Local Government Act , 1925

PRELIMINARY.

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the expression “prescribed” means prescribed by the Minister; the expression “county” does not include a county borough;

the word “road” means any public road and includes any bridge, pipe, arch, gulley, footway, pavement, fence, railing or wall (where such fence, railing or wall was erected by or was liable to be maintained by the County Council or Grand Jury) forming part thereof;

the expression “main road” means any road which the Minister, by his order, declares to be a main road;

the expression “urban road” means any road in an urban district except a main road;

the expression “county road” means any road in a county except main roads and urban roads;

the expression “county scheme” has the same meaning as in the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 9 of 1923);

the expression “direct labour scheme” means and includes any declaration prepared by the council of a county under the provisions of Article 25a of the Procedure of Councils Order, 1899, specifying the roads in a rural district to be maintained by direct labour, and the scheme formulated for carrying such declaration into effect;

the expression “local authority” includes—

(i) a county council, county or other borough council, urban district council, rural district council, board of guardians, or the commissioners of any town,

(ii) any public body which is established by or in pursuance of any statute to perform any of the functions of any of the above named bodies,

(iii) any committee or joint committee of or appointed by any of the said authorities;

the expression “board of health” includes both a board of public health and a board of health and public assistance;

the word “powers” includes rights, jurisdictions, capacities, privileges, and immunities;

the word “duties” includes responsibilities and obligations;

the expression “powers and duties” includes all powers and duties conferred or imposed by or arising under any Local Act;

the expression “the appointed day” means the 1st day of October, 1925;

the word “maintenance” when used in relation to any road, includes the widening or other reasonable improvement of such road, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

2 Application to County and City of Dublin.

2.—The following portions of this Act, that is to say, the whole of Part I, sections 9 to 16, and section 21 in Part II, sections 24, 26, 27 and 30 in Part III, and sections 57, 63, 74, 81 and 82 in Part V shall not apply to the County or the City of Dublin.

PART I. ABOLITION OF RURAL DISTRICT COUNCILS.

3 Abolition of rural district councils.

3.—(1) On and after the appointed day all rural district councils shall cease to exist, and upon the appointed day the powers and duties (subject to the provisions of this Act), and the property, debts, and liabilities of the council of every rural district within a county, shall be transferred to the council of such county, and the council of such county shall be the successors of the council of such rural district.

(2) Any debt or liability of a rural district council which is transferred to the council of a county by this section shall be paid or defrayed by means of the same rate by means of which such debt or liability would have been discharged before the passing of this Act, and the area of charge for the expenses of discharging such debt or liability shall be determined in accordance with the rules set out in the First Schedule to this Act.

(3) If any debt or liability (whether existing on or arising after the appointed day) transferred by this section to the council of a county relates to or is connected with any property transferred by this section to that council, such debt or liability shall so far as possible be paid or defrayed out of any profit or revenue received out of such property.

4 Continuance of pending actions and contracts.

4.—(1) If at the time when any powers, duties, property, or liabilities are transferred to a county council by this Act, any action or proceeding or any cause of action or proceeding is pending or existing in relation to such powers, duties, property, or liabilities by or against or on behalf of the body from which the same are so transferred, such action or proceeding, or cause of action or proceeding shall not abate or be prejudicially affected by such transfer, but shall continue by or against or on behalf of the county council or (in the case of powers or duties exercised through a board of health or of property transferred to a board of health under this Act), the board of health to or by whom the same are transferred or to be exercised.

(2) All contracts, deeds, bonds, agreements, and other instruments relating to any powers, duties, property, or liabilities transferred to a county council by this Act and the terms or provisions of which are not fully executed or completed at the date of such transfer, shall be of as full force and effect against or in favour of such county council or (in the case of powers or duties exercised through a board of health or of property transferred to a board of health under this Act) the board of health to or by whom the same are transferred or to be exercised, and may be enforced against or by such county council or board of health as fully and effectually as if such county council or board of health had been named as a party thereto instead of the body from which such powers, duties, property, or liabilities are transferred.

5 Public bodies elected by rural district councils.

5.—(1) Any joint board, committee, or authority, all of whose members were, prior to the passing of this Act, elected or appointed by the councils of rural districts situate in the same county health district shall, from and after the appointed day, cease to exist, and the powers, duties, property, and liabilities of such joint board, committee, or authority shall be transferred to the council of the county in which such county health district is situate, and such powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by such county council through and by the board of health for such county health district.

