases to be necessary or expedient for the proper training and control of the children of any class of population in the neighbourhood of that school he may, after due notice, withdraw the certificate of the school, and thereupon such school shall cease to be a certified day industrial school.

Provided, that the reasons for withdrawing such certificate shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within one month after notice of the withdrawal is given, if Parliament be then sitting, or, if not, within one month after the then next meeting of Parliament.

Conditions of contribution to day industrial schools.                                                                                17. [1] The conditions of a parliamentary contribution to a certified day industrial school, to be recommended by the Secretary of State, shall provide for the examination of the children according to the standards of proficiency for the time being in force for the purposes of a parliamentary grant to public elementary schools; but may vary the amounts of the contributions to be made in respect of such standards respectively.

Any conditions recommended by a Secretary of State for the purposes of contributions to a day industrial school shall be laid before Parliament in the same manner as Minutes of the Education Department relating to the annual parliamentary grant.

Parliamentary Grant.
[S. 18 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 56. s. 11.]
Amendment of 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75. s. 97, as to conditions of annual parliamentary grant.                                                                   19. [2] . . . the conditions required to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain the annual parliamentary grant shall provide that—
(1.) [3] Such grants shall not in any year be reduced by reason of its excess above the income of the school if the grant do not exceed the amount of seventeen shillings and sixpence per child in average attendance at the school during that year, but shall not exceed that amount per child, except by the same sum by which the income of the school, derived from voluntary contributions, rates, school fees, endowments, and any source whatever other than the parliamentary grant exceeds the said amount per child; and
(2.) Where the population of the school district in which the school is situate, or the population within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the school is less than three hundred, and there is no other public elementary school recognised by the Education Department as available for the children of that district, or that population (as the case may be), a special parliamentary grant may be made annually to that school to the amount, if the said population exceeds two hundred, of ten pounds, and, if it does not exceed two hundred, of fifteen pounds; and
(3.) The said special grant shall be in addition to the ordinary annual parliamentary grant, and shall not be included in the calculation of that grant for the purpose of determining whether it does or not exceed the amount before in this section mentioned.

Conditions for obtaining parliamentary grant.                                                                                20. The conditions required to be fulfilled by schools in order to obtain annual parliamentary grants shall provide that the income of the schools shall be applied only for the purpose of public elementary schools.

Byelaws.
Byelaws by school attendance committee.                                                                                21. In a school district not within the jurisdiction of a school board, if it is a borough the school attendance committee and if it is a parish the school attendance committee for the union comprising such parish shall make byelaws respecting the attendance of children at school under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as if such school attendance committee were a school board.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
[S. 22 rep. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 23. s. 6.]
Construction of enactments as to byelaws. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75. s. 74.                                                                                23. For the purposes of this Act section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, and all enactments of that or any other Act referring to byelaws under that section, shall be construed as if “school board” included the authority authorised by this Act to make byelaws:
Provided, that nothing in any byelaw shall authorise the authority making the same in pursuance of this Act to remit or pay any fees.

It shall be the duty of every local authority to enforce the byelaws made by that authority in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870.

Administrative Provisions.
Supplemental provisions as to certificates of proficiency and previous attendance at school.                                                               24. The certificates of proficiency of a child in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, and of the previous due attendance of a child at a certified efficient school for the purposes of this Act, shall be certificates of proficiency and previous due attendance ascertained according to the standards set forth in the First Schedule to this Act, and such certificate shall be granted to the child entitled to the same free of cost or charge to such child, or to the parent of such child.

The Education Department may from time to time by order make, and when made, revoke and vary regulations with respect to certificates of age for the purposes of this Act and the persons by whom and the form in which certificates of the said proficiency and due attendance are to be granted, and with respect to other matters relating thereto, and with respect to the preservation of registers and other records of such proficiency and attendance, and such regulations shall be observed by the local authority and the managers of certified efficient schools.

All regulations made by the Education Department under this section shall be laid before Parliament in the same manner as Minutes of the Education Department relating to the annual parliamentary grant.

Certificates of birth for purposes of Act.                                                                                25. Where the age of any child is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, or for any purpose connected with the elementary education or employment in labour of such child, any person on presenting a written requisition in such form and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by the Local Government Board, and on payment of such fee, not exceeding one shilling, as the Local Government Board from time to time fix, shall be entitled to obtain a certified copy under the hand of the registrar or super-intendent registrar of the entry in the register under the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836 to 1874, of the birth of the child named in the requisition.

Returns of registrars of births and deaths to school boards.                                                                                26. Every registrar of births and deaths, when and as required by a local authority, shall transmit, by post or otherwise, a return of such of the particulars registered by him concerning deaths and births of children as may be specified in the requisition of the local authority.

The local authority may supply a form, approved by the Local Government Board, for the purpose of the return, and in that case the return shall be made in the form so supplied.

The local authority may pay, as part of their expenses under this Act, to the registrar making such return such fee as may be agreed upon between them and the registrar, not exceeding twopence for every birth and death entered in such return.

Provision in case of failure of local authority to perform their duty under this Act.                                                                      27. If the Education Department are satisfied, after such inquiry and such notice to any local authority as they think expedient, that such authority have failed to fulfil their duty under this Act, the Education Department (without prejudice to any other remedy)—
33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
(a.) If the authority are a school board, may proceed, as if such board were a school board in default within the meaning of the Elementary Education Act, 1870; and
(b.) If the authority are not a school board, may by order appoint any persons for a specified period not exceeding two years to perform the duty of the defaulting school attendance committee under this Act, and from time to time change such persons.

