Shannon Electricity Act , 1925

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the word “contractor” means a person doing work for the Minister under a contract or agreement made under this Act by him with the Minister;

the expression “local authority” means and includes a county council, a county or other borough council, an urban district council, and the commissioners of a town.

2 Minister may undertake production of electricity.

2.—The Minister may undertake the production and generation of electricity by means of hydraulic power derived from the waters of the River Shannon and the distribution and supply of the electricity so produced, and such undertaking is in this Act referred to as “the undertaking.”

3 General powers of Minister.

3.—(1) The Minister may for the purpose of the undertaking do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) acquire, construct, or otherwise provide and maintain houses or other dwelling accommodation and canteens, clubs, and other places of refreshment or recreation for persons employed (whether by the Minister or a contractor) in the construction of works, the management, working, or conduct of the undertaking, or the doing of any other act or thing which the Minister is authorised by this Act to do;

(b) impound, hold up, divert, take, and use the waters of the River Shannon and any river or stream tributary thereto and any lake, pond, or canal thereon or connected thereto;

(c) embank, dam, dredge, deepen, widen, straighten, divert, and otherwise alter the River Shannon or any river or stream tributary thereto;

(d) embank, dam, dredge, alter the level of, and otherwise affect any lake, pond, or other water on or connected directly or indirectly with the River Shannon;

(e) remove, or alter, repair, construct, and maintain such sluices, weirs, dams, embankments, and other works as may be necessary for or incidental to the doing of any of the things mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs;

(f) construct and maintain generating stations, powerhouses, transformer stations, and other stations and places for generating, transforming, storing, or otherwise dealing with electricity;

(g) purchase, hire, or otherwise provide, and maintain machinery, plant, and equipment for all generating stations, power-houses, transformer stations, and other stations and places constructed under the foregoing paragraph, but so that, until the Oireachtas otherwise determines, the capacity of the machinery, plant, and equipment so provided for generating electricity shall not exceed one hundred thousand horse-power;

(h) construct, maintain and work railways and tramways (whether worked by steam, internal combustion, or electric power), docks, and piers;

(i) construct and maintain lines for the transmission of electricity at any voltage above, on, or under any public or private land or water, or any road, street, way, railway, tramway, or dock, or any natural or artificial waterway or harbour;

(j) break-up the surface of and lay and maintain mains in, and erect and maintain poles and other supports (with or without electricity transformers) on any place above, on, or under which the Minister is by this Act authorised to construct lines for the transmission of electricity;

(k) close, divert, or remove any public or private street, road, way, or bridge;

(l) enter on any lands or premises for the purposes of doing thereon or on any other lands or premises all or any of the things which he is by this sub-section authorised to do or making thereon or on any other lands or premises any inquiry, investigation, or examination preliminary or incidental to the doing of any such thing;

(m) do any act or thing which may be necessary for or incidental to the doing of anything which he is by this sub-section authorised to do.

(2) The Minister may contract with any person to do all or any of the things which the Minister is authorised by sub-section (1) of this section to do, and for that purpose the Minister may with the sanction of the Minister for Finance enter into contracts and agreements.

(3) Whenever the Minister enters under this section into any contract or agreement for the doing of anything which the Minister is authorised by sub-section (1) of this section to do, the Minister may by order, confer on the contractor the right to do such of the things which the Minister is authorised by the said sub-section (1) to do as the Minister shall think proper and shall specify in the order, and thereupon such contractor shall have the right (concurrently with the Minister) to do all or any of the things so specified in the order as fully as if such right were conferred on him by this Act, but so far as and no further than is necessary for the due execution of the contract or agreement.

4 Minister may acquire land, etc., compulsorily.

4.—(1) For the purpose of the undertaking or the doing of anything which the Minister is by this Act authorised to do (whether the Minister does such thing himself or by a contractor) the Minister may do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) compulsorily acquire (either permanently or temporarily) any lands or premises;

(b) compulsorily acquire (either permanently or temporarily) any easement, way-leave, water-right, fishing right, or other right over or in respect of any lands, premises, or water;

(c) compulsorily terminate, restrict, or otherwise interfere with (either permanently or temporarily) any easement, way-leave, water-right, fishing right, or other right existing over or in respect of any lands, premises, or water;

(d) compulsorily divert, close, remove, or otherwise interfere with (either permanently or temporarily) any public or private road, way, or bridge, or any canal or other artificial water-way or any artificial water-course.

