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11 1996

HARBOURS ACT, 1996

PART V

Miscellaneous

Dissolution of certain harbour authorities and pilotage authorities.

81. —(1) A harbour authority of a harbour in respect of which a company is established pursuant to section 7 shall stand dissolved on the relevant vesting day and such dissolution shall, subject to subsection (2), include the dissolution of the harbour authority in their capacity as a pilotage authority.

(2) If the day on which section 56 commences in relation to a company is subsequent to the relevant vesting day the harbour authority of the company's harbour shall, notwithstanding subsection (1), continue in existence in their capacity as a pilotage authority on and from the relevant vesting day but shall stand dissolved in that capacity on the commencement of section 56 in relation to the company.

(3) As respects a harbour authority that, by virtue of subsection (2), is continued in existence in the capacity referred to in that subsection—

(a) the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the harbour of the harbour authority may make such contributions, as with the consent of the Minister it may determine, towards the expenses which the harbour authority incurs, on and from the relevant vesting day, in acting in the said capacity,

(b) the Minister may appoint a person to fill a casual vacancy arising among the members of the harbour authority on or after the said vesting day and may, by order, make provision for any other matter in relation to the constitution or the administration generally of that authority where the making of such provision is necessary to enable them to act duly in the said capacity.

Construction of reference to Shannon Harbour for certain purposes.

82. —For the purposes of references in this Act to the former harbour authority of a company's harbour, in so far as the references relate to Shannon Estuary Ports Company, references in this Act to Shannon Harbour shall be construed as references to, or (as may be appropriate) as including references to, Limerick Harbour.

Adaptation of references in enactments to harbour authorities and pilotage authorities.

83. —(1) References in any enactment or instrument made thereunder to a harbour authority shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including references to a company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the harbour of a harbour authority or, as the case may be, to a local authority to which the harbour of a harbour authority is transferred by an order under subsection (2) of section 88 or under subsection (4) or (5) of that section and references in any enactment or instrument made thereunder to a particular harbour authority shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as references to the particular company (if any) so established or, as the case may be, to the particular local authority (if any) to which a transfer as aforesaid is made.

(2) References in any enactment or instrument made thereunder to a pilotage authority shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including references to a company on which the function of organising and ensuring the provision of pilotage services in the pilotage district of a pilotage authority is conferred by section 56 and references in any enactment or instrument made thereunder to a particular pilotage authority shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as references to the particular company (if any) on which the aforesaid function in relation to the pilotage district of that pilotage authority is so conferred.

(3) References in any enactment or instrument made thereunder to the Minister for the Marine shall, in so far as the references relate to a matter to which a function of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company relates and unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as references to that company.

Proof of bye-laws.

84. —A document which purports to be a copy of bye-laws made under section 42 or 71 , and which has endorsed thereon a certificate (purporting to be signed by an officer of the company by which such bye-laws were made) stating that the document is a true copy of the bye-laws and that the bye-laws were in force on a specified date, shall, without proof of the signature of such officer or that he or she was in fact such officer, be evidence (until the contrary is proved) in every court and in all legal proceedings of the bye-laws and of the fact that they were in force on that date.

Service of notices.

85. —(1) Where a notice, direction or other document is authorised or required by this Act or an instrument made thereunder to be served on or given to a person, it shall, unless otherwise specified in this Act or the instrument, be addressed to him or her and shall be served on or given to him or her in one of the following ways—

(a) by addressing it to the person by name and delivering it to him or her;

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address; or

(c) by sending it by ordinary prepaid post addressed to the person at the address at which he or she ordinarily resides, or in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a company registered under the Companies Acts shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

Amendment of Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968.

86. —(1) In this section “the Act of 1968” means the Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968 .

(2) (a) The Schedule to the Act of 1968 is hereby amended by the addition thereto of “Dingle.”.

(b) If the Minister makes an order under section 2 (1) of the Act of 1968 in relation to Dingle Harbour and all the property, rights and liabilities of the Dingle Harbour Commissioners are transferred to the Minister by the order, the Dingle Harbour Commissioners shall, on the commencement of the order, stand dissolved.

Power to establish companies in respect of harbours not mentioned in First Schedule .

87. —(1) The Minister may by order provide for the formation and registration under the Companies Acts of a private company in respect of the harbour of each harbour authority mentioned in the Table to this section and for the application to a company aforesaid, subject to such adaptations and modifications as the Minister may consider necessary or expedient and specifies in the order, of so much of the provisions of this Act that, in his or her opinion, it is appropriate to apply to the company.

(2) An order under this section may relate to all or one or more of the said harbours.