During the said specified period the person so appointed shall perform the duty of the defaulting school attendance committee under this Act, to the exclusion of that committee, and shall in the performance and for the purposes of such duty be invested with all the powers of the school attendance committee, but shall not be subject to any control on the part of the council or guardians who appointed the defaulting committee; but after the expiration of such period a school attendance committee shall forthwith be appointed by the council or guardians as the case may require, and shall resume the duty of the local authority under this Act, subject nevertheless to any further proceeding under this section in the case of a new default.

All expenses incurred by persons appointed under this section by the Education Department to act in lieu of a defaulting school attendance committee, including such remuneration, if any, as the Education Department may assign to such persons, shall, to the amount certified by the Education Department to be due, be a debt to Her Majesty from the Council or guardians by whom the defaulting committee were appointed, and may be recovered accordingly; and the certificate of the Education Department shall be conclusive evidence that the sum named in the certificate is due under this section.

The Education Department shall annually report to Parliament the cases in which any proceedings have been taken by them in pursuance of this section.

Officers of local authority.                                                                                28. Every local authority, but subject in the case of a school attendance committee to the approval herein-after mentioned, shall direct one or more of their officers, or the officers of the council or guardians by whom the committee are appointed, to act in the execution of this Act, and of any byelaws in force within the jurisdiction of such authority, and may, if they think fit, pay him or them for so doing, and may, if need be, appoint and pay officers for the purpose.

Power of officer of local authority to enter place of employment.                                                                                29. If it appear to any justice of the peace, on the complaint of an officer of the local authority acting under this Act, that there is reasonable cause to believe that a child is employed in contravention of this Act in any place, whether a building or not, such justice may by order under his hand empower an officer of the local authority to enter such place at any reasonable time within forty-eight hours from the date of the order, and examine such place and any person found therein1 touching the employment of any child therein.

Any person refusing admission to an officer authorised by an order under this section, or obstructing him in the discharge of his duty, shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

Provision as to powers and expenses of school board.                                                                                30. The powers and expenses of a school board under this Act shall be deemed to be powers and expenses of that board under the Elementary Education Act, 1870, and the provisions of that Act and any Act amending the same shall apply thereto accordingly.

Expenses of local authority other than school board.                                                                                31. A school attendance committee under this Act shall not incur any expense, or appoint, employ, or pay any officer without the consent of the council or guardians by whom the committee were appointed, and where they are appointed by guardians, also of the Local Government Board, but with such consent may employ and pay any officer of such council or guardians. The expenses (if any) of a school attendance committee under this Act shall be paid,—
(1.) Where the committee is appointed by a council, out of the borough fund or borough rate; and,
(2.) Where the committee is appointed by a board of guardians, out of a fund to be raised out of the poor rate of the parishes in which the committee act for the purposes of this Act, according to the rateable value of each parish:
For the purpose of obtaining payment of such expenses, the board of guardians shall have the same powers as they have for the purpose of obtaining contributions to their common fund under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor.

Provisionsas to school attendance committee, and appointment of local committee.                                                                           32. Subject to the provisions of this Act the council or guardians may from time to time add to or diminish the number of members of a school attendance committee appointed by them.

A school attendance committee appointed by guardians shall act for every parish in the union which is not for the time being under any other local authority within the meaning of this Act.

A school attendance committee may, if they think fit, appoint different local committees for different parishes or other areas in their district for the purpose of giving the school attendance committee such aid and information in the execution of this Act as may be required by the committee appointing them, but any such local committee shall not have power to make any byelaws or take any proceeding before a court of summary jurisdiction under this Act.

A local committee may consist of not less than three persons, being, as the school attendance committee appointing them think fit, either wholly members of the council, guardians, or authority by whom that school attendance committee were appointed, or partly such members and partly other persons.

The provisions contained in the Second Schedule to this Act shall apply to every school attendance committee and local committee appointed under this Act.

Appointment of school attendance committee by urban authority.                                                                                33. On the application of the urban sanitary authority of an urban sanitary district which is not and does not comprise a borough, and which is co-extensive with any parish or parishes not within the jurisdiction of a school board, containing according to the last published census for the time being a population of not less than five thousand, the Education Department may by order authorise the sanitary authority of that district to appoint, and thereupon such authority may appoint, a school attendance committee as if they were the council of a borough; and that committee, to the exclusion of the school attendance committee appointed by the guardians, shall enforce the provisions of this Act in the sanitary district, and be in that district the local authority for the purposes of this Act, and all the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly as if the sanitary authority were the council of a borough.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
Provided, that the expenses (if any) of a school attendance committee appointed by an urban sanitary authority shall be paid out of a fund to be raised out of the poor rate of the parish or parishes comprised in the district of such authority according to the rateable value of each parish, and the urban sanitary authority shall, for the purpose of obtaining payment of such expenses, have the same power as a board of guardians have for the purpose of obtaining contributions to their common fund under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor, and the accounts of such expenses shall be audited as the accounts of other expenses of the sanitary authority.

Any byelaws in force in an urban sanitary district, or any part thereof, before the appointment of a school attendance committee by the sanitary authority of such district shall continue in force, subject nevertheless to be revoked or altered by the school attendance committee of the sanitary authority in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by this Act.

Where any urban sanitary district is not and does not comprise a borough, and is not wholly within the jurisdiction of a school board, and is not within the foregoing provisions of this section, the urban sanitary authority of that district may from time to time appoint such number as the Education Department allow, not exceeding three, of their own members to be members of the school attendance committee for the union in which the district or the part thereof not within the jurisdiction of a school board is situate; and such members, so long as they are members of the sanitary authority, and their appointment is not revoked by that authority, shall be members of the school attendance committee, and have the same powers and authorities as if they had been appointed by the guardians.

