Gas Act, 1976
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SECOND SCHEDULE ACQUISITION ORDERS | ||
1. Every application by the Board for an acquisition order shall be accompanied by— | ||
(a) a draft of the order applied for, | ||
(b) such plan or plans, specifications and other documents as will show clearly the situation and area of the land to which the order sought is to apply, whether in relation to a right over the land or in relation to any other estate or interest in the land, and in case such right over or interest in the land or in any part thereof is proposed to be acquired for the purpose of enabling a pipeline to be laid, the following additional provisions shall apply, namely; | ||
(i) the said documents may show a strip of land (in this Article referred to as the “corridor”) in, on or over which it is proposed by the Board to construct the pipeline, | ||
(ii) the said documents may show and separately distinguish and delineate the limits (in this Act referred to as the “deviation limits”) within which the Board consider it may be necessary in providing such pipeline to construct it outside the corridor or to execute works outside the corridor, | ||
(c) a statement of the nature of the estate or interest in such land or the right over land which the Board seeks to acquire by virtue of the order, and | ||
(d) a book of reference specifying— | ||
(i) in case the Board propose to acquire a right over land or an interest in such a right, the person for the time being who is entitled to enjoy the right, if that person can by reasonable inquiry by the Board be ascertained, | ||
(ii) in case the Board proposes to acquire any interest in land, other than a right or interest mentioned in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, the person who is the owner of the land if that person can be ascertained by such inquiry, and | ||
(iii) in case land is separately distinguished and delineated pursuant to paragraph (b) of this Article, the person who is the owner of the land or any part of the land within the deviation limits if that person can be ascertained by such inquiry. | ||
2. Where an application is made by the Board for an acquisition order, the Minister may give such directions as he thinks fit as to the form of the plan, specification and book of reference referred to in the application. | ||
3. (1) Where an application is made by the Board to the Minister for an acquisition order, the Board shall do the following: | ||
(a) deposit and keep deposited, at the place or each of the places appointed by the Minister in relation to the application for such period (being a period of not less than three weeks) as the Minister shall direct, a copy of the draft order, the plan or plans, specification and the book of reference which accompanied the application and which comply with any directions given by the Minister under Article 2 of this Schedule, | ||
(b) publish in such newspaper or newspapers as the Minister shall direct notice of the making of the application stating the place or places at which the application and the accompanying documents may be inspected pursuant to this Schedule during a period specified in the notice (which period shall be the period so directed) and also stating that representations and objections as regards the proposed acquisition order may be made in writing to the Minister during the said period (which representations and objections are hereby authorised to be made), | ||
(c) not later than two weeks before the expiration of the period so directed, serve a notice in writing containing the particulars mentioned in and complying with the requirements of paragraph (3) of this Article on any person whose name is specified in the relevant book of reference, other than an owner of land within the deviation limits, and whose address, being the address at which he ordinarily resides, can by reasonable inquiry be ascertained by the Board and— | ||
(i) in case the Board proposes to acquire by virtue of the order a right over land or an interest in such a right, who is for the time being either entitled to enjoy such right or interest or the owner of the land comprising the servient tenement, | ||
(ii) in case the Board proposes so to acquire an interest in land other than a right or interest mentioned in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, who is the owner of the land, | ||
(d) not later than two weeks before such expiration, send to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, the Minister for Lands, the Minister for Local Government, the Commission, An Bord Pleanála and any local authority within whose functional area the land to which the application relates or any part of such land is situate, and to such other person (if any) as the Minister may, as regards the application, specify, a copy of the draft acquisition order and any plan and any other document sent to the Minister with the application. | ||
(2) Where land is separately distinguished and delineated pursuant to Article 1 (b) of this Schedule, the Board may within the period mentioned in paragraph (1) (a) of this Article serve on any person referred to in the relevant book of reference in relation to any such land a notice in writing containing the particulars mentioned in and complying with the requirements of paragraph (3) of this Article. | ||
(3) A notice referred to in paragraph (1) (c) or paragraph (2) of this Article shall state— | ||
(a) that an application has been made to the Minister for, | ||
(i) in the case of a notice referred to in the said paragraph (1) (c), an acquisition order, | ||
(ii) in the case of a notice referred to in the said paragraph (2), the confirmation of deviation limits, | ||
(b) that objections and representations may be made in writing to the Minister in relation to the application (which objections and representations are hereby authorised to be made), | ||
(c) the period within which such objections and representations may be so made, and | ||
(d) the place or places at which and the period during which the documents accompanying the application may be inspected pursuant to Article 4 of this Schedule, | ||
and the notice shall indicate the situation of the land to which the draft order, if made, would relate and with which the person on whom the notice is served is concerned. | ||
4. Where an application is made by the Board to the Minister for an acquisition order, a person may during the period specified in a notice published pursuant to Article 3 (1) (b) of this Schedule inspect at any reasonable hour any document deposited pursuant to Article 3 (1) (a) of this Schedule with the application. | ||
5. (1) There shall be paid to the Minister on every application for an acquisition order such fee (if any) as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may fix. | ||