(2) The members of any public body in office on the appointed day who were appointed or elected by the council of a rural district shall cease to hold office on the appointed day, and where, prior to the passing of this Act, it was the duty of the council of a rural district in a county to elect members of any public body, it shall, on and after the appointed day, be the duty of the council of such county to elect such members of such public body.

This sub-section shall not apply to any public body to which the first sub-section of this section applies.

6 Periodical payments by rural district councils.

6.—Whenever under any enactment passed prior to the passing of this Act the council of a rural district is empowered or directed (as the case may be) to make any periodical payment in respect of any port, fishery, drainage works, burial works, or other similar matter, the council of the county in which such rural district is situate shall be empowered or directed (as the case may require) to make such payment and the amount thereof shall be charged upon the area upon which such amount would have been charged immediately before the passing of this Act.

7 Poor law guardians to be elected where no county scheme.

7.—In every county health district in a county to which for the time being no county scheme relates, poor law guardians shall after the appointed day be elected on the like days and in the same manner in all respects as members of rural district councils were immediately before the passing of this Act required by law to be elected.

8 Rural district councils before the appointed day.

8.—(1) No elections of rural district councillors shall be held after the passing of this Act.

(2) On the day which shall be prescribed by the Minister for the holding of the next statutory election of county councillors after the passing of this Act all rural district councils shall cease to function and the property and the several powers and duties of every rural district council shall be transferred to the council of the county in which the rural district was situate and shall be vested in and exercised and performed by such county council until the appointed day.

(3) In the case of the council of a county to which for the time being no county scheme relates or to which a joint county scheme for such county and an adjoining county borough relates, the powers and duties transferred by this section to such council shall until the appointed day be exercised and performed by a board established for the purpose in the like manner as a board of public health would be established in that county under this Act after the appointed day.

(4) In the case of the council of a county to which a county scheme (other than a joint scheme for such county and an adjoining county borough) relates the powers and duties transferred by this section to such council shall until the appointed day be exercised and performed by the body to whom under such county scheme is entrusted the administration of the relief of the poor in the area in which the rural district was situate.

(5) The Minister may by order do all such things and make all such regulations as in his opinion shall be necessary for the proper preservation and management of the property and the performance and exercise of the powers and duties transferred by this section and generally for giving full effect to this section during the period between the date on which the rural district councils shall cease to function under this section and the appointed day.

PART II. PUBLIC HEALTH.

9 County to be one rural sanitary district except in certain cases.

9.—(1) On and after the appointed day, and subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) of this section, the area of every county, with the exception of those portions (if any) of that area which are included in urban districts, shall for all purposes form one rural sanitary district or rural district within the meaning of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, and the council of such county shall be the sanitary authority for such rural sanitary district or rural district, and such rural sanitary district or rural district shall be called by the name of “The County Health District of______” (with the addition of the name of the county).

(2) At the request of the council of any county, the Minister may by order direct that there shall be in such county two or more rural sanitary districts, and in such case the Minister by his said order shall after consultation with the council of such county determine the boundaries of such rural sanitary districts, and the council of such county shall be the sanitary authority for each such rural sanitary district, and each such rural sanitary district shall be called by the name of “The County Health District of_____” (with the addition of the name of the county and of such distinguishing name as the Minister shall direct).

10 Duties of county councils as sanitary authorities to be performed by boards of health.

10.—(1) In every county health district—

(a) in a county to which for the time being no county scheme relates, or

(b) adjoining a county borough and situate in a county to which a joint county scheme for such county borough and county relates,

the powers and duties of the council of such county as sanitary authority for such district shall, save as is otherwise provided by this Act, be exercised and performed through and by a board to be established in such county health district and to be called the board of public health.

(2) In every county health district in a county to which a county scheme for the time being relates other than those referred to in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of this section, the powers and duties of the council of such county as sanitary authority for such district shall, save as is otherwise provided by this Act, be exercised and performed through and by the body to whom under such county scheme is entrusted the administration of the relief of the poor in such county health district, and such body shall be known as the board of health and public assistance for such county health district.