Where a school board is appointed after the commencement of this Act for any parish which forms or comprises the whole or part of an urban sanitary district in which the school attendance committee is appointed by the urban sanitary authority, such school attendance committee shall, at the expiration of two months after the election of the school board, cease to act for the urban sanitary district, and the school attendance committee appointed by the guardians shall be the local authority for so much of the urban sanitary district as is not under the school board.

All byelaws in force at the expiration of the said two months shall continue in force, subject to being revoked or altered by the local authority, in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by this Act.

Clerk of school attendance committee of guardians and application of Acts to guardians and school attendance committee.                                    34. In a union the clerk of the guardians shall be the clerk of the school attendance committee for the purposes of this Act.

36 & 37 Vict. c. 86.
All enactments relating to guardians and their officers and expenses, and to relief given by guardians, shall, subject to the express provisions of this Act, apply as if the guardians, including the school attendance committee appointed by them, and their officers acting under this Act, and expenses incurred, and money paid for school fees and relief given under this Act, were respectively acting, incurred, and paid and given as relief, under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor, and the Local Government Board may make rules, orders, and regulations accordingly.

Any expenses incurred by officers of guardians in carrying into effect section twenty of the Elementary Education Act, 1873, when paid by such guardians, may be charged by them to the parish in respect of which such expenses are incurred.

Charge to parish of money for school fees.                                                                                35. Money given under this Act for the payment of school fees for any child of a parent who is not a pauper and is resident in any parish shall be charged by the guardians having jurisdiction in such parish to that parish with other parochial charges.

Effect of subsequent appointment of school board.                                                                                36. Where a school board is appointed after the commencement of this Act for any school district the authority acting at the time of such appointment as the local authority under this Act shall continue so to act until the expiration of two months after the election of such board, and shall then cease so to act for such district; nevertheless, all byelaws previously made by the local authority shall continue in force, subject to being revoked or altered in respect of that district by the school board in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870.

Legal Proceedings.
Application of 36 & 37 Vict. c. 86. ss. 23-25, to penalties, and punishment for fraudulently obtaining payment of fees.                                    37. Sections twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-five of the Elementary Education Act, 1873 (which provisions relate to legal proceedings, and the forgery of certificates), shall so far as applicable apply in the case of offences and penalties under this Act, and proceedings for such offences and penalties and of certificates for the purposes of this Act, in like manner as if those sections were enacted in this Act and in terms made applicable thereto.

And every person who shall fraudulently obtain or enable or procure any other person to obtain from any school board or local authority payment, or remission of payment, or an order for payment, or remission of payment of any school fees, shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding fourteen days.

An order which a court of summary jurisdiction have authority to make in pursuance of this Act may be made in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.

No prosecutions except with the authority of two members of a school board or local authority.                                                             38. No legal proceedings for non-attendance or irregular attendance at school shall be commenced in a court of summary jurisdiction, by any person appointed to carry out the compulsory byelaws of a school board or local authority, except by the direction of not less than two members of a school board or school attendance committee.

Exemption of employer on proof of guilt of some other person.                                                                                39. Where the offence of taking a child into employment in contravention of this Act is in fact committed by an agent or workman of the employer, such agent or workman shall be liable to a penalty as if he were the employer.

Where a child is taken into employment in contravention of this Act on the production by or with the privity of the parent of a false or forged certificate, or on the false representation of his parent that the child is of an age at which such employment is not in contravention of this Act, that parent shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

Where an employer charged with taking a child into his employment in contravention of this Act proves that he has used due diligence to enforce the observance of this Act, and either that some agent or workman of his employed the child without his knowledge or consent, or that the child was employed either on the production of a forged or false certificate and under the belief in good faith in the genuineness and truth of such certificate, or on the representation by his parent that the child was of an age at which his employment would not be in contravention of this Act, and under the belief in good faith in such representation, the employer shall be exempt from any penalty.

Where an employer satisfies the local authority, inspector, or other person about to institute a prosecution that he is exempt under this section by reason of some agent, workman, or parent being guilty, and gives all facilities in his power for proceeding against and convicting such agent, workman, or parent, such authority, inspector, or person shall institute proceedings against such agent, workman, or parent, and not against the employer.

Miscellaneous.
Pauper children.                                                                                40. [Recital of 36 & 37 Vict. c. 86 s. 3.] Where relief out of the workhouse is given by the guardians or their order, by way of weekly or other continuing allowance to the parent of any child above the age of five years who has not reached the standard in reading, writing, and arithmetic, prescribed by standard three of the code of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, or who for the time being either is prohibited by this Act from being taken into full time employment, or is required by any byelaw under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by this Act, to attend school, or to any such child, it shall be a condition for the continuance of such relief that elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic shall be provided for such child, and the guardians shall give such further relief (if any) as may be necessary for that purpose.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
30 & 31 Vict. c. 6.
Any such relief to a parent as above mentioned shall not be granted on condition of the child attending any public elementary school other than such as may be selected by the parent, nor refused because the child attends or does not attend any particular public elementary school.

The guardians shall not have power under this section to give any relief to a parent in order to enable such parent to pay more than the ordinary fee payable at the school which he selects, or more than the fee which under this Act they can enable a parent to pay in any other case.

All relief given by guardians under this section shall be deemed to be relief within the meaning of the Acts relating to the relief of the poor, and shall be paid out of their common fund, and where given by the guardians of any union in the metropolis as defined by the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, shall be deemed to be expenses payable from the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund within the meaning of section sixty-nine of that Act, and shall be repaid to such guardians accordingly.

