Public Assistance Act , 1939

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Public Assistance Act, 1939.

2 Commencement.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order appoint for that purpose.

3 Definitions.

3.—In this Act—

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

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

the expression “county scheme” means a scheme for the relief of the poor confirmed by the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 9 of 1923), or prepared and confirmed under that Act;

the expression “county scheme authority” means an authority entrusted by virtue of a county scheme with the administration of the relief of the poor in a particular area;

the expression “joint district” has the same meaning as it has in the Local Government Act, 1927 (No. 3 of 1927);

the expression “medical assistance” means the provision of all or any of the following things, that is to say, medical, surgical, or dental treatment, medicines, and medical, surgical, or dental appliances;

the expression “general assistance” means the provision of the necessaries of life, other than medical assistance;

the expression “public assistance” and also the word “assistance” when used without qualification include both medical assistance and general assistance, and all cognate expressions and words shall be construed accordingly;

the expression “home assistance” means general assistance given otherwise than by admission to a district or other institution;

the word “acquire” when used in relation to land includes purchase in fee simple or for any less estate or interest and taking a lease of such land for any term;

the expression “the Dublin area” means the area consisting of the county of Dublin and the county borough of Dublin.

4 Repeals.

4.—(1) The enactments mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed, to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

(2) Without prejudice to the application of section 21 of the Interpretation Act, 1937 (No. 38 of 1937), it is hereby declared that the repeal by virtue of this section of certain sections of the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 9 of 1923), shall not operate to cancel or otherwise affect the abolition of any board, committee, or other body which was, before the passing of this Act, abolished by or under any of the said sections.

PART II. Central and Local Administration.

5 Central authority.

5.—(1) The administration of public assistance in pursuance of the law (including this Act) for the time being in force in relation to such administration shall be subject to the general direction and control of the Minister.

(2) Nothing in this Act nor in any order, regulation, or instrument made under or preserved by this Act shall be construed or operate to enable the Minister to direct the giving of public assistance to any individual person.

6 Administration of public assistance.

6.—(1) For the purposes of the administration of public assistance the State shall be divided into public assistance districts.

(2) In every public assistance district, public assistance shall be administered by the public assistance authority specified in that behalf by this Act in respect of such district.

7 Public assistance districts.

7.—(1) In the Dublin area—

(a) the area of the Dublin Union as constituted immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be a public assistance district to be styled and known as the Dublin Public Assistance District,

(b) the area of the Rathdown Union as constituted immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be a public assistance district to be styled and known as the Rathdown Public Assistance District, and

(c) the area of the Balrothery Union as constituted immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be a public assistance district to be styled and known as the Balrothery Public Assistance District.

(2) Outside the Dublin area—

(a) wherever, immediately before the commencement of this Act, a county borough and a joint district in a county adjoining such county borough are, for the purposes of the relief of the poor, administered as one area by one authority, the area consisting of such county borough and such joint district shall be a public assistance district,

(b) every county borough to which paragraph (a) of this sub-section does not apply shall be a public assistance district, and

(c) every joint district to which paragraph (a) of this sub-section does not apply shall be a public assistance district.

(3) The Minister shall, by regulations made under this Act, prescribe the names by which the several public assistance districts under the immediately preceding sub-section of this section shall respectively be known, and every such public assistance district shall be styled and known by the name so prescribed in respect of it.

8 Public assistance authorities.

8.—(1) The public assistance authority for the Dublin Public Assistance District shall be the Dublin Board of Assistance.

(2) The public assistance authority for the Rathdown Public Assistance District shall be the Rathdown Board of Assistance.

(3) The public assistance authority for the Balrothery Public Assistance District shall be the Balrothery Board of Assistance.

(4) The public assistance authority for a public assistance district consisting of a county borough shall be the corporation of such county borough.

(5) The public assistance authority for a public assistance district consisting only of the whole of a joint district shall be the council of the county with which such joint district is coterminous or in which such joint district is situate.

