Turf Development Act , 1946

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Turf Development Act, 1946.

2 Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the expression “the Board” means Bord na Móna established by this Act;

the expression “the dissolved company” means the company known as the Turf Development Board, Limited, dissolved by this Act;

the expression “the establishment date” means the date appointed to be the establishment date for the purposes of this Act by order of the Minister made under section 3 of this Act;

the word “functions”, in relation to the Board, means the duties and powers imposed or conferred on the Board by this Act;

the expression “local authority” means any authority being—

(a) the council of a county, or

(b) the corporation of a county or other borough, or

(c) the council of an urban district;

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

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

the expression “turf products” includes turf by-products and the products and by-products of bogs.

3 Establishment date.

3.—The Minister may by order appoint a day to be the establishment date for the purposes of this Act.

4 Regulations.

4.—The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed.

5 Repeal of sections 21 and 22 of the Turf (Use and Development) Act, 1936.

5.—Sections 21 and 22 of the Turf (Use and Development) Act, 1936 (No. 23 of 1936), are hereby repealed as on and from the establishment date.

6 Expenses of the Minister.

6.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of the moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II. Bord na Móna.

7 Establishment of the Board.

7.—(1) There shall, by virtue of this section, be established on the establishment date a board to be styled and known as Bord na Móna.

(2) The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and an official seal (which shall be judicially noticed) and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to hold land.

8 Constitution of the Board.

8.—(1) The Board shall consist of a chairman and a managing director, and such number (not being more than five) of other members as the Government shall from time to time determine.

(2) The Chairman of the Board shall be that member of the Board who, at the time of his appointment to be a member of the Board or subsequently, is appointed by the Government to be such chairman.

(3) The managing director of the Board shall be that member of the Board who, at the time of his appointment to be a member of the Board or subsequently, is appointed by the Government to be such managing director.

9 Provisions in relation to appointment, terms of office, service and remuneration of members of the Board.

9.—(1) The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Government from time to time as occasion requires.

(2) (a) Every person appointed to be a member of the Board shall, unless he sooner dies, is removed from office, resigns or becomes disqualified, hold office for such period (not exceeding five years) as shall be fixed by the Government when appointing him,

(b) A member of the Board whose term of office expires by effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(3) Each member of the Board shall hold office on such terms (other than the payment of remuneration and allowances for expenses) as shall be fixed by the Government at the time of his appointment.

(4) Every member of the Board shall be paid out of funds at the disposal of the Board such remuneration and such allowances for expenses as shall be determined by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

10 Removal from office of members of the Board.

10.—(1) If at any time it appears to the Government that the removal from office of all or any of the members of the Board is necessary in the interests of the effective and economical performance of the functions of the Board, the Government may remove from office all or so many of the members of the Board as the Government considers necessary in the interests aforesaid.

(2) The Government may at any time remove from office any member of the Board who has become incapable through ill-health of performing efficiently his duties as such member or who has (otherwise than for a reason considered by the Government to be sufficient) been absent from all meetings of the Board during a period of six consecutive months.

(3) If and whenever the Government removes from office under this section any member of the Board, the Government shall lay before each House of the Oireachtas a statement in writing of the fact of the removal from office of such member and of the reasons for such removal.

11 Resignation and disqualification of members of the Board.

11.—(1) A member of the Board may at any time resign his office as such member by letter addressed and sent to the Government.

(2) If and whenever a member of the Board is adjudged bankrupt, or makes a composition or arrangement with his creditors, or is sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction to suffer imprisonment or penal servitude, or ceases to be ordinarily resident in the national territory, he shall be disqualified from holding and shall cease to hold office as a member of the Board.

12 Disclosure by members of the Board of interest in proposed contract.

12.—A member of the Board who has—

(a) any interest in any company or concern with which the Board proposes to make any contract, or

(b) any interest in any contract which the Board proposes to make,

shall disclose to the Board the fact of such interest and the nature thereof, and shall take no part in any deliberation or decision of the Board relating to such contract, and such disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board.

13 Seal of the Board.

13.—(1) The Board shall provide and have a common seal, and such seal shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman of the Board or some other member thereof authorised by the Board to act in that behalf and the signature of an officer of the Board duly authorised by the Board to act in that behalf.

(2) All courts of justice shall take judicial notice of the seal of the Board, and every document purporting to be an order or other instrument made by the Board and to be sealed with the seal of the Board authenticated in accordance with this section shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such order or instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.

14 Meetings and procedure of the Board.

14.—(1) The Board shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the due fulfilment of its functions.

(2) The procedure of the Board at its meetings and otherwise shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of rules in that behalf made by the Board under this Act.

(3) The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be such number (not less than three) as the Board may from time to time determine.

(4) The Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy in its membership.

15 Officers and servants of the Board.

15.—(1) The Board shall appoint such and so many officers and servants as the Board from time to time think proper.

(2) The Board may at any time remove any officer or servant of the Board from being such officer or servant.

(3) There shall be paid by the Board to its officers and servants out of funds at its disposal such remuneration and allowances as the Board shall determine.

(4) The Board may, if it thinks fit, for the purposes of an appointment under subsection (1) of this section request the Local Appointments Commissioners to recommend to it a person for that appointment, and the said Commissioners on receiving that request shall select and recommend to the Board one person for that appointment, and the Board on receiving from the said Commissioners such recommendation shall appoint to such situation the person so recommended.

