Undeveloped Areas (Amendment) Act, 1957

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Number 23 of 1957.

UNDEVELOPED AREAS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1957.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Number 23 of 1957.

UNDEVELOPED AREAS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1957.

AN ACT TO EXTEND THE DURATION OF, AND TO AMEND, THE UNDEVELOPED AREAS ACT, 1952 . [12th December, 1957.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“the Principal Act” means the Undeveloped Areas Act, 1952 (No. 1 of 1952);

“the transfer date” means the 1st day of January, 1964.

(2) Every word and expression used in this Act to which a particular meaning is assigned by the Principal Act shall, in this Act, have that meaning.

Duration of Principal Act.

2.—The Principal Act shall, notwithstanding section 1 of that Act, continue in operation until the 31st day of December, 1963.

Grants by the Minister after expiry of Principal Act.

3.—(1) Where a grant which the Board have decided to make under the Principal Act remains unpaid in whole or in part on the expiry of the Principal Act, the Minister shall make the grant or the unpaid part thereof on the terms which were determined by the Board.

(2) Grants under this section shall be made out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(3) The total of the grants made by the Board under the Principal Act and by the Minister under this Act shall not exceed four million pounds.

Transfer of property.

4.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section all property whether real or personal (including choses-in-action) which immediately before the transfer date is vested in, or belongs to or is held in trust for the Board and all rights, powers and privileges relating to or connected with any such property shall, on the transfer date and without any conveyance or assignment but subject where necessary to transfer in the books of any bank, corporation or company or authority, become and be vested in or the property of or held in trust for (as the case may require) the Minister for all the estate, trust or interest for which the same immediately before the transfer date was vested in or belonged to or was held in trust for the Board.

(2) All property transferred by this section which, immediately before the transfer date is standing in the books of any bank or is registered in the books of any bank, corporation, company or authority shall, upon the request of the Minister made on or after the transfer date be transferred in such books by such bank, corporation, company or authority into the name of the Minister.

(3) On and after the transfer date every chose-in-action transferred by this section to the Minister may be sued upon, recovered or enforced by the Minister in his own name and it shall not be necessary for the Minister to give notice to the person bound by such chose-in-action of the transfer effected by this section.

Transfer of liabilities.

5.—Every debt and other liability (including unliquidated liabilities arising from torts or breaches of contract) which immediately before the transfer date is owing and unpaid or has been incurred and is undischarged by the Board shall, on the transfer date, become and be the debt or liability of the Minister and shall be paid or discharged by and may be recovered from or enforced against the Minister accordingly.

Preservation of continuing contracts.

6.—Every bond, guarantee, mortgage or other security of a continuing nature made or given by the Board to any person, or by any person to the Board, and in force immediately before the transfer date, and every contract or agreement in writing made between the Board and another person and not fully executed and completed before the transfer date shall, notwithstanding the expiry of the Principal Act, continue in force on and after the transfer date but shall be construed and have effect as if the name of the Minister were substituted therein for the name of the Board, and such security, contract or agreement shall be enforceable by or against the Minister accordingly.

Continuance of pending legal proceedings.

7.—In every action, suit or proceedings which is pending on the transfer date in any court or tribunal and to which the Board is a party, the Minister shall on the transfer date become and be a party in the place of the Board and such proceedings shall be continued between the Minister and the other parties thereto accordingly and no such proceedings shall abate or be discontinued or prejudicially affected by reason of the expiry of the Principal Act.

Exemption from stamp duty.

8.—Section 12 of the Finance Act, 1895, shall not apply to the vesting in the Minister of the property of the Board.

Disposal of land vested in the Minister.

9.—(1) The Minister may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any land vested in him by section 4 of this Act.

(2) Any moneys received by the Minister in respect of the disposal of land, whether by sale, lease or otherwise, shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.

Accounts and audit.

10.—(1) The Minister shall keep all proper and usual accounts of moneys received and expended by him under this Act.

(2) The accounts shall be submitted annually by the Minister to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and the Minister shall cause copies of the accounts, when so audited, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon, to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Appointment of technical advisers.

11.—(1) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may appoint technical advisers to advise him in connection with the payment of grants under section 3 of this Act and such advisers may be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas such fees or other remuneration as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determines.

(2) A technical adviser shall not disclose any information obtained by him in performing his duties as such adviser except in the course of a report made by him to the Minister.

(3) A person who contravenes subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Remission of rates.

12.—(1) This section applies to premises certified by the Minister after the expiry of the Principal Act to have been provided for an industrial undertaking in an undeveloped area either by the Board or by means of a grant made by the Board under the Principal Act or by the Minister under this Act.

(2) A local authority may, if they think fit, remit two-thirds of a rate leviable by them in respect of premises to which this section applies.

(3) The remission shall, subject to subsection (4) of this section, have effect in respect of the local financial year next following that in which the provision of the premises for the industrial undertaking was completed and in respect of each of the next nine local financial years.

(4) If, in any local financial year, the Minister certifies that the undertaking has failed to observe the terms upon which the premises were provided, the remission shall not have effect in respect of that local financial year.

(5) A remission shall not be granted more than once in respect of the same premises.

(6) Where premises are not separately valued under the Valuation Acts, the Commissioner of Valuation may, on the application of the Minister, apportion to the premises such part as he thinks proper of the rateable valuation of the property in which the premises are comprised.

(7) The powers conferred on a local authority by this section shall be reserved functions for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1955.

Further provisions in relation to remission of rates.

13.—Where, either before or after the passing of this Act, a remission of rates was or is granted under section 9 of the Principal Act by a local authority in respect of premises certified by the Board to have been provided for an industrial undertaking in an undeveloped area, then, if, in the portion of the local financial year which is unexpired at the expiry of the Principal Act or in any subsequent local financial year (being a local financial year in which such remission is capable of having effect), the Minister certifies that the undertaking has failed to observe the terms upon which the premises were provided, the remission shall not have effect in respect of that local financial year.

Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act.

14.—Section 9 of the Principal Act shall, with respect to any remission of rates granted under that section after the passing of this Act, have effect as if the following subsection were substituted for subsection (3):

“(3) The remission shall, subject to subsection (4) of this section, have effect in respect of the local financial year next following that in which the provision of the premises for the industrial undertaking was completed and in respect of each of the next nine local financial years.”

Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act.

15.—Section 12 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in subsection (2) of “four million pounds” for “two million pounds”.

Repeal.

16.—Subsection (3) of section 7 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.

Short title and collective citation.

17.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Undeveloped Areas (Amendment) Act, 1957.

(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Undeveloped Areas Acts, 1952 and 1957.