(2) At any time after the passing of this Act and before conveyance or ascertainment of price or compensation, but subject to giving not less than one month's or, in the case of an occupied dwelling house, three months' previous notice in writing to the occupier of the lands or premises or the owner of the right of way or other property affected, the Minister may enter on and take possession of any lands or premises or exercise any right which the Minister is authorised by this section to acquire compulsorily, or may terminate, restrict, or otherwise interfere with any right which the Minister is authorised by this section compulsorily to terminate, restrict, or interfere with or may divert, close, remove, or otherwise interfere with any road, way, bridge, water-way, or water-course which the Minister is authorised by this section compulsorily to divert, close, remove, or interfere with.

(3) The Minister may by order confer on a contractor the right to do such of the things which the Minister is authorised by sub-section (2) of this section to do as the Minister shall think proper and shall specify in the order and thereupon such contractor shall have the right (concurrently with the Minister) subject to giving the notice required by the said sub-section (2) to do all or any of the things so specified in the order as fully as if such right were conferred on him by this Act, but so far as and no further than is necessary for the due execution of his contract or agreement.

5 Ascertainment of price or compensation.

5.—(1) The amount of the price or compensation to be paid by the Minister for lands and premises compulsorily acquired (whether permanently or temporarily) by him under this Act to the several persons entitled thereto or having estates or interests therein, or for or in respect of easements, way-leaves, water-rights, fishing rights and other rights compulsorily acquired (whether permanently or temporarily) by him to the owner thereof or the several persons entitled to or having estates or interests in the lands and premises over or in respect of which such rights are so acquired shall, in default of agreement, be fixed under and in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919.

(2) The amount of the compensation to be paid by the Minister on account of the compulsory termination, restriction, or other interference (whether permanent or temporary) under this Act of or with any easement, water-right, fishing right, or other right existing over or in respect of any lands, premises, or water, or the compulsory diversion, closing, removal, or other interference (whether permanent or temporary) under this Act of or with any private road, way, or bridge or any canal or other artificial water-way or any artificial water-course shall, in default of agreement, be fixed under and in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, in like manner as if such compensation were the price of land compulsorily acquired.

(3) When any price or compensation is being assessed in pursuance of this section in respect of any property, corporeal or incorporeal, which is occupied, used or enjoyed with or forms part of any other property, regard shall be had to any benefit in the nature of drainage or improvement of water supply which may reasonably be expected to accrue to such property by reason of any works executed or in course of execution or about to be executed by the Minister under this Act.

(4) All claims for price or compensation in respect of any land, premises, or right compulsorily acquired or any right, way, or other property compulsorily interfered with under this Act shall be made within one year after such land, premises, right, way, or property is first entered on, exercised, or interfered with by the Minister or a contractor under this Act, save that in the case of compensation for the permanent interference with a fishery right the claim may be made at any time within ten years after the completion of the works by which the fishery right is so interfered with.

(5) Sections 69 to 83 of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, shall apply to any price or compensation payable by the Minister under this section and to the conveyance to the Minister of property, corporeal or incorporeal, compulsorily acquired by him under this Act, and for the purpose of such application the Minister shall be deemed to be the promoter of the undertaking.

(6) No action shall lie at law or in equity against the Minister or any contractor or any officer or servant of the Minister or any contractor for or on account of any act, matter, or thing in respect of which compensation is payable by virtue of this section.

6 Tribunal to fix price or compensation.

6.—(1) Whenever the amount of any price or compensation is by virtue of this Act to be fixed under and in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, such price or compensation shall be so fixed by one or more arbitrators appointed under this section in lieu of an official arbitrator appointed under that Act, and all references in that Act to an official arbitrator shall be construed as references to an arbitrator or arbitrators appointed under this section.

(2) A committee (in this Act called the Reference Committee) consisting of the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, the President of the High Court, and the Chairman of the Surveyors' Institution (Irish Branch) shall as and when so requested by the Minister appoint such number as the Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, shall direct of fit and proper persons to be arbitrators for the purposes of this Act.

(3) Every person so appointed to be an arbitrator for the purposes of this Act shall hold such appointment on such terms and subject to such conditions and shall be paid by the Minister as part of the costs of the undertaking such remuneration as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(4) For the purposes of this Act all references contained in the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, to the Reference Committee shall be construed and have effect as references to the Reference Committee nominated in this section.