(6) The public assistance authority for a public assistance district which consists of a county borough and the whole of a joint district in a county adjoining such county borough shall be the board of public assistance established for such public assistance district in pursuance of the next following section of this Act.

9 Membership, proceedings, etc., of public assistance authorities, in Dublin area.

9.—(1) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every public assistance authority whose public assistance district is in the Dublin area, that is to say:—

(a) notwithstanding anything contained in the Local Government (Dublin) (Amendment) Act, 1931 (No. 25 of 1931), such authority shall consist of such number of persons as the Minister shall from time to time appoint and, in the case of the Dublin Board of Assistance, such persons shall be elected by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Dublin and the council of the county of Dublin in such proportions as the Minister shall similarly appoint and, in every other case, such persons shall be elected by the council of the said county;

(b) those members (if any) of such authority who are elected by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Dublin shall be members of the City Council for Dublin;

(c) those members of such authority who are elected by the council of the county of Dublin shall be members of such council;

(d) the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act shall apply and have effect in relation to such authority but with the modification that, for the purposes of Rule 2 of the said Rules, those members of such authority who are to be elected by the council of the county of Dublin shall be elected in the same manner as if they were all additional members within the meaning of that Rule, and that the references in Rules 11 and 12 to the first meeting shall be construed as referring to the first meeting of such authority after the commencement of this Act;

(e) subject and without prejudice to the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act as applied by the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, the Minister may by order make regulations in relation to the conduct of the business and the order of proceedings at meetings of such authority, and every such regulation shall have effect according to the tenor thereof;

(f) whenever any difficulty arises in regard to an election of members of such authority or the first meeting of such authority after an election (other than an election to fill a casual vacancy) of all or any of the members of such authority, or by reason of a defect in the constitution of such authority arising in consequence of an election of all or some of the members of such authority not being held or being defective or in consequence of any other matter or thing, the Minister may by order do any thing which appears to him to be necessary or proper to meet or remove such difficulty and in particular, may by such order, if he so thinks proper, provide for the holding of an election of all or some of the members of such authority or for the holding of a meeting of such authority.

(2) So much of the Local Government (Dublin) (Amendment) Act, 1931 (No. 25 of 1931), as is inconsistent with the foregoing sub-section of this section and, in particular, so much of that Act as provides for co-opted members of the Dublin Board of Assistance shall cease to have effect.

10 Boards of public assistance.

10.—(1) In every public assistance district which consists of a county borough and a joint district in a county adjoining such county borough, a board of public assistance shall be established to be the public assistance authority for such public assistance district.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every board of public assistance established in pursuance of this section, that is to say:—

(a) the board shall be styled and known as “the Board of Public Assistance for” with the name of the public assistance district for which such board is the public assistance authority;

(b) the board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and shall provide itself with and shall have a common seal;

(c) the board shall consist of such number of persons as the Minister shall from time to time appoint and such persons shall be elected in such proportions as the Minister shall similarly appoint by the corporation of the county borough included in such public assistance district and by the council of the county in which the joint district included in such public assistance district is situate;

(d) those members of the board who are elected by the corporation of a county borough shall be members of the city council for such county borough;

(e) those members of the board who are elected by a council of a county shall be members of such council;

(f) the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act shall apply and have effect in relation to the board;

(g) subject and without prejudice to the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act, the Minister may by order make regulations in relation to the conduct of the business and the order of the proceedings at meetings of the board, and every such regulation shall have effect according to the tenor thereof;

(h) whenever any difficulty arises in regard to an election of members of the board or the first meeting of the board after an election (other than an election to fill a casual vacancy) of all or any of the members of the board, or by reason of a defect in the constitution of the board arising in consequence of an election of all or some of the members of the board not being held or being defective or in consequence of any other matter or thing, the Minister may by order do any thing which appears to him to be necessary or proper to meet or remove such difficulty and in particular, may by such order, if he so thinks proper, provide for the holding of an election of all or some of the members of the board or for the holding of a meeting of the board.