TABLE

Annagassan Pier Commissioners

Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners

Ballyshannon Harbour Commissioners

Baltimore and Skibbereen Harbour Commissioners

Buncrana Harbour Commissioners

The Council of the urban district of Kilrush

Kinsale Harbour Commissioners

River Moy Commissioners

Sligo Harbour Commissioners

Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners

Westport Port and Harbour Commissioners

Wexford Harbour Commissioners

The Council of the urban district of Youghal

Provisions with respect to transfer of certain harbours to local authorities.

88. —(1) In this section—

council” means the council of a county;

Dublin Corporation” means the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Dublin;

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council” and “Fingal County Council” have the same meaning as they have in the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993 ;

harbour authority”, where the context admits, includes Dublin Port Company;

property”, where the context admits, includes a harbour and the quay walls and bridges mentioned in subsection (6);

the relevant local authority” means the local authority to which an order under subsection (2) or, as the case may be, subsection (4), (5) or (6), provides that property, rights and liabilities and, in the case of an order under subsection (2), members of staff, of a harbour authority specified in the order or in subsection (4), (5) or (6), as the case may be, shall be transferred and “relevant harbour authority” means the harbour authority so specified.

(2) (a) The Minister may, in lieu of making an order under section 87 in respect of the harbour of a harbour authority mentioned in the Table to that section, with the consent of the Minister for the Environment, by order transfer all the property, rights and liabilities of such a harbour authority and every member of their staff to whichever of the following the Minister considers appropriate, namely—

(i) the council in whose functional area the harbour of the harbour authority is situate, or

(ii) any other local authority in whose functional area the said harbour is situate.

(b) The reference in this subsection to the property, rights and liabilities and members of staff of an aforesaid harbour authority includes a reference to any property, rights and liabilities of the harbour authority in their capacity as a pilotage authority but where a local authority constitutes an aforesaid harbour authority the first-mentioned reference does not include a reference to the property, rights and liabilities and members of staff of the local authority in its capacity as a local authority.

(3) An order under subsection (2) may relate to one or more than one of the harbour authorities mentioned in the Table to section 87 .

(4) On the commencement of this subsection there shall stand transferred to Fingal County Council from the Dublin Port and Docks Board, or, if the relevant vesting day is prior to such commencement, from Dublin Port Company, the following harbours, namely, Skerries Harbour and Balbriggan Harbour together with all the property, rights and liabilities of the said Board or company, as the case may be, connected with each of the said harbours.

(5) On the commencement of this subsection there shall stand transferred to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from the Dublin Port and Docks Board, or, if the relevant vesting day is prior to such commencement, from Dublin Port Company, the following harbours, namely, Bulloch Harbour and Sandycove Harbour together with all the property, rights and liabilities of the said Board or company, as the case may be, connected with each of the said harbours.

(6) On the commencement of this subsection there shall stand transferred to Dublin Corporation from the Dublin Port and Docks Board or, if the relevant vesting day is prior to such commencement, from Dublin Port Company, the quay walls and bridges of the River Liffey from and including the Rory O'More Bridge at Heuston Station up to and including the Matt Talbot Memorial Bridge together with all the property, rights and liabilities of the said Board or company, as the case may be, connected with the said quay walls and bridges.

(7) As respects property, rights and liabilities of a harbour authority transferred by an order under subsection (2) or under subsection (4), (5) or (6), the following provisions shall have effect:

(a) on and from the commencement of the order or subsection (4), (5) or (6), as the case may be, without any further conveyance, transfer or assignment—

(i) the property concerned shall vest in the relevant local authority for all the estate and interest therein of the relevant harbour authority,

(ii) the rights concerned shall be enjoyed by the relevant local authority,

(iii) the liabilities concerned shall be the liabilities of the relevant local authority,

(b) if, immediately before the commencement of the order or subsection (4), (5) or (6), as the case may be, any legal proceedings are pending to which the relevant harbour authority is a party and, in the case of the Dublin Port and Docks Board or Dublin Port Company, the proceedings have reference to property, rights or liabilities transferred under subsection (4), (5) or (6), as the case may be, the name of the relevant local authority shall, on and from such commencement, be substituted in the proceedings for that of the relevant harbour authority and the proceedings shall not abate by reason of such substitution.

(8) On the commencement of an order under subsection (2), the relevant harbour authority shall stand dissolved and such dissolution shall include the dissolution of the relevant harbour authority in their capacity as a pilotage authority:

Provided that where a local authority constitutes the relevant harbour authority such dissolution shall not affect the local authority in its capacity as a local authority.

(9) (a) Where a local authority constitutes a harbour authority to which an order under subsection (2) relates, the Minister may on his or her own initiative and shall on the application of the relevant local authority issue a certificate in respect of specified property, rights or liabilities certifying, as he or she thinks proper, that the property, rights or liabilities were or were not property, rights or liabilities of the first-mentioned local authority in its capacity as the said harbour authority and, where appropriate, as a pilotage authority and the certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so certified.

