Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act , 1923

1 Definition of “County Scheme”.

1.—In this Act:—

the expression “County Scheme” means a scheme prepared under or in accordance with this Act by the Council of a County for the administration of the relief of the poor in that County:

the expression “existing scheme” means one of the schemes for the administration of the relief of the poor in a County set out in the First Schedule to this Act:

the expression “existing County Scheme” means so much of an existing scheme as relates to the relief of the poor and does not contravene any of the provisions of this Act.

2 Operation of existing County Schemes.

2.—(1) From and after the passing of this Act the relief of the poor in a County to which an existing County Scheme relates shall be administered under and in accordance with such existing County Scheme and the law relating to the relief of the poor in that County shall be deemed to be and is hereby altered or modified in such manner and to such extent as is necessary to give full force and effect to such existing County Scheme.

(2) The existing County Scheme relating to a County named in the First Column of the Second Schedule to this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the date specified in the Second Column of the said Second Schedule opposite the name of such County and the several amendments (if any) made in such existing County Scheme shall be deemed to have come into operation on the respective dates specified in the Third Column of the said Second Schedule opposite the name of such County.

(3) From and after the date on which any existing County Scheme or any amendment to any such Scheme is by this section deemed to have come into operation the law relating to the relief of the poor in the County to which such Scheme relates shall be deemed to have been altered or modified in such manner and to such extent as may have been necessary to give full force and effect to such Scheme or amendment as the case may be.

(4) Every act, matter and thing which was done or omitted to be done under or in pursuance of an existing County Scheme in relation to the relief of the poor in the County to which such Scheme relates at any time after such Scheme had come into operation and before the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been validly done or omitted to be done (as the case may require) under the law as modified or altered pursuant to the foregoing sub-section.

(5) Any provision contained in any existing Scheme which deals with any matter other than the relief of the poor or which contravenes any provision of this Act shall be and shall be deemed to have always been void and of no effect: Provided always that for the purposes of this Act a County Infirmary shall be deemed to be an institution for the relief of the poor.

(6) Nothing in this section shall operate to make illegal any act done before the passing of this Act which would have been legal if this Act had not been passed.

3 County Council may prepare Scheme where no existing Scheme.

3.—(1) The Council of any County in Saorstát Eireann to which no existing County Scheme relates may prepare a scheme in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the relief of the poor in that County, and may submit such scheme when prepared to the Minister.

(2) Subject to the consent of the Minister the Council of any County Borough and the Council of any County adjoining such County Borough in lieu of preparing separate schemes under this section may prepare a joint scheme for the relief of the poor in such County Borough and County and submit such joint scheme to the Minister and for the purposes of this Act every such joint scheme when duly confirmed by the Minister under this Act shall be a County Scheme and such County Borough and County shall together be one County.

4 Confirmation of Schemes by Minister.

4.—(1) The Minister shall either:—

(a) confirm without alteration, or

(b) confirm with such modifications, omissions and additions as he shall deem necessary, or

(c) wholly reject

every scheme submitted to him under this Act.

(2) At least one month before confirming (either with or without modification) any scheme submitted to him under this Act the Minister shall publish in two newspapers circulating in the County to which such scheme relates, notice of his intention to confirm such scheme, and whether such confirmation is intended to be with or without modification, and shall at the same time send to the Secretary of the Council of such County and the Clerk of every Rural or Urban District Council in such County a copy of such scheme, with all the modifications (if any) intended to be made therein by the Minister, and such Secretary and Clerks shall respectively at all reasonable times during such month permit such copy to be inspected and copied by any person at the office of the County or Rural or Urban District Council, as the case may be.

(3) Every scheme submitted to the Minister under this Act which shall be confirmed (whether with or without alteration) by the Minister shall come into operation on the day on which the same is so confirmed and shall be a County Scheme within the meaning of this Act and from and after that date the relief of the poor in the County to which such scheme relates shall be administered under and in accordance with such scheme, and the law relating to the relief of the poor in such County shall be deemed to be altered or modified so as to give full force and effect to such scheme.

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

5 Power to alter County Schemes.

5.—(1) The Minister, by order made under this section, may from time to time amend or modify any County Scheme after it has come into operation in any way he may deem necessary and every such amendment or modification shall come into operation as from such date as the Minister shall by such order direct.

(2) Before making any amendment or modification in any County Scheme under this section the Minister shall give to the Council of the County to which such scheme relates one month's previous notice of his intention to make such amendment or modification and shall take into consideration any representation which may be made by such Council within such month in respect of such amendment or modification but it shall not be obligatory on the Minister to act on or comply with any such representation.

