S.I. No. 118/1978 - Land Bond (Drawings of 15% Land Bonds) Regulations, 1978.

I, SEOIRSE Ó COLLA, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 1 of the Land Act, 1923 (No. 42 of 1923) (as amended by section 3 of the Land Bond Act, 1925 (No. 25 of 1925), section 3 of the Land Act, 1931 (No. 11 of 1931), section 6 of the Land Act, 1936 (No. 41 of 1936), and section 9 of the Land Act, 1939 (No. 26 of 1939), section 4 of the Land Bond Act, 1933 (No. 33 of 1933), and section 7 of the Land Bond Act, 1934 (No. 11 of 1934), hereby make the following regulations:

1 Short title.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Land Bond (Drawings of 15% Land Bonds) Regulations, 1978.

2 Interpretation.

2. The Interpretation Act, 1937 (No. 38 of 1937), applies to these Regulations.

3 Definitions.

3. In these Regulations—

"approved" means approved of by the Minister;

"the Bank" means the Central Bank of Ireland;

"bonds", when used without qualification and in relation to a draw, means the land bonds for which the draw is held;

"bond number" has the meaning specified in Regulation 7(1);

"draw" has the meaning specified in Regulation 4;

"draw number" has the meaning specified in Regulation 7(2);

"the Minister" means the Minister for Finance;

"working day" means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday, bank holiday or public holiday.

4 Dates of draw.

4. (1) A draw for the redemption of 15% land bonds created and issued under the Land Bond Act, 1934 (No. 11 of 1934) (in these Regulations referred to as draws) shall be held in the month of May in the year 1978.

(2) A draw shall also be held in the month of May in the years succeeding the year 1978 until all the land bonds concerned have been redeemed.

(3) The 5th working day of the said month shall be the day for holding these draws, and, if they are not completed on one day, they shall continue for so many consecutive working days as may be necessary for their completion.

5 Drawing of bonds.

5. (1) A draw shall be held at an approved office of the Bank.

(2) There shall be present at a draw—

( a ) a person (in these Regulations referred to as the Bank's representative) who is either a Director of the Bank or an officer of the Bank nominated by the Bank for that purpose, and

( b ) a person (in these Regulations refered to as the Minister's representative) who is an officer of the Minister nominated by the Minister for that purpose.

6 Amounts available for redemption.

6. (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Regulation, the amount available for the redemption of bonds at a draw shall be the total amount of all sums (including moneys paid into the Land Bond Fund under section 4 (2) of the Land Act, 1936 (No. 41 of 1936), which, on the first day of November in the year preceding that in which the draw is held, stand set aside (after the making of all deductions required by law) in the Land Bond Fund under the provisions of the relevant order or orders creating the bonds, together with all interest which has accrued on moneys, or on any investments representing such moneys, set aside under those provisions on or at any time before that 1st day of November and has not therefore been utilised for the redemption of bonds.

(2) Any such amount available for redemption shall be reduced by the amount of any estimated loss on the sale of securities in which, on the 1st day of November in the year preceding that in which the draw is held, moneys set aside in the Land Bond Fund for redemption of the bonds stood invested.

(3) If any such amount available for redemption when ascertained in accordance with the preceding paragraphs of this regulation is not a multiple of one hundred pounds, it shall be adjusted—

( a ) if it consists of a multiple of one hundred pounds together with an amount not more than fifty pounds, by reducing it to that multiple, or

( b ) if it consists of a multiple of one hundred pounds together with an amount exceeding fifty pounds, by increasing it to the next greater multiple of one hundred pounds.

(4) The Minister shall, not less than fourteen days before each draw, publish in the Iris Oifigiúil a statement of the amount available under this regulation for the redemption of bonds to be drawn at the draw.

7 Bond numbers and grouping of bonds.

7. (1) Numbers (in these Regulations referred to as bond numbers) shall, for the purposes of a draw, be assigned before the draw to the bonds standing in each account on the last working day of the month immediately preceding that in which the draw is held. Bond numbers shall be in numerical order and an account shall be assigned bond numbers to correspond to the number of one pound units held therein.

(2) Bonds shall, for the purposes of a draw, be grouped in groups of one hundred one pound units. Each such group shall be represented by a number (in these Regulations referred to as a draw number) and the draw numbers shall be numbered in numerical order, draw number 1 representing bond numbers 1 to 100, draw number 2 representing bond numbers 101 to 200, and so on. If the total amount of bonds outstanding in a series of bonds is not a multiple of one hundred pounds, the odd amount over a multiple of one hundred pounds shall be represented by a draw number.