(b) For the purposes of subsections (4), (5) and (6), the Minister may on his or her own initiative and shall on the application of Fingal County Council, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council or Dublin Corporation issue a certificate in respect of specified property, rights or liabilities certifying, as he or she thinks proper, that the property, rights or liabilities were or were not connected with a harbour mentioned in subsection (4) or (5)) or the quay walls and bridges mentioned in subsection (6) and the certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so certified.

(10) On and from the commencement of an order under subsection (2) that relates to the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, references in section 2 of the Fishery Harbour Centres (Amendment) Act, 1992 , to those commissioners shall be construed as references to the relevant local authority.

(11) Section 12 of the Finance Act, 1895, shall not apply to the vesting in a local authority of any property or rights transferred by an order under subsection (2) or under subsection (4), (5) or (6), as the case may be.

Regulation of harbours under the control or management of local authorities.

89. —(1) In this section “the Act of 1994” means the Local Government Act, 1994 .

(2) (a) The Minister may make regulations with respect to the safety of navigation in harbours under the control or management of local authorities or a specified class or classes of harbours under such control or management.

(b) A person who contravenes a provision of regulations under this subsection shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (1), (2) and (7) of section 37 of the Act of 1994, but subject to subsection (8) of that section, the power of a local authority to make bye-laws under Part VII of the Act of 1994 includes the power to make bye-laws, in relation to a harbour under its control or management—

(i) for all the purposes that a company may make bye-laws under section 42 in relation to its harbour, and

(ii) for the purpose of enabling it to impose charges in like circumstances to those in which a company may impose charges under section 13 .

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (2) and section 37 (2) (b) of the Act of 1994, the power aforesaid of a local authority includes a power to make bye-laws with respect to the safety of navigation in a harbour under its control or management:

Provided that any provision of bye-laws made by a local authority with respect to that matter shall, to the extent that the provision is inconsistent with regulations under subsection (2), not have effect for so long as such regulations remain in force.

Dissolution of Dún Laoghaire Harbour (Finance) Board.

90. —On the relevant vesting day (as respects Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company), the Dún Laoghaire Harbour (Finance) Board shall stand dissolved and the provisions of Part VI shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to the property, rights and liabilities of that Board and any proceedings pending against the Board immediately before the said day as they apply to the property, rights and liabilities of the Minister and any proceedings pending against him or her immediately before the said day.

Limits of harbours under the control or management of local authorities.

91. —(1) The Minister may, after consultation with the local authority concerned, by order define the limits of a harbour that is under the control or management of a local authority and for so long as such an order is in force the limits of such a harbour shall, notwithstanding the provisions of any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of the order, be those defined in the order.

(2) The reference in subsection (1) to an order in force shall, as respects such an order that is amended by an order in force under section 3 (4), be construed as a reference to the first-mentioned order as so amended.

Records and archives of companies and harbour authorities.

92. —(1) Each of the following, namely, a company and a harbour authority, shall, subject to the provisions of this section, make arrangements for—

(a) the proper management, custody, care and conservation of its or their records and archives, and

(b) the inspection by the public of its or their archives.

(2) A company or harbour authority may—

(a) co-operate with one or more local authorities or other persons in establishing and operating a local archives service, and may reimburse those authorities or persons for expenditure incurred by them in establishing and operating such a service in so far as it relates to the company's or harbour authority's records and archives; and

(b) with the consent of any local authority or other person which or who is operating a local archives service, delegate to that authority or person any of the functions conferred on the company or harbour authority by this section in so far as they relate to archives.

(3) The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment and the Director of the National Archives, give advice, or, as the Minister thinks appropriate, directions, to a company or a harbour authority in relation to any matter relating to its or their records and archives and, in particular and without prejudice to the foregoing, in relation to the doing of any of the following things by the company or harbour authority as respects its or their records and archives (which each company and harbour authority is hereby empowered to do), namely—

(a) the retention, management, preservation, restoration and reproduction of records and archives,

(b) the certification of records to be unsuitable for classification as archives, and the review of such certification at specified intervals,

(c) the availability of archives for public inspection,

(d) the making and provision of copies and extracts from archives,

(e) circumstances in which archives, or particular classes of archives, may be withheld from public inspection,

(f) the preparation of guides, lists, indexes and finding aids to archives,

(g) the lending of archives to appropriate institutions, bodies and societies, whether in the State or elsewhere, and

(h) the disposal of records and harbour archives,

and the company or harbour authority shall have regard to any such advice and shall comply with any such directions.