(3) Every Order made by the Minister 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 each House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which either House has sat annulling such order, such Order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such Order.

(4) This section applies as well to existing County Schemes as to County Schemes submitted and confirmed under this Act.

6 Duration of County Scheme.

6.—Every County Scheme shall continue in operation until the 31st day of March, 1924, and shall then expire.

7 County Schemes may abolish Boards, Committees, &c.

7.—(1) A County Scheme may provide for the abolition of any Board of Guardians, County Hospital Committee, County Infirmary Committee or any other body existing in the County to which the County Scheme relates and exercising functions connected with the relief of the poor in that County, and for the transfer to the Council of the County to which the Scheme relates, or to a Committee to be established by that Council, either alone or jointly with the Councils of the Rural and Urban Districts comprised within the County, of all the powers and duties in relation to the relief of the poor of the body or bodies abolished by the Scheme, provided that where the functional area of any such Board, Committee, or other Body extended outside the County to which the County Scheme relates, such Board, Committee, or other body shall only be abolished under this section in so far as it exercised functions within that County.

(2) When any such Board, Committee or other body as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section is abolished under a County Scheme then and in every such case on and after the date on which such County Scheme shall come or is deemed to have come into operation:—

(a) all the property of such Board, Committee or other body shall pass to and vest in and be held in trust for the Council of the County to which such County Scheme relates subject to all debts and liabilities affecting such property and shall be held by the said Council for the same estate, interest and purposes and subject to the same covenants, conditions and restrictions for and subject to which such property should be held by law under such County Scheme or otherwise,

(b) all debts and liabilities of such Board, Committee or other body shall become and be debts and liabilities of the said County Council and subject to the provisions of this Act and of the said County Scheme shall be defrayed by such Council out of the like property and funds as such debts and liabilities would have been defrayed out of if this Act had not passed: Provided that where the functional area of any such Board, Committee, or other body extended outside the County to which the County Scheme relates, so much only as the Minister shall appoint of the property, debts, and liabilities of such Board, Committee or other body shall pass to or be defrayed by the Council of that County under this sub-section.

(3) Whenever any lands or buildings are transferred to or acquired by the Council of any County under this section the said Council shall have full power subject to the provisions of the County Scheme to manage, alter and enlarge and with (but not without) the consent of the Minister to sell, lease or otherwise alienate all or any such lands or buildings and the Minister may impose such conditions as he shall think fit to the granting of his consent to any such sale, lease or alienation including conditions relating to the application of the proceeds of such sale, lease or alienation.

8 Alienation of lands and buildings by the Minister.

8.—The Minister may sell, lease or otherwise alienate all or any lands or buildings which are or shall at any time be vested in him in trust for any body abolished by any County Scheme, and the proceeds of every such sale, lease or alienation shall be held by the Minister in trust for any purpose for which such land or buildings could have been used or applied by law under the said County Scheme or otherwise.

9 Provision for performance of vaccination duties.

9.—When the Board of Guardians of any Union is abolished by any County Scheme the powers and duties of such Board of Guardians under the Vaccination (Ireland) Acts in any County Borough or Urban or Rural District forming part of such Union shall be transferred to the Council of such County Borough or Urban or Rural District.

10 Removal of restrictions on out-door relief.

10.—Any person in a County to which a County Scheme relates who is eligible for relief may, subject to any regulations made by the Minister in that behalf, be granted outdoor relief, notwithstanding anything in any enactment limiting the granting thereof to certain classes of persons, and this provision shall be deemed to have had effect in any such County from and after the date on which such County Schemes came into operation.

11 Superannuation of officers whose offices are abolished.

11.—(1) Every officer of a Local Authority whose office is abolished under or in pursuance of any County Scheme shall, notwithstanding anything contained in such County Scheme, but subject to the provisions of this section, have the same rights in relation to superannuation as if he had been removed from his office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity prior to the passing of this Act, and any provision in any County Scheme purporting to increase or diminish such rights shall be void and of no effect: Provided that where any such officer is, within three months after the abolition of his office, appointed to a pensionable office under such County Scheme, the salary and emoluments of which are not less than the salary and emoluments of his previous office, he shall not be entitled to the rights in relation to superannuation given by this sub-section, but he shall, for pension purposes, be entitled to add his period of service with the local authority to his subsequent service under the County Scheme or otherwise.