(2) Fees payable under this Article shall be collected in money and be taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance may from time to time direct, and be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of that Minister, and the Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of such fees. | ||
6. A dispute or difference as to the amount of compensation payable by the Board under this Act shall not be a ground for objection to the making of an acquisition order. | ||
7. (1) (a) Where an application is made by the Board to the Minister for an acquisition order and where an objection is received, the Minister shall at the request of the objector, or may without such request, direct that an oral hearing be conducted as regards the application unless in his opinion the objection is frivolous, vexatious or otherwise of such a nature that the application can properly be considered without such a hearing. | ||
(b) Where the Minister directs an oral hearing to be conducted into an application by the Board for a compulsory acquisition order, he shall appoint a person to conduct such hearing and report to the Minister on the hearing, and the Board, and every person by whom an objection or representation to or as regards the application is made shall be entitled to appear and be heard at the hearing. | ||
(2) Paragraph (1) of this Article shall not apply to an application by the Board to the Minister for an acquisition order to extinguish a public right of way. | ||
(3) (a) The person appointed to conduct a hearing under this Article may summon witnesses to attend at the hearing and require any such witness to produce at the hearing any document in the witness's power or control. | ||
(b) Evidence given before a person appointed to conduct a hearing under this Article shall, if the person so requires, be given on oath (which the person is hereby empowered to administer) and any person who gives false evidence before such person shall be guilty of perjury and be punishable accordingly. | ||
(c) A summons to a witness to attend before a hearing under this Article shall be signed by the person appointed to conduct the hearing. | ||
(d) A witness before a hearing under this Article shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if he were a witness before the High Court. | ||
(e) If any person— | ||
(i) on being duly summoned before a hearing under this Article makes default in attending, or | ||
(ii) being in attendance as a witness at such a hearing refuses to take an oath legally required to be taken by him, or to produce any document in his power or control legally required to be produced by him, or to answer any question to which the person conducting the hearing may legally require an answer, or | ||
(iii) does any thing which if the proceedings were proceedings before a court of justice having power to commit for contempt of court, would be contempt of such court, | ||
that person shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100. | ||
8. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Article, where the Minister, having complied with such of the following requirements as are appropriate, namely, the requirements of section 32 (5) (b) of this Act and the requirements of Article 7 of this Schedule, and having considered any report made to him under the said Article 7, or in case no such report is made, any representations made or objections not withdrawn, is of the opinion that an application by the Board for an acquisition order should be granted either in whole or in part, he shall, subject to any variations or amendments to the application as he thinks proper to make, make an acquisition order as regards the right over land or any other estate or interest in land specified in the application, or in the application as so varied or amended by the Minister, and except in so far as it applies to a public right of way the acquisition order shall be made subject to— | ||
(a) such restrictions (if any) as the Minister thinks proper and specifies in the order, and | ||
(b) such other terms and conditions (if any) as the Minister thinks proper and so specifies. | ||
(2) This Article shall not apply to any land within the deviation limits or to any right over such land. | ||
9. Where the Minister, having complied with the requirements of Article 7 of this Schedule and having considered any report made to him under the said Article 7, or in case no such report is made, any representations made or objections not withdrawn, is of the opinion that the deviation limits delineated in documents deposited under this Schedule should be confirmed either in whole or in part, he shall, subject to any variations of or amendments to those limits as he thinks fit to make, so confirm the deviation limits. | ||
10. (1) Where as regards a book of reference an owner of land (including land comprising a servient tenement) or a person entitled to enjoy a right over land who should have been included therein is omitted or the name included in such book as an owner or person so entitled is incorrect, or any land, or right over land, which should have been referred to in such book is omitted or any land referred to in such book is incorrectly described, the Board may apply to the Minister in writing to correct or amend the book of reference. | ||
(2) Where an application is made by the Board to the Minister under this Article, the Board shall serve on the owner of the land (or, where appropriate, the land comprising a servient tenement) or the person entitled to enjoy the right over land, to which the application relates a notice stating— | ||
(a) that an application has been made to the Minister under this Article, | ||
(b) the correction or amendment sought by the Board, | ||
(c) that the person may within the period of three weeks commencing on the day on which the notice is served make in writing representations or an objection to the Minister as regards the application (which representations or objection such person is hereby authorised to make). | ||
(3) Where the Minister, having considered any representations or objection duly made under this Article and not withdrawn, is satisfied that the omission, misdescription, or other mistake on foot of which the application is made was due to a mistake or oversight by the Board, he may correct or amend the book of reference to which the application relates either in the manner sought by the Board or in such other manner as he considers appropriate. | ||
(4) Where the Minister corrects or amends a book of reference under this Article, the omission, misdescription or other mistake on foot of which the application under this Article was made shall not form a ground on which the validity of the relevant book of reference may be questioned in any legal proceedings. | ||
11. The following provisions shall have effect in relation to an acquisition order, namely; | ||