(4) (a) In this section, “records” in relation to a company or har-bour authority, includes books, maps, plans, drawings, papers, files, photographs, films, microfilms and other micrographic records, sound recordings, pictorial records, magnetic tapes, magnetic discs, optical or video discs, other machine-readable records, and other documentary or processed material, made or received, and held in the course of its or their business or as successor to any other body, by the company or harbour authority, and includes copies of any such records duly made, but does not include—

(i) grants, deeds or other documents of title relating to property for the time being vested in the company or harbour authority, and

(ii) any part of the permanent collection of a library, museum or gallery.

(b) In this section “archives”, in relation to a company or harbour authority, includes all records as aforesaid which are more than 30 years old, except such records as are certified by the company or harbour authority under subsection (3) to be unsuitable for classification as archives.

(5) Section 13 of the National Archives Act, 1986 , shall cease to have effect in relation to records or documents of a company or harbour authority.

(6) Without prejudice to subsection (3), the National Archives Advisory Council may advise the Minister on any matter affecting archives of companies and harbour authorities and their use by the public.

(7) Nothing in this section shall affect any rights of a person claiming to be the owner of a document to recover the document.

(8) The making or supplying of reproductions by or under the direction of a company or harbour authority of archives which are held in accordance with this section and are open to public inspection shall not constitute an infringement of the copyright of such archives.

(9) A person shall not conceal, damage or destroy archives held in accordance with this section and shall not remove, publish or reproduce the whole or any part of any such archives without the written consent of the relevant company or harbour authority.

(10) A person who contravenes subsection (9) shall be guilty of an offence.

Amendment of Act of 1946.

93. —(1) Section 47 of the Act of 1946 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsections after subsection (3):

“(4) A harbour authority may engage in any business activity, either alone or in conjunction with other persons, that they consider to be advantageous to the development of their harbour.

(5) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (1) to (4) of this section, a harbour authority shall have power to do anything which appears to them to be requisite, advantageous or incidental to, or which appears to them to facilitate, either directly or indirectly, the performance by them of their functions as specified in this Act or any other enactment and is not inconsistent with any enactment for the time being in force.”.

(2) The Act of 1946 is hereby amended by the insertion after section 87 of the following section:

“Prohibition on certain vessels, etc., from entering harbour.

87A(1).—Subject to this section, the harbour master of a harbour may refuse entry into the harbour of a vessel, vehicle or other conveyance if by reason of its nature or the condition of any of the goods being carried on it such entry or its presence in the harbour thereafter would, in the opinion of the harbour master, pose a danger to persons or property.

(2) Subject to this section, the harbour master of a harbour may only permit the entry into the harbour of radioactive material (within the meaning of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code of the International Maritime Organisation) with the consent of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.

(3) Subject to this section, the following are prohibited from entering a harbour—

(a) a nuclear powered vessel, vehicle or conveyance,

(b) a vessel, vehicle or other conveyance that is carrying any nuclear weapons,

(c) a vessel, vehicle or other conveyance that is carrying nuclear material (within the meaning of section 2 of the Radiological Protection Act, 1991 ), or ores or other substances destined for the production of nuclear materials.

(4) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications on the advice of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, exempt a vessel, vehicle or other conveyance of a specified class or classes carrying nuclear material from the application of subsection (3) (c) and for so long as such an exemption is in force subsection (3) shall be construed and have effect in accordance with the exemption.

(5) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) shall only apply to a vessel of the naval service of a state (other than the State) with the prior consent of the Government.

(6) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) shall not apply to a vessel in distress or where there is imminent danger to persons.

(7) Where a vessel, vehicle or other conveyance having been refused entry to a harbour under subsection (1) or in contravention of subsection (3) enters a harbour, the owner and master of the vessel or the owner of the vehicle or conveyance or the person to whom the conveyance is hired at the time of the entry shall each be guilty of an offence.

(8) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both,

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or to both.”.

Saving for lighthouse authorities.

94. —Nothing in this Act or an instrument made thereunder shall prejudice or affect the rights, powers or privileges of any general or local lighthouse authority.

Provision with respect to superannuation schemes under Act of 1946.

95. —(1) Where the Minister is satisfied, after consultation with the harbour authority and the trustees (if any) concerned, that as respects a superannuation scheme made by a harbour authority under section 151 of the Act of 1946—

(a) the fund (if any) established in respect of the scheme does not comprise sufficient moneys as will enable the payment therefrom of superannuation benefits under the scheme that fall due for payment within the period of 12 months following any particular date, and

(b) the said harbour authority do not have resources from which there could be paid the said benefits,

then the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make available to the said harbour authority or, as the case may be, the trustees of a fund aforesaid, such amount of moneys (whether by way of grants or loans) as he or she may determine for the purpose of enabling the payment of the said benefits.

(2) No moneys shall be made available under subsection (1) more than 5 years after the commencement of this section.

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