Dissolution of school board under certain circumstances.                                                                                41. Where application for the dissolution of a school board is made to the Education Department by the like persons and in the like manner as an application for the formation of a school board, under section twelve of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, nevertheless by a majority of not less than two-thirds of those who shall vote upon the occasion, and the Education Department are satisfied that no school and no site for a school is in the possession or under the control of the school board, and that there is a sufficient amount of public school accommodation for the district of the school board, and no requisition has been sent by the Education Department to such school board under section ten of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, requiring them to supply public school accommodation, it shall be the duty of the Education Department to take the circumstances of the case into consideration, and if they shall be of opinion that the maintenance of a school board is not required for the purposes of education in the district, it shall be lawful for the Education Department, after such notice as they think sufficient, to order the dissolution of the school board: Provided always, that no application shall be made for the dissolution of a school board except within six months before the expiration of the period for which the school board has been elected, and no order for the dissolution of such school board shall take effect until after the expiration of such period, except that after the order is made an election of members of that board shall not be held.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
36 & 37 Vict. c. 86.
The Education Department by any such order shall make provision for the disposal of all money furniture books documents and property belonging to the school board, and for the discharge out of the local rate of all the liabilities of the board, and such other provisions as appear to the Department necessary or proper for carrying into effect the dissolution of the board.

The Education Department shall publish the order in manner directed by the Elementary Education Act, 1873, with respect to the publication of notices, and after the date of such publication, or any later date mentioned in the order, the order shall have effect as if it were enacted by Parliament, without prejudice nevertheless to the subsequent formation of a school board in the same school district; all byelaws previously made by the school board shall continue in force, subject nevertheless to be revoked or altered by the local authority under this Act: Provided, that if after the dissolution of a school board in any school district the Education Department are of opinion that there is not a sufficient amount of public school accommodation in such school district, they may after due notice cause a school board to be formed for such school district, and send a requisition to such school board in the same manner in all respects as if they had published a final notice under the Elementary Education Act, 1870.

The Education Department shall in each case where it shall assent to the dissolution of a school board lay before both Houses of Parliament a statement of its reasons for giving such assent.

Provision of offices by school board with consent of Education Department.                                                                                42. Where a school board satisfy the Education Department that, having regard to the large population of the district of such board, it is necessary or proper that the board should provide an office, the Education Department may authorise the board to provide an office, and the board shall for that purpose have the same power as they have under the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1873, for the purpose of providing sufficient school accommodation for their district, including the power of borrowing money under section ten of the Elementary Education Act, 1873, and the provision of such office shall be deemed to be a work for which a school board is authorised to borrow within the meaning of the Public Works Loans Act, 1875.

38 & 39 Vict. c. 89.
Local authority to send returns.                                                                                43. The local authority under this Act (although not a school board) shall send to the Education Department such returns and information respecting their proceedings under this Act, and respecting matters on which school boards can be required under the Elementary Education Act, 1870, to make returns, as the Education Department from time to time require.

[S. 44 substitutes a new rule for Rule 15 in the first part of the second schedule to 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75. See that Act.]

Orders, &c., of Education Department.                                                                                45. The provisions of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, with respect to orders and documents of the Education Department, shall apply to all orders and documents of the Education Department under this Act.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75. ss. 83,84.
Effect of schedules.                                                                                46. The schedules to this Act shall have effect as if they were enacted in the body of this Act.

Definition of employment in case of parent.                                                                                47. A parent of a child who employs such child in any labour exercised by way of trade or for the purposes of gain, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to take such child into his employment.

General definitions.                                                                                48. A child in this Act means a child between the ages of five and fourteen years.

Terms in this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, have the same meaning as in the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873.

The term “certified efficient school” in this Act means a public elementary school, and any workhouse school certified to be efficient by the Local Government Board, and any public or state-aided elementary school in Scotland, and any national school in Ireland, and also any elementary school which is not conducted for private profit, and is open at all reasonable times to the inspection of Her Majesty’s Inspectors, and requires the like attendance from its scholars as is required in a public elementary school, and keeps such registers of those attendances as may be for the time being required by the Education Department, and is certified by the Education Department to be an efficient school.

The term “Factory Acts” in this Act, where the Factory Act of any particular year is not referred to, means any Acts for the time being in force regulating factories and workshops.

Provision as to part of a parish.                                                                                49. A part of a parish which by or in pursuance of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873, is constituted a separate school district shall be deemed to be a separate school district, and so far as necessary a separate parish by itself for the purposes of this Act, and the provisions of those Acts respecting such part of a parish shall apply; and for the purposes of those Acts and this Act the overseers of the entire parish shall be deemed to be the overseers of such part of a parish, and a rate in the nature of a poor rate may be levied therein by such overseers either as a separate rate or as an addition to the poor rate, and shall be deemed to be the local rate; and the guardians shall for the purposes of this Act have the like power of obtaining payment of a contribution from the said part of a parish as they have of obtaining a contribution from the whole parish.

Construction of this Act with other enactments.                                                                                50. Where any act, neglect, or default is punishable under this Act and also under any other enactment, or any byelaw made by a school board or other local authority for the time being in force, proceedings may be instituted in respect of such act, neglect, or default under this Act or such other enactment or byelaw, in the discretion of the authority or person instituting the proceedings, so that proceedings under one enactment or byelaw only be instituted in respect of the same act, neglect, or default; and any byelaw made either before or after the commencement of this Act, by any school board or other local authority under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, if otherwise valid, shall not be rendered invalid by reason that it is more stringent than the provisions of this Act; and nothing in this Act shall prejudice the effect of or derogate from any provision relating to the committal of children to industrial schools or the employment of children contained in any previous Act of Parliament which may be more stringent in its provisions than this Act.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.
[Ss. 51, 52 rep. 43 & 44 V. c. 23. s. 6.]
Part II.
Application of the Act to Scotland.                                                                                53. In the application of this Act to Scotland the following provision shall have effect:
The provisions of this Act with respect to the conditions to be fulfilled by schools in order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant shall apply to Scotland.

