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12 1950

TRANSPORT ACT, 1950

PART V.

Finance.

Borrowing powers of the Board.

28. —(1) (a) Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the Board may from time to time borrow temporarily by arrangement with bankers such sums as it may require for meeting its obligations and carrying out its duties.

(b) The Board shall not, except with the previous consent of the Minister given with the approval of the Minister for Finance, so exercise its powers under paragraph (a) of this subsection that its total indebtedness in respect of temporary borrowing exceeds at any one time five hundred thousand pounds.

(c) The Board shall not in any case so exercise its powers under paragraph (a) of this subsection that its total indebtedness in respect of temporary borrowing exceeds at any one time one million pounds.

(2) (a) The Board may, with the previous consent of the Minister given with the approval of the Minister for Finance, borrow money from time to time by the issue of stock for all or any of the following purposes—

(i) the provision of money for meeting any expenses incurred in connection with any permanent work the cost of which is properly chargeable to capital,

(ii) the redemption of any transport stock,

(iii) the acquisition of any other transport undertaking,

(iv) any other purpose for which capital moneys are properly applicable.

(b) The total amount of money borrowed under subparagraphs (i) and (iv) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not exceed seven million pounds.

(c) In calculating for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this subsection the total amount of money borrowed, account shall be taken of any moneys borrowed which have been repaid.

Transport stock.

29. —(1) Substituted transport stock shall be deemed to have been duly created and issued by the Board on the establishment date.

(2) The Board may from time to time create and issue any stock required for the purpose of exercising its powers under subsection (2) of section 28.

(3) Stock created and issued by the Board under subsection (1) or (2) of this section is in this Act referred to as transport stock.

(4) The provisions set out in column (5) of the Third Schedule to this Act shall apply in relation to the interest on and the redemption of the substituted transport stock set out in column (3) of that Schedule.

(5) Transport stock (other than substituted transport stock) shall be created and issued subject to such terms and conditions as regards the rate and payment of interest thereon and the redemption thereof as the Minister for Finance may approve.

(6) The Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, may make regulations in relation to—

(a) the registration of transport stock,

(b) certificates of transport stock,

(c) the transfer and transmission of, and other dealings with, transport stock,

(d) the closing of registers of transport stock during specified periods,

(e) the fees to be payable in respect of the transfer, transmission of, and other dealings with transport stock,

and such regulations may, in relation to transport stock, apply, with or without modification, any enactment relating to stock issued by the Government or a local authority.

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in regulations made under subsection (6) of this section, the following provisions shall apply in any case in which, by virtue of section 25, any person, being the registered holder of a particular security of a dissolved undertaker, becomes instead the registered holder of any particular substituted transport stock—

(a) if that person delivers to the Board for cancellation the certificate relating to that security, the Board shall issue to him free of charge the certificate relating to that substituted transport stock,

(b) if that person satisfies the Board that the certificate relating to that security has been lost or destroyed and gives to the Board such indemnity as it may reasonably require against claims in respect thereof, the Board shall issue to him free of charge the certificate relating to that substituted transport stock,

(c) until a certificate relating to that substituted transport stock is so issued, the certificate relating to that security shall be deemed to be the certificate relating to the substituted transport stock.

(8) Transport stock shall be personal estate and transmissible as such, and shall not be of the nature of real estate.

State guarantee of temporary borrowings and transport stock.

30. —(1) (a) The Minister for Finance may guarantee, in such manner and form and on such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, the due repayment by the Board of any moneys borrowed by the Board under subsection (1) of section 28.

(b) The Minister for Finance shall not so exercise the powers conferred on him by this subsection that the amount, or the aggregate amount, of principal which he may at any one time be liable to repay on foot of any guarantee or guarantees under this subsection for the time being in force, together with the amount of principal (if any) which the said Minister has previously paid on foot of any guarantee under this subsection and has not been repaid by the Board, exceeds five hundred thousand pounds.

(2) The Minister for Finance shall, in respect of substituted transport stock or in respect of any other transport stock proposed to be created and issued, guarantee in such manner and in such form as he thinks proper, the due payment, in accordance with the terms of such transport stock, of the principal and interest secured by such transport stock.

(3) All moneys from time to time required by the Minister for Finance to meet sums which may become payable under any guarantee given by him under this section shall be advanced out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(4) For the purpose of providing moneys for advances out of the Central Fund under this section the Minister for Finance may borrow from any person any sum or sums, and for the purpose of such borrowing the said Minister may create and issue securities bearing such rate of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as he thinks fit, and shall pay the moneys so borrowed into the Exchequer.