(3) Before a draw, a holder of bonds or his agent shall be entitled to be informed of the bond numbers and draw numbers assigned to his account.

8 Conduct of draws.

8. The following provisions shall have effect in relation to the conduct of a draw:

( a ) there shall be an apparatus consisting of six containers capable of being rotated together, the containers being designated respectively from left to right facing the apparatus "hundreds of thousands", "tens of thousands", "thousands", "hundreds", "tens" and "units";

( b ) there shall be counters bearing numbers concealed from view when the counters are closed;

( c ) each container shall contain such number of closed counters bearing respectively the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 as may be appropriate having regard to the amount of bonds liable for drawing and the grouping of bonds for the purposes of the draw as provided for in these Regulations so that each draw number represents one hundred one pound bonds;

( d ) the procedure for drawing each draw number shall be as follows:

(i) mixing of the counters shall be effected by rotation of the apparatus,

(ii) after mixing has been effected, the apparatus shall be brought to a stop,

(iii) when the apparatus has been brought to a stop, one counter shall be drawn at random out of each container and the counters shall then be opened to display the number on each,

(iv) the number which consists of the numbers drawn as aforesaid from the containers read from left to right facing the containers shall be a draw number,

(v) finally, the counters shall be closed and replaced in the appropriate containers.

9 Amount to be drawn.

9. (1) At a draw, draw numbers equal, as nearly as is reasonably practicable, in total nominal value to, but not exceeding, the amount available for the draw for the redemption of bonds shall, in the presence of the Minister's representative and the Bank's representative, be drawn without selection.

(2) Substitute raw numbers shall then be drawn in the same manner as the draw numbers and shall be used in any case where a draw number or draw numbers has or have been drawn more than once. Any such substitute draw numbers shall, if required, be used and shall be deemed to be draw numbers in the same order as they are drawn so that the total nominal value of the draw numbers will be equal, as nearly as is reasonably practicable to, but not in excess of, the amount available for the draw for the redemption of bonds.

10 Lists of bonds drawn.

10. (1) Immediately on the conclusion of a draw, a list shall be prepared showing the draw numbers drawn at the draw.

(2) As soon as the list has been prepared, it shall be signed by the Minister's representative and the Bank's representative present at the draw to which it relates, and thereupon every bond represented by the draw numbers set out in the list shall be deemed to have been drawn at the draw.

11 Payment of bonds drawn.

11. On or after the 1st day of July next following a draw, the payment of the bonds drawn shall be made by the bank.

12 Publication of bonds drawn.

12. As soon as may be after a draw, the Minister shall publish in the Iris Oifigiúil a notice specifying that a draw was held and stating the nominal amount of bonds drawn, together with a list of the draw numbers of those bonds, and an intimation that that amount of bonds will be paid off at par on or after the 1st day of July next following a draw held at an approved office of the Bank and that, as from that day, all interest on the bonds drawn will cease, and the Bank shall send a notification to the person registered as the owner (or to the first of two or more joint owners) of each bond drawn that it has been drawn for redemption on or after that day.

13 Cancellation of certificates.

13. After a draw, all certificates of registration of bonds drawn shall, on being returned for the purpose of obtaining payment of the bonds to which they relate, be cancelled, but where any such certificate relates also to bonds which have not been drawn, a new certificate shall be issued in respect of the bonds which have not been drawn.

14 Persons to whom payments of redemption money are to be made.

14. Redemption money payable after a draw in respect of a bond drawn shall be paid to, or in accordance with the instruction of, the person or persons in whose name or names the bond is registered on the last day of the month next preceding that in which the draw was held and no transfer of the bond can be effected after that day.

15 Closing of register of bonds.

15. During the period of twenty-one consecutive days, including the day of a draw and beginning on the 1st day of May, the register of the bonds shall be kept closed and a direction by the Land Commission under the Land (Finance) Rules, 1925, for the transfer and registration of bonds shall not be acted on during that period.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 18th day of April, 1978.

SEOIRSÉ COLLA,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations set out the arrangements for the redemption of 15% Land Bonds by annual drawings to be held every May as from 1978 until all such Bonds have been redeemed.