SCHEDULES.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
Sect. 24 .
Standards of Proficiency in Reading, Writing, and Elementary Arithmetic and previous due Attendance at School.

For the purpose of Employment.
(1.) The standard of proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic for the purpose of a certificate under this Act enabling a child to be employed shall be—
(a.) The standard of reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic fixed by standard four of the Code of 1876, or any higher standard.
(2.) The standard of previous due attendance at a certified efficient school for the purpose of a certificate under this Act enabling a child to be employed shall be two hundred and fifty attendances after five years of age in not more than two schools during each year for five years, whether consecutive or not.
. . . . . . . . . .
For the purpose of the Payment of Fees.
(4.) The standard of proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic for the purpose of a certificate under this Act, with a view to allow of the payment of fees by the Education Department, shall be the standard of reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic fixed by standard four of the Code of 1876, or such higher standard as may be from time to time fixed by the Education Department, and shall include any standard higher than the one fixed by this rule, or than the one for the time being fixed by the Education Department.
(5.) The standard of previous due attendance at a public elementary school for the purpose of a certificate under this Act with a view to allow of the payment of fees by the Education Department, shall be three hundred and fifty attendances after five years of age in not more than two schools during each year for five years, or such larger number of attendances as may be for the time being fixed by the Education Department.
. . . . . . . . . .
(7.) The Education Department may from time to time by order make, and when made revoke and vary, such regulations and conditions in relation to the payment of fees under this Act by that Department as they may think expedient.
(8.) The order shall provide that not more than ten per cent. of the children presented for examination in a public elementary school shall obtain in the same year certificates entitling them to the payment of fees, and that if the children qualified to obtain such certificates exceed the said percentage, those children who have attended the greatest number of times shall have the preference.
(9.) The order may make the continuance of the payment dependent upon the fulfilment of conditions, and shall provide that the continuance of the payment shall be conditional upon the child attending the school for not less than three hundred and fifty attendances in each year, and obtaining at the end of each year a certificate of proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic according to a standard higher than the standard according to which it obtained the previous certificate.
(10.) The order shall further provide that the school, by previous due attendance at which the child was qualified for obtaining the payment of fees, and the school, the fees at which are paid by the Education Department, shall be a school, or department of a school, at which the ordinary payment in respect of the instruction of each scholar does not exceed sixpence a week.

Miscellaneous.
(11.) Attendance for the purpose of this schedule means an attendance as defined by the Code of 1876, and where the attendance is at a certified day industrial school includes such attendance as may be from time to time directed for the purpose by a Secretary of State, and where the attendance is at a workhouse school includes such attendance as may be from time to time directed for the purpose by the Local Government Board.
(12.) The Code of 1876 in this schedule means the Code of the Minutes of the Education Department made in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six with respect to the parliamentary grant to public elementary schools in England, and in the case of a school in Scotland means the Code of the Minutes of the Scotch Education Department made in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six with respect to the parliamentary grant to elementary schools.

SECOND SCHEDULE.
Sect. 32 .
Rules as to a Local Committee.
(1.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the school attendance committee may from time to time add to or diminish the number of members, or change the members of any local committee appointed by them, or may dissolve any such committee.
(2.) A local committee shall, unless the school attendance committee appointing them otherwise direct, continue in office until the first meeting of that committee after the next annual appointment thereof, and thereafter until a new local committee is appointed.

Rules as to School Attendance Committee and Local Committee.

(3.) Subject to any regulations made in the case of a school attendance committee by the council or guardians appointing it, and in the case of a local committee by the school attendance committee appointing it, the provisions of the Third Schedule of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, with reference to proceedings of managers appointed by a school board, shall apply to the proceedings of a school attendance committee and a local committee under this Act, as if the body appointing the committee were a school board.
(4.) Any casual vacancy in a school attendance committee or local committee may be filled up by the body who appointed such committee.
(5.) A school attendance committee shall continue in office until the first meeting of the council or guardians appointing it after the next annual election of councillors and guardians, and thereafter until the new committee is appointed.
(6.) A committee appointed by guardians shall be appointed at the first meeting after the annual election of guardians, or some other meeting fixed with the approval of the Local Government Board for the purpose.

[Third Sched. contains the rule referred to in s. 44; Fourth Sched. rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39. (S.L.R.)]

[1 Nothing in this section is to prevent a school board from admitting scholars without requiring any fee. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 56. s. 8.]

[2 For the purposes of this section the fee grant paid or payable in Scotland under the Elementary Education Act, 1891, is to be deemed to be income derived from a source other than the parliamentary grant, 55 and 56 Vict. c. 51. s. 1.]

[3 This paragraph is rep. as to day schools in England and Wales, 60 & 61 Vict. c. 5. s. 2.]


Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
Definition
1. In this Act “Principal Act” means the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 .