(5) The power conferred by sub-section (7) of section 3 of the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, on the Reference Committee to make rules shall include a power to make rules, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, prescribing the number of arbitrators appointed under this section by whom applications or different classes of applications for the fixing of any price or compensation under this Act shall be heard.

7 Minister may delegate construction, etc., of railway on tramway.

7.—(1) The Minister may arrange with any local authority or other public body or any company either—

(a) that such authority, body or company will at their own expense construct, maintain, and work or construct or maintain or work any railway or tramway which the Minister is by this Act authorised to construct, maintain, and work, or

(b) that the Minister will construct, maintain, and work or construct or maintain or work any such railway or tramway for and at the expense of such authority, body, or company.

(2) Whenever the Minister enters into any such arrangement as aforesaid, the Minister may by order delegate to and confer on the authority, body or company with which the arrangement is made such of the powers conferred on the Minister by this Act as shall in the opinion of the Minister be reasonably necessary for the due carrying out of such arrangement by such authority, body, or company.

(3) Any local authority or other public body or company may, notwithstanding any statutory or other limitation of their powers, enter into any such arrangement as aforesaid with the Minister, and, without prejudice to any existing powers of borrowing and notwithstanding any existing restrictions on borrowing, may for the purpose of carrying out the arrangement borrow money in such manner and upon such terms, conditions, and security as, in the case of a local authority whose accounts are audited by an auditor of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, shall be prescribed by that Minister, or, in any other case, shall be approved by the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

(4) When any railway constructed under an arrangement made under this section has been completed and the statutory requirements for the time being in force in relation to the opening of a railway for public traffic have been complied with, the Minister may require the railway to be worked by any then existing railway company nominated by him, upon such terms and conditions in all respects (including the charges to be made on such railway by such company) as may be determined by agreement made between such railway company and the authority, body, or company by or for whom the railway was constructed and approved of by the Minister.

(5) When a railway constructed by the Minister under this Act or constructed under an arrangement made under this section is opened for public traffic and is worked by the Minister or by the local authority, public body, or company by or for whom it was constructed, the charges to be made on the railway shall be fixed by the Railway Tribunal and such charges or any of them may at any time be revised by the Railway Tribunal on the application of the person working the railway or any representative body of users of the railway or any trader using the railway.

8 Minister may improve navigation of rivers, etc.

8.—(1) The Minister may construct all such embankments, piers, wharves, locks, sluices, and other works and do such dredging, straightening, deepening, widening, and other things for the improvement of the navigation of the River Shannon or any river or stream tributary thereto, or any lake thereon or connected therewith as may be incidental or ancillary to the undertaking or can in the opinion of the Minister be conveniently constructed or done in the course of the doing of any other thing which the Minister is authorised by this Act to do.

(2) Where the Minister constructs any works under this section he shall maintain the same unless and until the Oireachtas makes other provision for the maintenance thereof.

9 Minister may drain lands.

9.—(1) The Minister may construct such works and do all such things for the purpose of draining or improving by drainage any lands adjacent to or in the neighbourhood of the River Shannon or any river or stream tributary thereto or any lake, pond, or other water thereon or connected thereto as may be incidental or ancillary to the undertaking or can in the opinion of the Minister be conveniently constructed or done in the course of the doing of any other thing which the Minister is authorised by this Act to do.

(2) Where the Minister constructs any works under this section he shall maintain the same unless and until the Oireachtas makes other provision for the maintenance thereof.

10 Deposits of plans, etc.

10.—(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act and not later than one month before commencing any particular civil constructional works under this Act or, for that purpose, entering on any lands or premises or exercising any right or interfering with any property, corporeal or incorporeal, under this Act, the Minister shall cause maps, plans, and books of reference in relation to those works to be deposited as hereinafter mentioned.

(2) The maps and plans to be deposited under this section shall be sufficient in quantity and character to show on adequate scales the extent of the civil constructional works to which they relate with all contemplated deviations and variations, and also all property, corporeal and (where appropriate) incorporeal, proposed to be acquired compulsorily for the purpose of such works and also every interference (so far as the same can be shown on a drawing) proposed to be made compulsorily for the said purpose with any property, corporeal or incorporeal, or any road or bridge.

(3) The books of reference to be deposited under this section shall contain the names of the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers of all lands and premises proposed to be acquired or otherwise affected compulsorily under this Act for the purpose of the civil constructional works in relation to which they are deposited and of all property, corporeal or incorporeal (including roads and bridges), proposed to be in any way interfered with compulsorily under this Act for the purpose of such works.