(5) The principal of and interest on any securities issued by the Minister for Finance under this section and the expenses incurred in connection with the issue of such securities shall be charged on and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(6) Any advances out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof for the purpose mentioned in subsection (3) of this section shall be repaid to the Central Fund (with interest thereon at such rates as the Minister for Finance shall appoint) by the Board within twelve months from the date of the advance.

(7) Where the whole or any part of the advances out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof for the purpose mentioned in subsection (3) of this section has not been repaid by the Board to the Central Fund in accordance with subsection (6) of this section, the amount so remaining outstanding shall be repaid to the Central Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(8) The provision of moneys by the Oireachtas under subsection (7) of this section shall not exempt the Board from the liability to repay to the Central Fund, with interest thereon at the rate appointed by the Minister for Finance, the full amount of any advance made under subsection (3) of this section, and such repayment shall be made by the Board at such times and in such instalments as the Minister for Finance may appoint.

Laying of particulars of guarantees before Houses of the Oireachtas.

31. —The Minister for Finance shall, as soon as may be after the expiration of each financial year, ending on or after the 31st day of March, 1951, lay before each House of the Oireachtas a statement, in such form as he thinks proper, setting out—

(a) as respects each guarantee given by him under section 30, during such financial year—

(i) particulars of the guarantee,

(ii) in case any sum has been paid by him under the guarantee before the end of such financial year—

(I) the amount thereof,

(II) the amount (if any) repaid under subsection (6) of section 30 to the Central Fund on foot of such payment,

(iii) the amount which the said Minister would, if the guarantee were enforced immediately upon the expiration of such financial year, be liable to pay as principal thereunder,

(b) as respects each guarantee given by him under section 30 before, and in force at, the commencement of such financial year—

(i) particulars of the guarantee,

(ii) in case any sum has been paid by him under such guarantee before the end of such financial year—

(I) the amount thereof,

(II) the amount (if any) repaid under subsection (6) of section 30 to the Central Fund on foot of such payment,

(iii) the amount which the said Minister would, if such guarantee were enforced immediately upon the expiration of such financial year, be liable to repay as principal thereunder.

Unclaimed interest on transport stock.

32. —All interest on transport stock unclaimed for one year after having become due may be invested or otherwise dealt with by the Board for the benefit of the Board until claimed.

Redemption Fund.

33. —(1) After providing for the payment of interest on transport stock and for other fixed charges and obligations, the Board shall from time to time set aside such sums as it considers proper for the purpose of forming a fund for the redemption of any transport stock which under the conditions of issue is redeemable wholly or partly in cash.

(2) The Board may invest any sums set aside under subsection (1) of this section and the income therefrom in—

(a) such securities for the time being authorised by law for the investment of trust funds as the Board, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, thinks proper;

(b) such other securities for the time being approved of in that behalf by the Minister for Finance as the Board thinks proper.

(3) (a) All sums set aside under subsection (1) of this section together with the income therefrom shall be applied in or towards the redemption at maturity of any transport stock for the redemption of which they have been set aside or may, if the Board thinks fit, be applied to the purchase of any such transport stock and any transport stock so purchased shall be written off and cancelled.

(b) Except with the approval of the Minister for Finance, the Board shall not under this subsection purchase any transport stock at a price exceeding the sum of the following—

(i) the redemption price of the transport stock, and

(ii) any interest accrued due on the transport stock at the date of purchase and payable to the purchaser.

Accounts and audit.

34. —(1) (a) The Board shall keep all proper and usual accounts of all moneys received or expended by it, including a capital account, revenue account, profit and loss account, and a balance sheet, and in particular shall keep all such special accounts as the Minister on his own motion or at the request of the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct.

(b) the Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, may direct the form in which the Board's accounts are to be kept.

(2) (a) The accounts of the Board shall in each year be audited by an auditor or auditors to be appointed annually by the Board with the consent of the Minister.

(b) The fees of an auditor appointed under this subsection and the expenses of the audit shall be paid by the Board.

(3) Immediately after every audit under this section the Board shall send to the Minister a copy of the accounts as passed by the auditor or auditors together with a copy of any report thereon by the auditor or auditors.

(4) The Minister shall cause a copy of the accounts and any report furnished to him under subsection (3) of this section to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(5) The Board shall compile and render to the Minister in such manner and form as he may direct such accounts, statistics and returns as he may from time to time require.