Canals Act, 1986

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Power of Commissioners to make bye-laws.

7.—(1) On and after the vesting day the Commissioners may make bye-laws for the care, management, maintenance and control and the regulation of the use of the canals and other canal property and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, in relation to any one or more of the following matters:

(a) the regulation of the conditions (including conditions as to safety) under which boats may be used on the canals;

(b) the closing to navigation of any part of the canals;

(c) the opening to navigation of any part of the canals not open to navigation;

(d) the alteration of water levels of the canals;

(e) the regulation of bathing in the canals;

(f) the regulation of fishing in the canals (other than matters in respect of which the Minister for Tourism, Fisheries and Forestry may make bye-laws under section 9 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 );

(g) the prevention of damage to the canals or other canal property;

(h) the removal from the canals or other canal property of any boat or thing which is or may become a danger to life, navigation or fish stocks or would otherwise interfere with the proper use of the canals or other canal property;

(i) the charging and fixing of fees, tolls and charges in respect of the use by boats of the canals (including the use of locks on the canals and mooring on the canals) and the taking of water from the canals.

(2) Bye-laws under this section may contain all such incidental, subsidiary and ancillary provisions as the Commissioners consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of the bye-laws.

(3) A person who contravenes a bye-law under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 (together with, in the case of a continuing contravention, a fine not exceeding £100 for every day on which the contravention is continued and not exceeding in total an amount which, when added to any other fine under this paragraph in relation to the contravention concerned, equals £1,000) or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine or fines and such imprisonment, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £5,000 (together with, in the case of a continuing contravention, a fine not exceeding £500 for every day on which the contravention is continued) or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine or fines and such imprisonment.

(4) Section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , shall apply in relation to an offence to which subsection (3) relates as if, in lieu of the penalties provided for in subsection (3) of the said section, there were specified therein the penalties provided for in subsection (3) (a) of this section, and the reference in subsection (2) (a) of the said section 13 to the penalties provided for in the said subsection (3) shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(5) Where an offence to which subsection (3) relates is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person (or any person acting on his behalf) being a director, manager or secretary of such body, that person or the person so acting, as the case may be, shall also be guilty of that offence.

(6) (a) The Commissioners may bring proceedings for a summary offence under this section.

(b) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851 , summary proceedings for an offence to which subsection (3) relates may be instituted within 12 months from the date of the offence.

(7) Every bye-law made by the Commissioners under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next twenty-one days on which such House has sat after the bye-law is laid before it annulling such bye-law, such bye-law shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such bye-law.