PART VI

Transitional Provisions with Respect to a Company Established Pursuant to Section 7

96. —(1) On the relevant vesting day all land which, immediately before that day, was vested in—

(a) the harbour authority of a harbour, or

(b) in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour, the Minister and was used or had been acquired by the Minister for the purposes of his or her functions in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour,

and all rights, powers and privileges relating to or connected with such land shall, without any conveyance or assignment, but subject to subsection (2), stand vested in the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the said harbour for all the estate or interest for which immediately before the said day it was vested in the harbour authority or the Minister, as the case may be, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the land subsisting and capable of being performed.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not operate to vest in a company any minerals or any right of mining or taking minerals.

(3) On the relevant vesting day all property, other than land, including choses-in-action, which immediately before that day was—

(a) the property of the harbour authority of a harbour, or

(b) in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour, the property of the Minister and was used or had been acquired by the Minister in connection with his or her functions in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour,

shall stand vested in the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the said harbour without any assignment.

(4) Every chose-in-action transferred by subsection (3) to a company may, after the relevant vesting day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by the company in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the company, the harbour authority or the Minister to give notice to the person bound by the chose-in-action of the transfer effected by that subsection.

(5) The Minister may on his or her own initiative and shall on the application of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company issue a certificate in respect of specified land certifying, as he or she thinks proper, that the land vested in that company under subsection (1) or did not so vest and the certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so certified.

(6) The Minister may on his or her own initiative and shall on the application of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company issue a certificate in respect of specified property certifying, as he or she thinks proper, that the property vested in that company under subsection (3) or did not so vest and the certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so certified.

97. —(1) All rights and liabilities of the harbour authority of a harbour or, in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour, of the Minister arising by virtue of any contract or commitment (expressed or implied) entered into by the harbour authority or the Minister, as the case may be, before the relevant vesting day and which, in the case of the Minister, were connected with his or her functions in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour shall on that day stand transferred to the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the harbour concerned.

(2) The Minister may on his or her own initiative and shall on the application of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company issue a certificate in respect of a specified contract or commitment certifying, as he or she thinks proper, that the rights and liabilities of the Minister thereunder were transferred on the relevant vesting day to that company under subsection (1) or were not so transferred and the certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts so certified.

(3) Every right and liability transferred by subsection (1) to a company may, on and after the relevant vesting day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the company in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the company, the harbour authority or the Minister, as the case may be, to give notice to the person whose right or liability is transferred by that subsection of such transfer.

(4) Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company shall comply with such obligations (excluding repayment of principal or interest payments) as may be specified by the Minister for Finance in relation to his or her contractual obligations under foreign loan contracts, entered into before the relevant vesting day, in connection with functions of the Minister in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

98. —Section 12 of the Finance Act, 1895, shall not apply to the vesting in a company of any property or rights transferred by this Act.

99. —(1) A claim in respect of any loss or injury alleged to have been suffered by any person arising out of the performance before the relevant vesting day by a harbour authority of their functions in relation to their harbour, or by the Minister of his or her functions in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour, shall, after that day, lie against the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the said harbour (in subsection (2) referred to as the “relevant company”) whether or not any claim in respect thereof was made before that day and subject to section 101 , not against the harbour authority, the Minister, any other State authority or the State.

(2) Where, before the relevant vesting day in a claim to which subsection (1) relates, agreement in settlement of the claim has been reached between the parties and the terms of the agreement have not been implemented or judgment has been given in favour of the injured person and the judgment has not been enforced, the terms of the agreement or the judgment, as the case may be, shall be enforceable against the relevant company and, subject to section 101 , not against the harbour authority concerned, the Minister, any other State authority or the State.

(3) Any claim made or proper to be made by a harbour authority, the Minister, any other State authority or the State in respect of any loss or injury arising from the act or default of any person before the relevant vesting day and, in the case of a claim by any of the said persons (other than a harbour authority), the claim relates to the performance by the Minister of his or her functions in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour shall be regarded as made by or proper to be made by the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the harbour of the harbour authority or Dún Laoghaire Harbour, as the case may be, (in subsection (4) referred to as the “relevant company”) and may be pursued and sued for by that company as if the loss or injury had been suffered by it.