(3) Any property transferred to the council of a county by this Act may be transferred by such council by order under their seal to the board of public health or the board of health and public assistance of any county health district in such county, and every such order shall operate as an effective conveyance of such property according to the terms of such order, but such order shall not require to be stamped as a conveyance or transfer of property.

11 Borrowing powers of county councils.

11.—(1) The borrowing powers of a county council as rural sanitary authority for a county health district under the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, shall be exercised directly by such county council, and shall not be delegated by virtue of this Act or otherwise to a board of health.

(2) Moneys borrowed before the appointed day by the council of a rural district and the liability for which is transferred by this Act to a county council, and moneys borrowed after the appointed day by such county council as sanitary authority for a county health district, shall not be reckoned as part of the total debt of such county council for the purpose of the limitation on borrowing imposed by sub-article (2) of Article 22 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898.

12 Incorporation of boards of health and regulation of their proceedings.

12.—(1) Every board of health shall be a body corporate and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire and hold land for the purpose of their powers and duties.

(2) The constitution, proceedings, and accounts of boards of health, and the tenure of office of the members thereof, shall be regulated by the Rules contained in the Second Schedule to this Act.

(3) The provisions of this section shall apply to every board of health and public assistance in the performance of their duties under a county scheme in the same manner as they apply to such board in the performance of their duties under this Act notwithstanding anything to the contrary in such county scheme.

13 Appointment of committees of boards of health.

13.—(1) A board of health may from time to time appoint such and so many committees as they think fit for purposes connected with the exercise or performance of any of the powers, duties and functions transferred to the board by or under this Act which in the opinion of the board would be better or more conveniently regulated or managed by or through a committee.

(2) A committee appointed under this section may be either a general committee empowered to exercise or perform powers, duties, and functions in relation to the whole of the county health district or a local committee empowered to exercise or perform powers, duties, and functions in relation to a limited portion only of the county health district.

(3) Every committee appointed under this section shall consist of not less than three members, and may be composed either wholly of members of the board of health or partly of such members and partly of other persons.

(4) The acts of every committee appointed under this section shall be subject to confirmation by the board of health, save that the board may with the sanction of the Minister empower any particular committee to do any act (including the institution of legal proceedings) within the authority conferred on the committee by the board which the board itself could lawfully do.

(5) The quorum, procedure, and place of meeting of any committee appointed under this section, and the area (if any) within which any such committee is to exercise its functions, shall be such as may be appointed by regulations to be made by the board of health with the approval of the Minister.

(6) Save as is authorised by this section, it shall not be lawful for a board of health to delegate any of its powers or duties to a committee.

(7) The provisions of this section shall apply to every board of health and public assistance in the performance of their duties under a county scheme in the same manner as they apply to such board in the performance of their duties under this Act notwithstanding anything to the contrary in such county scheme.

14 Finance of boards of health.

14.—(1) A board of health shall be subject to such conditions or restrictions in relation to expenditure as the county council may impose with the consent of the Minister.

(2) The money required to meet the expenses of a board of health in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties under this Act shall be supplied by the county council to the board of health on an annual estimate and demand by the board of health, and shall be estimated, demanded, and paid in the same manner as the expenses of a rural district council have been heretofore estimated, demanded, and paid, or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

(3) The expenses of a board of health incurred in the performance of the duties of the county council as sanitary authority for a county health district shall be raised by the county council in such county health district by means of the poor rate.

(4) Section 232 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, shall be amended by the substitution for the areas situated in a rural sanitary district therein defined as contributory places for the purposes of the said Act, of the following areas:—

(a) the townland,

(b) the dispensary district,

(c) the area of any rural district as constituted immediately before the appointed day,

(d) such portions of any of the above-mentioned areas as may be determined by the Minister.

15 Committees of county councils to be abolished.

15.—On and after the appointed day, the committees appointed by county councils and mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act shall cease to exist, and the powers, duties, property, and liabilities of every such committee shall be transferred to the council of the county by which such committee was appointed, and such powers and duties in so far as they relate to any county health district shall be exercised and performed by and through the board of health for such county health district, and in so far as they relate to any urban district shall be exercised and performed by and through the board of health for the county health district adjoining such urban district, or where there are more than one such county health districts, by the board of health of such of those county health districts as the Minister shall direct.

16 Application of adoptive Acts in portions of county health districts.