(1) Subject to this Part, the Minister shall make from the Social Insurance Fund a payment to an employer of such sum (in this Part referred to as a rebate) as is equivalent in amount to 15 per cent of each lump sum paid by that employer under section 19.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), whenever an employer fails to comply with any provision of section 17, the Minister may at his discretion reduce the amount of the rebate payable in respect of the lump sum paid under section 19 to that employer, but the amount of rebate when so reduced shall not be less than 5 per cent of the lump sum.

(3) The Minister may by regulation, made with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, vary a rate of rebate specified in this section.