Payment of Parliamentary Activities Allowance to parliamentary leaders of qualifying parties and to independent members
2. Section 10 (inserted by section 1 of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for that section:
“10. (1) There may be paid, on request, to the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party, in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of the party, where he or she is a member of Dáil Éireann in respect of—
(a) members of that party elected to Dáil Éireann at the last preceding general election or a subsequent bye-election as members of that party —
(i) where not more than 10 members of that party are so elected, an annual allowance of €64,368 in respect of each member,
(ii) where more than 10 but not more than 30 members of that party are so elected, an annual allowance of—
(I) €64,368 in respect of each of the first to the tenth of them, and
(II) €51,493 in respect of each of the remainder,
or
(iii) where more than 30 members of that party are so elected, an annual allowance of—
(I) €64,368 in respect of each of the first to the tenth of them,
(II) €51,493 in respect of each of the eleventh to the thirtieth of them, and
(III) €25,754 in respect of each of the remainder,
and
(b) members of that party elected to Seanad Éireann at the last preceding general election or a subsequent bye-election or nominated to it after the last preceding general election, as members of that party —
(i) where not more than 5 members of that party are so elected or nominated, an annual allowance of €42,089 in respect of each member, or
(ii) where more than 5 members of that party are so elected or nominated, an annual allowance of—
(I) €42,089 in respect of each of the first to the fifth of them, and
(II) €21,045 in respect of each of the remainder.
(2) In the case of a qualifying party forming or forming part of the Government, the combined allowances under subsection (1) (a) shall be reduced by one-third.
(3) There may be paid, on request, to —
(a) an independent member of Dáil Éireann, in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of that member, an annual allowance of €37,037, and
(b) an independent member of Seanad Éireann, in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of that member, an annual allowance of €21,045.
(4) An allowance under this section shall not be paid if it is in relation to an expense that is otherwise reimbursed or provided for.
(5) Subject to the approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and to such exceptions, restrictions and conditions as may be provided for by regulations, secretarial facilities may be provided to a qualifying party for the purposes of facilitating the parliamentary activities of its elected members.
(6) An allowance paid under this section shall not be used for, or to recoup, election or poll expenses incurred for the purposes of any election or poll held under—
(a) the Electoral Acts 1923 to 1990 or the Electoral Acts 1992 to 2013,
(b) the European Parliament Elections Acts 1977 to 1993 or the European Parliament Elections Acts 1992 to 2013,
(c) the Presidential Elections Acts 1992 to 2006,
(d) the Referendum Acts 1992 to 2013,
(e) the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Acts 1947 to 2006, or
(f) the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Acts 1937 to 2006.
(7) An allowance paid under this section shall not be liable to income tax.
(8) An allowance under this section shall not be paid or be payable in respect of the period in office of the Ceann Comhairle where at the last preceding general election or at a subsequent bye-election he or she was elected as a member of Dáil Éireann—
(a) other than as a member of a qualifying party, or
(b) as a member of a qualifying party but was the only member of the qualifying party so elected.
(9) Any allowance which is payable, and any facility which is to be provided, under this section shall be paid and provided in addition to any other allowance or salary payable, or any other facility provided, under the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Acts 1938 to 1998, or the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Acts 1938 to 2009.
(10) Allowances payable under this section shall, in respect of each member of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, be calculated for each week the person was at any time during that week a member thereof, and it shall be paid—
(a) to each qualifying parliamentary party leader, or
(b) where subsection (3) applies, to each member concerned,
for such period in arrears as the Minister considers appropriate.

(11) If, after an allowance under this section for a particular period has become due and payable to the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party or to an independent member, a period of 6 months expires without the parliamentary leader or the member having claimed the allowance or part thereof, then, on that expiry, the allowance or part thereof (as the case may be) for the period first mentioned in this subsection shall cease to be payable.
(12) Where—
(a) the members of a qualifying party agree that from a specified date the party (referred to subsequently in this subsection as the ‘dissolved party’) shall stand dissolved and—
(i) that the dissolved party shall from that date amalgamate with, or
(ii) that all its members shall join,
a specified other qualifying party, and
(b) that other qualifying party agrees to give effect to that amalgamation or to grant membership to all the members of the dissolved party on the date specified,
then all members of the dissolved party who were elected as members of Dáil Éireann, elected as members of Seanad Éireann or nominated to Seanad Éireann, as members of that party at the last preceding general election, or at any subsequent bye-election before its dissolution, shall, for the purposes of subsection (1), from the date of dissolution of the dissolved party, be deemed to be members of that other party as if elected as members of Dáil Éireann, elected as members of Seanad Éireann or nominated to Seanad Éireann, as members of that other party at the last preceding general election or at a subsequent bye-election before such dissolution.

(13) The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission may make regulations for the purposes of subsection (5).”.

Amendment of Principal Act — insertion of sections 10A to 10H
3. The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 10:
“Additional condition for payment of allowance under section 10
10A. (1) Notwithstanding that the conditions specified in section 10 for the payment of an allowance, in respect of a given period, to a parliamentary leader or an independent member, as the case may be, are satisfied, such an allowance shall not be paid under that section if, in respect of an allowance paid under that section in a previous period—
(a) either—
(i) there has been a default in the furnishing of the statement and auditor’s report referred to in section 10B in accordance with that section, or
(ii) the Commission has indicated in a report under section 10D(6) that that statement does not comply with sections 10 and 10B,
and
(b) that default has not been remedied or, as the case may be, the matters in respect of which the Commission has indicated that that statement does not comply with sections 10 and 10B have not been rectified in a manner that the Minister determines to be satisfactory.
(2) This section, and sections 10B to 10D, are subject to section 10E.

