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Remedies for nonpayment of goods rates and service rates.
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117.—(1) Where default is made in the payment to a harbour authority of any goods or service rates, the collector of rates of the harbour authority may enter any vessel or other place (being within the limits of the harbour of the harbour authority) in which the goods in respect of which the rates were charged are kept and distrain such goods, or, if they have been removed from within the limits of the harbour, the said collector may enter any vessel or other place within such limits and distrain any other goods found therein belonging to the person in default.
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(2) No goods forfeitable under the Customs Acts shall be distrained under this section.
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(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to goods distrained under this section on behalf of a harbour authority:
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(a) without prejudice to any other remedy for the rates due on the goods, the harbour authority may sell all or so much as they think fit of the goods subject to the proviso that a sale for home use shall not be effected where any prohibition or restriction on importation applies in respect of the goods proposed to be sold or where the price which would be obtained does not equal or exceed the amount of any duties of customs or excise payable in respect of the goods proposed to be sold;
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(b) if the goods are perishable, they may be sold forthwith or at any time, but in any other case the goods shall not be sold until after the expiration of one month from the time at which they were unshipped or delivered within the limits of the harbour of the harbour authority;
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(c) the proceeds of any such sale shall be applied by the harbour authority in paying the following charges in the following order:
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(i) any customs or excise duties in respect of the goods, and
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(ii) the rates payable in respect of the goods and the expenses of and incidental to the sale, and
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(iii) any freight due in respect of the goods, if the harbour authority receive notice that such freight is due and unpaid;
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(d) where the proceeds of any such sale have been applied as aforesaid—
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(i) if any surplus remains, it shall be paid, on demand, to the person appearing to the harbour authority to be entitled thereto, and
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(ii) if the rates due on the goods and the expenses of and incidental to the sale remain unpaid in whole or in part, the rates and expenses or the balance thereof (as the case may be) may be recovered by the harbour authority as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction, and
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(e) any of the goods which are not sold shall, with the consent of the Revenue Commissioners and provided that all customs or excise duties payable in respect thereof have been paid, be delivered, on demand, to the person appearing to the harbour authority to be entitled thereto.
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(4) Where a harbour authority are unable or consider it inexpedient to recover goods or service rates by distraint and sale under this section, they may recover the rates as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.
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