(2) Where any Board of Guardians has been abolished under or in pursuance of any County Scheme, and any person held before such abolition the joint office of Clerk to such Board of Guardians and Clerk to a Rural District Council, or the joint office of Relieving Officer of a Board of Guardians and Sanitary Sub-Officer of a Rural District Council, and such joint office was immediately before such abolition pensionable, the office of Clerk to such Rural District Council or the office of Sanitary Sub-officer of such Rural District Council (as the case may be) shall, so long as such person continues to hold the same, be deemed to be pensionable notwithstanding the fact that such person does not devote the whole of his time to the service of such Council: Provided that any official of a Board of Guardians, who is also an official of a Rural District Council, shall be entitled, on the determination of his office under Board of Guardians to retire, as official under Rural District Council, on the same terms as if his office had been abolished.

(3) Where the Board of Guardians of any Union extending into two or more counties is abolished by a County Scheme or Schemes, the pensions of the pensionable officers of such Union shall be paid by the Council of the County in which the Workhouse belonged to such Union was situate, and the Council of that County shall be entitled to recover from the Council of any other county into which such Union extended the contribution payable by such Council towards such pension.

(4) Whenever before the passing of this Act an allowance has been granted under Section 8 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919, to an officer in respect of his removal from office under or in pursuance of any County Scheme, the Council of the County to which the liability to pay such allowance to such officer has under this Act been transferred, may, if they so think fit within a period of three months from the passing of this Act, notify such officer and the Minister of their desire to dispute the right of such officer to such allowance or the amount of such allowance, and thereupon a case of dispute within the meaning of the said Section 8 shall be deemed to have arisen, and the right to and amount of such allowance shall be determined by the Minister in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919.

Notwithstanding a determination by the Minister under this sub-section disallowing the right of any such officer to such allowance or altering the amount of such allowance, such officer shall be entitled to receive and be paid the allowance up to the date of such determination at the rate at which same was granted under the said Section 8.

(5) From and after the passing of this Act no allowance, the amount of which exceeds the amount of an allowance calculated according to the scale provided by the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1892, and the rules thereunder shall be granted by a Local Authority to an officer under the provisions of Section 8 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919, without the consent of the Minister.

(6) Where any officer of a Local Authority who holds a pensionable office:

(a) is, or has been removed from his office by or in pursuance of any County Scheme; or

(b) after the passing of this Act, is removed from his office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity; or

(c) after the passing of this Act resigns his office with the sanction of the Minister—

and was at the time of his appointment to such pensionable office employed by the Local Authority in a temporary capacity, the temporary service of such officer shall, to such extent, if any, as the Minister may direct, be reckoned as service in a pensionable office for the purpose of any enactment relating to the superannuation of officers of a Local Authority.

12 Power to dissolve a Local Authority.

12.—(1) The Minister may at any time if he thinks fit, order a Local Inquiry into the performance of its duties by any Local Authority, and Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply to every such Local Inquiry.

(2) If and whenever

(a) the Minister is satisfied, after the holding of such a Local Inquiry as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, that the duties of a Local Authority are not being duly and effectually discharged by such Local Authority, or

(b) a Local Authority wilfully neglects to comply with any lawful order, direction or regulation of the Minister, or

(c) a Local Authority fails to comply with any judgment, order or decree of any Court in Saorstát Eireann,

the Minister may, by Order dissolve such Local Authority, and either order (under the power hereinafter conferred on him) a new election of members of such Local Authority or transfer the property and the several powers and duties of such Local Authority to any body or persons or person he shall think fit.

(3) Whenever the Minister makes an Order under the foregoing sub-section dissolving a Local Authority he may appoint such and so many persons as he shall think fit to perform the duties of such Local Authority and may from time to time remove all or any such persons and appoint others in their place and may fix the tenure of office, duties and remuneration of all such persons.

(4) The remuneration of all persons appointed under the foregoing sub-section shall be paid out of the revenue of such Local Authority as part of its expenses.

(5) At any time after a Local Authority has been dissolved under this section the Minister may by Order cause a new election of members of such Local Authority to be held, and upon the completion of such new election all the property, powers and duties of the dissolved Local Authority shall vest in the body so elected notwithstanding that the same may have been transferred by the Minister under this section to any other body, persons or person.

(6) The Minister may from time to time by Order do all such things and make all such regulations as in his opinion shall be necessary for giving full effect to any Order made by him under this section.

13 Amendment of sections 3 and 6 of 11 & 12 Geo. 5, c. 67.