11 Committees of public assistance authorities.

11.—(1) A public assistance authority 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 their powers, duties, and functions under this Act which in the opinion of such authority 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 public assistance district of the public assistance authority by which it is appointed or a local committee empowered to exercise or perform powers, duties, and functions in relation to a limited portion only of such public assistance 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 public assistance authority by which it is appointed 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 public assistance authority by which it is appointed, save that such authority 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 such public assistance authority which such public assistance authority itself could lawfully do.

(5) The quorum, procedure, and place of meeting of a committee appointed under this section, and the area (if any) within which such committee is to exercise its functions, shall be such as may be appointed by regulations to be made by the public assistance authority by which it is appointed.

12 Joint administration of public assistance districts.

12.—(1) Where it appears to the Minister, after consultation with the public assistance authorities of two or more public assistance districts, that the joint management and administration of such public assistance districts for all or for any particular purposes of or connected with the administration of public assistance would tend to reduce expense or would otherwise be of public or local advantage, the Minister may by order direct that the administration of public assistance in such public assistance districts shall, for the purposes specified in such order, be managed and conducted jointly by the respective public assistance authorities of such public assistance districts through and by a joint committee to be set up under and in accordance with such order.

(2) Every order made by the Minister under the next preceding sub-section of this section shall—

(a) provide for the setting up of a joint committee for the purposes of such order and the constitution, membership, procedure, finance, and officers of such committee, and

(b) define the functions of such joint committee and, where appropriate, delimit the respective functions of such joint committee and of the public assistance authorities of the public assistance districts forming the functional area of such joint committee, and

(c) make such provision as the Minister shall think proper for the allocation to such joint committee of appropriate portions of the assets and property of such public assistance authorities and for the defrayal by such public assistance authorities of the liabilities of such joint committee and generally for the adjustment between such public assistance authorities respectively and such joint committee of present and future property and liabilities, and

(d) provide for the vesting of all property acquired by such joint committee in such public assistance authorities in such proportions and manner as the Minister shall think proper and shall specify in such order, and

(e) generally make such provisions as shall appear to the Minister to be necessary or proper for securing the due execution by such joint committee of the purposes for which it is constituted.

(3) When a joint committee is set up by an order made by the Minister under this section, the respective public assistance authorities of the several public assistance districts forming the functional area of such joint committee shall cease to exercise or perform such of their respective powers and duties as are included by such order in the functions of such joint committee and the said powers and duties shall be exercised and performed by such joint committee.

(4) The Minister may at any time at his discretion revoke or amend any order previously made by him under this section and, in particular, may at any time by order dissolve a joint committee set up under this section and make all such provisions as appear to him to be necessary or proper for the restoration of the functions of such joint committee to the several public assistance authorities to which such functions originally belonged or for any other purpose consequential on the dissolution of such joint committee.

13 Abolition of county scheme authorities.

13.—(1) Every county scheme authority which is in existence immediately before the commencement of this Act and is not the corporation of a county borough shall, on such commencement, be dissolved and cease to exist.

(2) On the dissolution under this section of a county scheme authority, the public assistance authority whose public assistance district is co-terminous with the functional area of such county scheme authority shall become and be the successor of such county scheme authority within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act.

14 Transfer of property, etc., from county scheme authorities to public assistance authorities.

14.—Wherever a county scheme authority is dissolved by this Act, the following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to such county scheme authority and the public assistance authority which is the successor of such county scheme authority, that is to say:—

(a) all property and assets (including choses-in-action) vested in or belonging to such county scheme authority immediately before the commencement of this Act shall, upon such commencement, become and be the property and assets of such public assistance authority by virtue of this section without any conveyance, assignment, or act other than transfer (where appropriate) in the books of a bank, company, or other body;

(b) all debts and liabilities (present or future) incurred by such county scheme authority and owing immediately before the commencement of this Act (whether then presently due or to become due certainly or contingently in the future) shall upon such commencement become and be the debts and liabilities of such public assistance authority and shall be discharged in due course by such authority;