Statement of expenditure
10B. (1) As soon as may be but not later than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which an allowance under section 10 has been paid to a parliamentary leader of a qualifying party or to an independent member, he or she shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a statement of any expenditure from the allowance paid to the parliamentary leader or to the independent member, as the case may be.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) where a person who is the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party ceases to be parliamentary leader of the party in respect of which he or she has received an allowance or portion thereof under section 10—
(a) he or she, or
(b) where he or she ceases to be such leader by reason of his or her death, his or her personal representative,
shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a statement of any expenditure from the allowance as soon as may be but not later than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which the allowance has been paid.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply where the person who has ceased to be the parliamentary leader, or his or her personal representative, and the person who succeeds him or her as the parliamentary leader of the qualifying party, agree in writing that a statement of any expenditure from the allowance under section 10 paid to the former parliamentary leader shall be included in the next statement of his or her successor under subsection (1).
(4) Where an independent member in receipt of an allowance or portion thereof under section 10 dies his or her personal representative shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a statement of any expenditure from the allowance as soon as may be but not later than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which the allowance has been paid.
(5) A statement prepared under this section shall comply with such requirements as to its form and content as may be provided for in guidelines, if any, under section 10G.
(6) A person who prepares, or causes to be prepared, a statement under this section, shall cause it to be audited by a public auditor and shall as soon as may be but in any event no later than the time limit specified in subsection (1), (2) or (4) (as the case may be) furnish the statement and the auditor’s report to the Commission.
(7) The period of 120 days referred to in subsections (1), (2) and (4) shall be extended by any period for which Dáil Éireann stands dissolved which coincides with that period.
(8) In this section ‘public auditor’ means a public auditor for the purposes of the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1893 to 1978 and the Friendly Societies Acts 1896 to 1977.

Retention and public inspection
10C.(1) A person who makes, or causes to be made, a statement under section 10B shall keep records relating to the statement—
(a) in the case of a parliamentary leader of a qualifying party for a period of not less than 6 years, and
(b) in the case of an independent member and a personal representative for a period of not less than 6 years or such shorter period as the Commission may determine,
from the end of the financial year to which the statement relates.

(2) The Commission shall retain every statement and auditor’s report furnished to it under section 10B f or such period as it thinks fit.
(3) As soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a statement and an auditor’s report under section 10B (and the foregoing statement is determined by the Commission to be satisfactory), the Commission shall—
(a) make a copy of the statement and the auditor’s report, and the Commission’s report on the statement, available for public inspection, without charge, on its website and at its principal office during normal working hours, and
(b) permit any person to take a copy or an extract of either such statement or such report on payment of a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of copying, at such times and subject to such conditions as the Commission considers appropriate.

Review by Commission
10D.(1) The Commission shall consider every statement and auditor’s report furnished to it under section 10B and, where it considers it appropriate to do so, shall furnish a report in writing to the Minister on any matter arising in relation to such statement or report.

(2) Where the Commission, following consideration by it of a statement, finds a minor error or omission in the statement, the Commission shall furnish to the person by whom the statement was furnished details of the error or omission, as the case may be, and the Commission shall inform the person that he or she may correct the error or make good the omission within the period of 14 days from the date on which the notification issued to the person.
(3) Where the Commission, following consideration by it of a statement, is of the opinion that the statement does not comply with this Act, it shall furnish to the person by whom the statement was furnished a written notice containing details of the non-compliance and the Commission shall inform that person that he or she may furnish comments on the matter to the Commission within 14 days from the date on which the notice issued to that person and that any such comments will be considered by the Commission before considering the matter further.
(4) Where the person to whom a notice issues under subsection (3)furnishes to the Commission his or her comments on the matter referred to in the notice within the period referred to in that subsection, the Commission shall have regard to the said comments.
(5) Where, following consideration of any comments received by the Commission under subsection (3), or where the person to whom a notice issued fails to make any comments under that subsection, and the Commission continues to be of the opinion that there may have been non-compliance with this Act it shall forward a report of the matter (together with any relevant document or other thing in its possession) to the Minister and the Chairman of Dáil Éireann.
(6) The Commission shall furnish a report in writing on a statement and auditor’s report to the Minister indicating—
(a) whether they have been made by the specified time limit,
(b) whether they disclose any expenditure which does not comply with section 10(6), and
(c) whether the statement complies with sections 10 and 10B.
(7) The Commission shall cause a copy of every report furnished by it under subsection (6) to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
(8) The Commission may make such inquiries as it considers appropriate and may require any person to furnish any information, document or thing in the possession or procurement of the person which the Commission may require for the performance of its functions under this section.
(9) Where a person fails to comply with a requirement made under subsection (8), the Commission shall—
(a) furnish a statement to that effect to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann and the Minister, and
(b) publish details of the non-compliance on the Commission’s website.
(10) Nothing in this section prejudices the subsequent taking of steps to rectify any matter that was treated of (or failed to be treated of) in a statement.

Restriction of certain sections’ application to cases falling on or after specified days
10E.(1) Sections 10A to 10D shall, in relation to such an allowance payable to an independent member, only apply to an allowance under section 10 that is paid to such a member on or after a day fixed by an order made by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection.

(2) Section 10C shall, in relation to such an allowance payable to a parliamentary leader of a qualifying party, only apply to an allowance under section 10 that is paid to such a leader on or after a day fixed by an order made by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection.

Repayment of annual allowances by parliamentary leaders of qualifying parties and by independent members
10F.(1) Where, following a general election or bye-election, a party ceases to be a qualifying party the parliamentary leader of that party shall repay, as soon as may be but not later than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which an allowance under this section has been paid, the allowance or any portion thereof, that is unspent.

(2) Where, following a general election or bye-election, an independent member is not re-elected as an independent member then the member shall repay, as soon as may be but not later than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which an allowance under this section has been paid, the allowance or any portion thereof, that is unspent.
(3) Where, in respect of a sum required to be paid under subsection (1) or (2), there is a default in the repayment thereof, such sum shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Guidelines
10G. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section the Commission may prepare and publish guidelines for the purpose of providing practical guidance to parliamentary leaders of qualifying parties, independent members and personal representatives relating to the application and operation of sections 10 to 10D.