(4) Where, before the relevant vesting day, in a claim to which subsection (3) relates, agreement in settlement of the claim has been reached between the parties and the terms of the agreement have not been implemented or judgment has been given in favour of the harbour authority concerned, the Minister, any other State authority or the State and the judgment has not been enforced, the terms of the agreement or the judgment, as the case may be, shall, in so far as enforceable by the harbour authority concerned, the Minister, any other State authority or the State, be enforceable by the relevant company.

(5) This section does not apply to a claim by one State authority against another.

100. —All legal proceedings relating to a matter to which a function of a company relates and pending immediately before the relevant vesting day to which the former harbour authority of its harbour, the Minister, any other State authority or the State is a party shall be continued with the substitution in the proceedings, in so far as they so relate, for any such party of the said company.

101. —(1) Where judgment is given against Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company in any proceedings in pursuance of a claim to which section 99 (1) relates or in proceedings continued under section 100 and the person in whose favour the judgment is given has been unable to enforce the judgment, in whole or in part, against the company, he or she shall be entitled to enter judgment against the Minister for Finance in any court of competent jurisdiction for any amount not recovered on foot of the judgment as a debt due to him or her by the said Minister.

(2) The Minister for Finance shall be entitled to recover from Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company any payment made by him or her to a person in satisfaction of a judgment entered against him or her under subsection (1).

(3) Moneys required by the Minister for Finance to meet payments required by him or her under this section shall be advanced to him or her out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof, and shall be repaid to the Central Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

102. —(1) From the relevant vesting day—

(a) every notice, certificate and declaration made by, or given by or to, a harbour authority or the Minister in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour,

(b) every court order directed to any person, and

(c) every bond given by any person to a harbour authority or to the Minister in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour,

which relates to matters to which functions of the company established pursuant to section 7 in respect of the harbour of the said harbour authority or Dún Laoghaire Harbour, as the case may be, relate shall, where its operation, effect or term has not ceased or expired before the said day, continue in force and have effect as if the functions of the said harbour authority or of the Minister, as the case may be, were on that day performable by the said company.

(2) This section shall not have effect in relation to anything provision for the continuance in force of which is made by any other provision of this Act.

103. —Every licence or permission granted by a harbour authority or by the Minister, in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour, in relation to land or other property vested in a company by or under this Act, and in force immediately before the relevant vesting day, shall continue in force as if granted by the said company.

104. —(1) Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company shall pay to or in respect of every member of the staff of the Department of the Marine transferred under section 38 to the staff of the company any amount due to or in respect of that member in respect of service as such member and unpaid on the relevant vesting day and the company shall, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, be reimbursed by the Minister in respect of any such payments (other than payments made in respect of untaken leave).

(2) The Minister shall, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, pay to the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company an amount equal to advance payments received by the Minister before the relevant vesting day in respect of goods or services to be provided by the company on or after the said day less the amount of any costs incurred by the Minister in collecting such payments.

(3) Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company shall pay to the Minister an amount equal to sums collected by it on or after the relevant vesting day in respect of goods or services provided by the Minister before the said day in the performance of a function of the Minister in relation to Dún Laoghaire Harbour corresponding to a function of the company.

(4) All sums required to be paid under this section shall become due and payable on such date as the Minister, in consultation with the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company and with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(5) Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company shall supply the Minister with such information, records and documents as the Minister may require for the purposes of this section and the Minister and his or her officers shall have the right to inspect and take copies of all relevant records and documents of the company.

(6) In the event of a disagreement as to any amount to be paid by the Minister to Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company or by Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to the Minister under this section, the decision of the Minister, given with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, shall be final.

105. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of this Part shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to the property, rights and liabilities of a harbour authority, and every other matter in relation to the harbour authority that is mentioned in this Part, in their capacity as a pilotage authority as those provisions apply to them in their capacity otherwise.

(2) As respects a harbour authority that section 81 (2) provides shall continue in existence in their capacity as a pilotage authority on and from a relevant vesting day, the application, by virtue of this section, of the provisions of this Part to the harbour authority in that capacity shall not have effect until the day on which the harbour authority stands dissolved in that capacity under section 81 (2) (“the date of dissolution”) and, accordingly, for the purposes of the said application of the provisions of this Part to such a harbour authority, references in those provisions to the relevant vesting day shall be construed as references to the date of dissolution.