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15 1952

TOURIST TRAFFIC ACT, 1952

PART III.

Guarantee of Loans.

Guarantee of loans; and grants for interest charges.

17. —(1) Where—

(a) an application is duly made by any person for the guarantee of a loan, and

(b) the purpose for which the loan is required is either—

(i) the construction, extension, modernisation or improvement of holiday accommodation, or

(ii) the provision of amenities and services (other than holiday accommodation) at tourist resorts and the development of tourist traffic at or to such resorts by a body corporate having that object—

the Minister may, if the Board so recommends and with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, guarantee the loan.

(2) Wherever the Minister guarantees a loan under this section, he may guarantee in such form and manner and on such terms and conditions as the Minister for Finance may sanction, the repayment of the principal or the payment of interest on the loan or both the repayment of such principal and the payment of such interest.

(3) Wherever the Minister guarantees a loan under this section he may, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, authorise the Board to make grants towards the payment of interest on the loan on such terms and conditions as the Minister for Finance may sanction.

Limitations on guarantees and grants.

18. —(1) The aggregate capital amount of all loans guaranteed (whether as to principal and interest or as to one or other only) under this Part shall not exceed three million pounds.

(2) No loan of less than five hundred pounds shall be guaranteed under this Part.

(3) The aggregate amount of grants made by the Board under this Part shall not exceed seventy-five thousand pounds in any financial year.

Applications.

19. —Every application under this Part shall be made in writing to the Board.

Fees on applications and on grant or guarantee.

20. —(1) There shall be paid on every application under this Part a fee of such amount as the Minister may prescribe and the due payment of that fee shall be a condition precedent to the entertainment of the application.

(2) There shall be paid, on the guaranteeing of a loan or the authorisation of a grant under this Part, a fee of such amount as the Minister may prescribe, and the due payment of that fee shall be a condition precedent to the guarantee or the authorisation.

(3) All fees payable under this Part shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the said Minister.

(4) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under this Part.

Time limit on giving of guarantees.

21. —The Minister shall not guarantee a loan under this Part after the expiration of five years from the passing of this Act.

Advance from the Central Fund of moneys required for guarantee of loans.

22. —(1) Such sums as may from time to time be required by the Minister for fulfilling guarantees given under this Part shall be advanced out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(2) In order to provide for the advance of any sums out of the Central Fund authorised by this section to be so advanced, the Minister for Finance may borrow on the security of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof such sums as shall be required for that purpose, and the said Minister may, for the purposes of such borrowing, 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 all moneys so borrowed into the Exchequer.

(3) The principal and interest of all securities issued under this section shall be charged on and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

Payment of certain sums into the Exchequer.

23. —(1) All sums received in repayment of money advanced out of the Central Fund under this Part shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(2) Where an advance is made out of the Central Fund on foot of a guarantee given by the Minister under this Part and the whole or any part of the advance remains outstanding after the expiration of two years from the date on which the advance was made, the amount so remaining outstanding shall, at such time as the Minister for Finance shall direct, be repaid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Statements and accounts to be laid before the Oireachtas.

24. —(1) Within three months after the end of each financial year during which loans may be guaranteed under this Part, the Minister shall lay before each House of the Oireachtas a statement of the loans so guaranteed during that financial year, together with particulars of the purposes to which such loans were to be applied, and the terms and conditions on which they were so guaranteed, and together also with a statement of the aggregate amount of the guarantees given under this Part up to the end of that financial year.

(2) So long as any guarantee given under this Part continues in force the Minister shall, within three months after the expiration of every financial year, lay before each House of the Oireachtas an account in such form as may be approved of by the Minister for Finance, showing the total of all sums advanced out of the Central Fund under this Part up to the end of that financial year and the total of all sums repaid to or paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer under this Part up to the end of that financial year.