|
|
Limitations on the lending of money by the Corporation.
|
12.—(1) The memorandum and articles of association of the Corporation shall be so framed and expressed that the Corporation shall be entitled and authorised to lend or advance money only to the persons and for the purposes hereinafter stated, that is to say:—
|
|
| |
(a) to any farmer for the purpose of constructing buildings on his farm, or making on his farm improvements of a permanent character calculated to increase or facilitate or conduce to the increase of the productivity thereof or for the purpose of purchasing live stock, agricultural machinery or implements, manures, feeding stuffs, seeds, or other requisites of agricultural production or marketing;
|
|
| |
(b) to any co-operative society (subject to the limitations hereinafter contained) for the purpose of establishing, carrying on, or extending its business;
|
|
| |
(c) to any person engaged in or proposing to engage in an enterprise primarily designed for the service of farmers or of farming communities for the purpose of establishing, carrying on, or extending such enterprise;
|
|
| |
(d) to any person (other than a co-operative society) for the purpose of purchasing for agricultural purposes land which was immediately before the purchase comprised in a security held by the Corporation from the vendor of such land;
|
|
| |
(e) to any person (other than a co-operative society) for the purpose of paying off a loan which was originally made to him (whether before or after the passing of this Act) wholly or mainly for a purpose for which a loan could under this section be made to him by the Corporation;
|
|
| |
(f) to any person (other than a co-operative society) for the purpose of paying off a loan which was originally made to him before the passing of this Act wholly or mainly for the purpose of purchasing land for agricultural purposes;
|
|
| |
(g) to any co-operative society (being a co-operative society to which a loan could be made under this section by the Corporation) for the purpose of paying-off a loan made to such society (whether before or after the passing of this Act) wholly or mainly for a purpose for which a loan could under this section be made to such society by the Corporation.
|
|
| |
(2) The memorandum and articles of association of the Corporation shall also be so framed and expressed that the persons to whom and the purposes for which the Corporation shall be entitled and authorised to lend or advance money as stated in such memorandum and articles in pursuance of this section may be varied (whether by extension, restriction, or otherwise) from time to time by the Minister and the Minister for Lands and Agriculture at their joint discretion by orders made by them jointly, but so that such persons and purposes shall not by any such order be extended so as to include—
|
|
| |
(a) any person who is not engaged or about to engage in agriculture or in a business or enterprise of an agricultural character or calculated directly or indirectly to benefit primarily persons engaged in agriculture, or
|
|
| |
(b) any person to whom the Corporation is expressly forbidden by this section to make a loan or advance, or
|
|
| |
(c) any purpose which is not directly or indirectly related to or concerned with agriculture.
|
|
| |
Every order made by the Minister and the Minister for Lands and Agriculture under this sub-section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and unless either such House shall, within twenty-one days after the first day on which such House sits after such order is laid before it, pass a resolution annulling such order such order shall come into operation at the expiration of twenty-one days from whichever of the following days is the later that is to say the first day on which Dáil Eireann sits after such order is laid before it or the first day on which Seanad Eireann sits after such order is laid before it.
|
|
| |
(3) The Corporation shall not make any loan or advance any money to—
|
|
| |
(a) any co-operative society the objects of which do not include at least one of the following objects, that is to say, the giving of agricultural credit, or the production or the marketing of agricultural produce, or the sale of agricultural machinery or implements or manures, feeding stuffs, seeds, or other requisites of agricultural production or marketing, or the production and distribution or the distribution only of power and light mainly to farmers, or
|
|
| |
(b) any co-operative society which at the time of the making of the loan or advance carries on the business of selling by retail any goods which are neither produced by that society or its members nor are requisites of agricultural production or marketing, or
|
|
| |
(c) the chairman or any director of the Corporation.
|
|
| |
(4) So long as any portion of a loan or advance made by the Corporation to a co-operative society remains owing to the Corporation, such society shall not give or continue financial assistance to any co-operative society or company, engaged in or carrying on the business of selling by retail any goods which are neither produced by that co-operative society or its members or by that company nor are requisites of agricultural production or marketing and shall not itself engage in or carry on any such business, and if any such society contravenes the provisions of this sub-section the whole of the loan or advance so made to it by the Corporation shall (notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary) forth with become due and payable by it to the Corporation.
|
|
| |
(5) Where the goods sold by a co-operative society are mainly goods produced by that society or its members, any similar goods occasionally sold by such society may for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been so produced although in fact produced by, and purchased by the society from, other persons.
|
|
| |
(6) The Corporation shall not discount or purchase any promissory note, bill of exchange, or other negotiable instrument which was made by a person to whom the Corporation is expressly forbidden by this section to lend or advance money or which was made otherwise than for the purpose of obtaining for the maker thereof or for any other person money for expenditure on a purpose for which a loan or advance could lawfully be made by the Corporation to such maker or person but this sub-section shall not apply to or prevent the investment of moneys in the purchase of bills, notes or other negotiable instruments made by the Minister for Finance or by the British Treasury.
|
|
| |
(7) References in this section to the lending or advancing of money shall not be construed as including the investment of moneys in the purchase of stocks, shares, bonds or debentures quoted on the Stock Exchange in Dublin or on the Stock Exchange in London or the subscription for stocks, shares, bonds or debentures intended to be so quoted.
|