(2) Where the Commission proposes to publish guidelines it shall —
(a) publish in such manner as it considers appropriate a draft of the guidelines and give persons 28 days from the date of publication of the draft guidelines within which to make written representations to it in relation to the draft guidelines, or such further period, not exceeding 28 days, as it in its absolute discretion thinks fit, and
(b) consult with parliamentary leaders of qualifying parties and independent members.
(3) The Commission may, following consideration of representations, if any, received by it under subsection (2) (a) and consultations carried out under subsection (2) (b), amend the draft guidelines.
(4) Before publishing guidelines the Commission shall submit the draft guidelines, referred to in subsection (3), to the Minister for his or her approval.
(5) Where draft guidelines are submitted to the Minister for his or her approval, the Minister shall, as he or she may think proper, refuse to approve of the guidelines or approve thereof without modifications or make such modifications thereto as he or she may think proper and approve of the guidelines as so modified and the Commission shall, accordingly, not publish the guidelines or, as the case may be, publish them in the terms as so approved of.
(6) Where the Commission publishes guidelines, it shall publish a notice of such publication in Iris Oifigiúil and the notice shall—
(a) identify the guidelines,
(b) specify the matters relating to the statements in respect of which the guidelines are published, and
(c) specify the date on which the guidelines come into operation.
(7) The Commission may, with the consent of the Minister, and following consultation with any other person or body that the Commission considers appropriate or that the Minister directs, amend, revoke or withdraw approval of any guidelines, or part thereof, prepared and published by it under this section.
(8) Where the Commission amends, revokes or withdraws approval of guidelines, or part thereof, published under this section, it shall publish notice of the amendment, revocation or withdrawal of approval, as the case may be, in Iris Oifigiúil.
(9) The Commission shall, as soon as practicable after it publishes guidelines or amended guidelines—
(a) furnish a copy of the guidelines, or the guidelines so amended, to every parliamentary leader of a qualifying party and independent member, and
(b) make a copy of the guidelines, or the guidelines so amended, available for public inspection, without charge, at its principal office during normal working hours and on the Commission’s website.
(10) The Commission in performing its functions under section 10D shall have regard to the guidelines.

Interpretation — sections 10 to 10G
10H. (1) In sections 10 to 10G—
‘Commission’ means Standards in Public Office Commission;
‘expenses arising from parliamentary activities, including research’ includes expenditure on the following categories—
(a) the general administration of the parliamentary activities of a qualifying party,
(b) the provision of technical or specialist advice likely to be required in connection with legislative proposals or potential parliamentary initiatives,
(c) research and training,
(d) policy formulation,
(e) the provision of consultants’ services, including the engagement of public relations consultants,
(f) polling or public attitude sampling in connection with parliamentary debates or initiatives,
(g) the purchase of support services for a parliamentary party from the party,
(h) the payment to a parliamentary leader of any salary or honorarium in respect of duties arising from his or her activities as such leader as distinct from those of a member of Dáil Éireann or a holder of a ministerial office,
(i) the payment to another person of any salary or honorarium in respect of duties arising from the person’s activities in a parliamentary party,
(j) the provision for, or recoupment of, transport and personal expenditure incurred by a parliamentary leader, officers or a parliamentary party spokesperson as a result of their parliamentary party function,
(k) entertainment, and
(l) such other matters as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;
‘financial year’ means a period of 12 months ending on 31 December;
‘guidelines’ means guidelines published by the Commission under section 10G;
‘independent member’ means—
(a) a member of Dáil Éireann who at the last preceding general election or at a subsequent bye-election was elected as a member of Dáil Éireann other than as a member of a qualifying party, and
(b) a member of Seanad Éireann who at the last preceding general election or at a subsequent bye-election was elected as a member of Seanad Éireann or nominated to it as a member after the last preceding general election, other than as a member of a qualifying party;
‘Minister’ means Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform;
‘qualifying party’ means a political party registered in the Register of Political Parties which contested the last preceding general election or any subsequent bye-elections and which had a member or members elected to Dáil Éireann or elected or nominated to Seanad Éireann at that general election or at any subsequent bye-election;
‘statement’ means a statement of expenditure prepared and furnished, or required to be prepared and furnished, to the Commission under section 10B.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister may make regulations for the purposes of paragraph (l) of the definition of ‘expenses arising from parliamentary activities, including research’ in subsection (1).
(3) Before making regulations for the foregoing purposes, the Minister shall consult with the parliamentary leaders of qualifying parties and with independent members and shall consider any report furnished by the Commission under section 10D.”.

Allowances to be adjusted automatically by reference to salary increases or decreases in Civil Service
4. Section 11A (inserted by section 10 of the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 ) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for that section —11A.
(1) Whenever remuneration in the Civil Service is increased or decreased with effect from a particular day in accordance with agreements or arrangements that have effect on a general basis in the Civil Service (whether or not they also apply in relation to persons employed other than in the Civil Service), the allowances payable under this Part are, by the operation of this section, increased or decreased accordingly on and from that day by the same proportion.
(2) It is not necessary to make an order under section 11 in order to give effect to an increase or decrease made by the operation of subsection (1).
(3) In this section, ‘Civil Service’ has the same meaning as it has in the Civil Service Commissioners Act 1956 .”.

Repeal and saver
5. (1) Sections 25 to 32 of the Principal Act are repealed.
(2) A person who, on the commencement of subsection (1), is in receipt of an allowance under Part V of the Principal Act, shall continue to be entitled to receive that allowance after the commencement of subsection (1) on the same terms and conditions as applied immediately before that commencement.

Short title and commencement
6. (1) This Act may be cited as the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2014.
(2) This Act comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform may appoint by order or orders, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.