(a) the order shall contain such provisions as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient for the purpose of and for giving effect to the order, | ||
(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a) of this Article the order may incorporate all or any of the provisions of the Land Clauses Acts, other than Articles 1, 2, 3 and 6 of the Second Schedule to the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and for the purpose of this subparagraph— | ||
(i) the Board shall for the purposes of the Land Clauses Acts be deemed to be the Promoter and the order shall be deemed to be the Special Act, and | ||
(ii) the Board shall for the purposes of the Second Schedule to the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, be regarded as being the local authority, the Minister shall be deemed to be the confirming authority and the order shall be deemed to be the confirming Act, | ||
(c) no action shall lie at law or in equity against the Board or any contractor or officer or servant of the Board for or on account of any act, matter or thing in respect of which compensation is payable by virtue of this Act, | ||
(d) the order may provide that where the Board acts in contravention (whether by commission or omission) of any specified provision of the order the Board shall be guilty of an offence under the order and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to such fine (not exceeding £100) as may be specified in the order in respect of the offence and, in the case of a continuing offence, to such further fine (not exceeding £20) as may be specified in the order in respect of the offence for each day during which the offence is continued after conviction thereof, | ||
(e) the order may incorporate any provision (including penal provisions) contained in any enactment relating to gas undertakers or gas undertakings with such adaptations and modifications as the Minister thinks proper, | ||
(f) the order may contain provisions authorising the Board at any time before conveyance of, or ascertainment of price or compensation for, land or a right over land being acquired by the Board under the order to enter and take possession and to use such land or exercise such right in exercise of the powers conferred on the Board under this Act and, in case the order contains such provisions, it shall also contain provisions— | ||
(i) requiring the Board, if it so enters and takes possession of the land or exercises such right, to pay interest on the amount of the price or compensation payable under this Act at such rate as shall be determined from time to time by the Minister for Finance from the date on which such power was exercised until payment, | ||
(ii) requiring that, if the Board has made an unconditional offer in writing of any sum as such compensation to the person to whom the compensation is payable under this Act, and the offer is not accepted by such person, and the sum awarded as compensation by the property arbitrator to such person does not exceed the sum so offered, then no interest shall be payable on such compensation in respect of any period after the date of the offer, | ||
(iii) requiring the Board, if it so enters and takes possession of the land or so exercises any right over land, to give to the occupier of the land at least one month's or, in the case of an occupied dwellinghouse, three months' previous notice in writing of its intention so to enter on or take possession of any land or so to exercise any right, | ||
(iv) authorising the Board to serve the notice aforesaid on a person by sending it by prepaid post in an envelope addressed to the person at his usual or last known address and deeming the notice to have been served on the person at the time at which the envelope would be delivered in the ordinary course of post and when the address of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, authorising the Board to serve the notice by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near the land to which it relates and authorising the addressing of the envelope to the person for whom it is intended in case his name cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry by addressing it to “the owner” or “the occupier” (as the case may require) without naming him, | ||
(g) the order shall provide that whenever, under the order, the Board acquires or enters on and takes possession of any land which is subject, either alone or in conjunction with other land, to a land purchase annuity or a reclamation annuity, payment in lieu of rent or other sum payable periodically (not being merely rent under a contract of tenancy) payable to the Commission or to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, the Board shall— | ||
(i) as from the date on which it acquires, or enters on and takes possession of the land, whichever date is the earlier, become and be liable for payment to the Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may be) of such periodical sum, or such portion thereof as shall be apportioned by the Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may be) on the land, as if the land had been transferred to the Board by the owner thereof on that date, | ||
(ii) be entitled, if the Board so thinks fit, to redeem the periodical sum or the portion thereof aforesaid, and | ||
(iii) be obliged, if required by the Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may be) so to do, to redeem the periodical sum or the portion thereof aforesaid, | ||
(h) the order may provide that the Board may, for the purpose of enabling it to ascertain the ownership of any land, give any person who is the occupier of the land or who, either directly or indirectly, receives rent in respect of the land, a notice in the prescribed form requiring him to state in writing the nature of his own interest therein and the name and address of any other person known to him as having an interest therein, whether as owner in fee simple, mortgagee, lessee or otherwise, and provide that any person who, having been required by the Board by a notice in writing given in pursuance of this provision to give to them any information, fails to give the information, or gives any information which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly gives information which is so false shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £25, | ||
(i) the order may provide for the determination by arbitration of any specified questions arising thereunder, | ||
(j) the order may contain such provisions ancillary or incidental to any of the matters aforesaid as the Minister considers necessary and proper. | ||
12. The definition of “owner” in section 2 of this Act shall as regards this Schedule apply subject to the following modification, namely, in relation to land which comprises a servient tenement it shall be construed and have effect as if paragraph (b) thereof were deleted. |