DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS AND PESTS ACT, 1929

AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER AND BETTER PROVISION FOR THE PROTECTION OF CROPS, TREES AND BUSHES FROM INSECTS AND PESTS DESTRUCTIVE THERETO AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO AMEND THE DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS AND PESTS ACTS, 1877 AND 1907. [9th May, 1929.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland;

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Destructive Insects Act, 1877, and

the expression “the Act of 1907” means the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1907.

2 Construction of certain words.

2.—(1) The word “insect” when used in the Principal Act, the Act of 1907, or this Act shall, in addition to the meanings assigned to it by the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907, include bacteria and other vegetable or animal organisms and any agent causative of a transmissible crop disease.

• (2) The word “crop” when used in the Principal Act, the Act of 1907, or this Act shall, in addition to the meanings assigned to it by the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907, include seed, plant, and any part of a seed or a plant.

3 Extension of powers of Department.

3.—An order made by the Department under the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 may:—

• (a) empower any inspector authorised in that behalf by the Department to do all or any of the following things, that is to say, to remove or destroy, or cause to be removed or destroyed, any crop infected with an insect introduced into Saorstát Eireann and specified in such order, or any crop to or by means of which such insect is likely to spread, and generally to take such steps as he may think expedient in connection with any crop for preventing the spreading of any such insect, and to enter on any land for any of the purposes aforesaid or for any examination or enquiry authorised by such order or for any other purpose of such order;

• (b) impose, in respect of any certificate given in pursuance of such order after an inspection, such fee or other charge as the Department, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may prescribe;

• (c) impose (in lieu of the penalties authorised by the Principal Act) penalties for offences against such order not exceeding, in the case of a first offence, a fine of ten pounds or, in the case of a second or any subsequent offence, a fine of twenty pounds.

4 Compensation for destruction, etc., of crops.

4.—Whenever any crop is removed or destroyed by or under the instructions of an inspector authorised by the Department under an order made under the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 and this Act, for the protection of crops from an insect introduced into Saorstát Eireann and specified in such order, the Department may pay the owner of such crop in respect of such removal or destruction compensation assessed under and in accordance with the following provisions, that is to say:—

• (a) the amount of such compensation shall be assessed by the Department at such amount as the Department shall consider reasonable having regard to all the circumstances;

• (b) if such owner is dissatisfied with the amount of compensation so assessed by the Department he may by notice in writing to the Department request that the matter be referred to arbitration, and thereupon the assessment of the amount of such compensation shall be referred to and determined by a single arbitrator agreed upon by such owner and the Department or, in default of such agreement, appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, and the determination by such arbitrator shall be final.

5 Time for instituting proceedings.

5.—Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other Act, proceedings for an offence against an order under the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 or under the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 and this Act may, where such offence is an offence in connection with the movement, sale, consignment or planting of potatoes, be instituted at any time within twelve months from the day on which the alleged offence was committed.

6 Spraying of potatoes.

6.—(1) Whenever in relation to a particular district an Order has been made by the Department under the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 and this Act for the protection of crops from an insect introduced into Saorstát Eireann and specified in such order and such order is in force, the Department may serve on any owner of a potato crop planted in such district a notice (in this section referred to as a spraying notice) in the prescribed form requiring such owner within the time specified in such notice to spray such potato crop with the prescribed spraying mixture in the prescribed manner.

• (2) In the event of a spraying notice not being complied with within the time limited thereby the Department may cause the potato crop the subject of such notice to be sprayed with the prescribed spraying mixture in the prescribed manner at the expense of the owner of such potato crop, and for that purpose any inspector authorised in that behalf by the Department may enter on the land on which such potato crop is planted and there do all things necessary for or incidental to the spraying of such potato crop and the cost of such spraying shall be paid by the owner of such potato crop to the Department on demand and may be recovered by the Department on demand as a civil debt.

• (3) Any person who shall obstruct or impede the Department or any person duly authorised by the Department in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

• (4) A spraying notice may be served by delivering it to the person to whom it is addressed or by leaving it for him with a person over sixteen years of age on the land on which the potato crop to which it relates is planted or by sending it by post to the person to whom it is addressed at his last known place of abode.

• (5) A spraying notice may be signed and issued by an inspector authorised in that behalf by the Department on behalf of the Department and when so signed and issued shall be deemed to have been signed and issued by the Department.

• (6) In this section the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Department under this section.

7 Expenses.

7.—All expenses incurred by the Department in the execution of the Principal Act as amended by the Act of 1907 and this Act or of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, but the amount so paid shall not in any one financial year, without the sanction of the Minister for Finance, exceed the sum of one thousand pounds.

8 Short title, construction, and citation.

8.—This Act may be cited as the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1929, and shall be construed as one with the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts, 1877 and 1907, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts, 1877 to 1929.