(5) The Board shall pay to the Local Appointments Commissioners out of funds at its disposal such expenses in respect of the selection and recommendation by the said Commissioners of persons under subsection (4) of this section, as shall be fixed by agreement between the Board and the said Commissioners with the consent of the Minister for Finance or, in default of agreement, by the said Minister.

16 Exercise of functions of the Board through managing director or its officers or servants.

16.—The Board may exercise and perform any of its functions through or by the managing director or through or by any of its officers or servants authorised by the Board in that behalf.

PART III. Duties and Powers of the Board.

Chapter I. Duties of the Board.

17 General duties of the Board.

17.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Board—

(a) to produce and market turf and turf products, and

(b) to foster the production and use of turf and turf products, and

(c) to acquire bogs and other lands, and

(d) to manage, develop and work bogs and other lands vested in the Board, and

(e) generally to do all such other things as arise out of, or are consequential upon, the duties mentioned in the preceding paragraphs of this section.

(2) In case the Board in the performance of the duties referred to in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section, interferes, without complying with the provisions of section 31 of this Act, with any land or any easement, wayleave, waterright or other right existing over or in respect of any land or water, the person having estates or interests therein, or the owner thereof, may maintain an action for damages against the Board as if the Board were not acting pursuant to a statute.

18 Reports and information by the Board.

18.—(1) The Board shall in each year, at such date and in such form as the Minister may direct, make to the Minister a report of its proceedings under this Act during the preceding year.

(2) The Board shall furnish to the Minister at such times and in such form and manner as the Minister may direct such information, with regard to the exercise and performance of its functions, as the Minister may require.

(3) The Minister shall lay before each House of the Oireachtas a copy of every report made to him by the Board under this section together with a copy of the last capital account, revenue account, profit and loss account, and balance sheet of the Board and a copy of the auditors' report on such accounts and balance sheet and shall with every such report by the Board lay before each House of the Oireachtas copies of such information, returns and accounts furnished to him under this Act as may be necessary for the proper understanding of such report.

Chapter II. Miscellaneous Powers of the Board.

19 Experimental and research work by the Board in relation to turf and turf products.

19.—The Board may, for the purpose of improving the production of turf and turf products and of extending the use of turf and turf products, conduct such experiments and researches as it thinks fit, and may disseminate in such manner as it thinks fit any information obtained as the result of such experiments and researches.

20 Certain general powers of the Board.

20.—(1) In the performance and exercise of its functions, the Board may do all or any of the following:—

(a) manufacture any plant, machine, apparatus or appliance,

(b) erect buildings,

(c) undertake hire-purchase schemes,

(d) enter into contracts,

(e) establish and operate shops and showrooms,

(f) promote or aid in the promotion of displays, exhibitions and demonstrations.

(2) The Board shall not manufacture for sale any plant, machine, apparatus or appliance except with the consent of the Minister.

21 Employment of contractors.

21.—(1) Whenever the Board are authorised by this Act to execute any engineering, building, or other work whatsoever, the Board may, in lieu of executing such work themselves by their own officers and servants, contract with any person (in this Act referred to as a contractor) for the execution of the whole or any part of such work by such person and may for that purpose enter into such contracts and agreements as may be requisite.

(2) Whenever the Board contract under this section with any person for the execution by him of any work, the Board may, by any contract or agreement with such person, delegate to him the right to execute such work under this Act, and thereupon such person shall have, concurrently with the Board, the right to do such work and to exercise such of the powers conferred on the Board by this Act as are necessary for the purpose of doing such work and are specified in that behalf in such contract or agreement.

(3) References in this Act to the doing of any work or thing by the Board shall be construed and have effect as including the doing of such work or thing by a contractor employed and authorised in that behalf by the Board under this section.

22 Interference with public roads, railways and water-ways.

22.—(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this section the Board, for the purpose of exercising or performing any of its functions, may construct such works (including works interfering with public roads, public bridges, railways and inland waterways and including bridges over inland waterways) as appear to the Board necessary for the exercise or performance of those functions.

(2) The Board shall not exercise any of its powers under this section except with the consent of the Minister.

(3) Where the Board intend to construct, in exercise of its powers under this section, any works interfering with a public road or bridge or a railway or an inland waterway or a bridge over an inland waterway, the Board shall, before commencing to construct such works, give at least one month's notice in writing of their intention to—

(a) in case the proposed works will interfere with a public road or bridge, the local authority charged with the maintenance of the road or bridge, or

(b) in case the proposed works will interfere with a railway, the company by whom the railway is operated, or

(c) in case the proposed works will interfere with an inland waterway or a bridge over an inland waterway, the person by whom the inland waterway is operated.

(4) Where the Board, in exercise of its powers under this section, erect a bridge over an inland waterway, the property of a canal undertaker, within the meaning of Chapter VI of Part VI of the Transport Act, 1944 (No. 21 of 1944), the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) no compensation shall be payable under this Act or otherwise to such canal undertaker in respect of any loss suffered or likely to be suffered by the canal undertaker by reason of the fact that traffic which would otherwise be carried by the canal undertaker by means of the inland waterway is thereafter carried or is likely to be carried over the bridge;

(b) if such bridge is a movable bridge, the Minister may make regulations in relation to its user and the Board shall comply with such regulations;

(c) if it appears to the Minister that such inland waterway has sustained damage by reason of the existence or user of such bridge, the Minister shall require the Board to make good at their own cost such damage and the Board shall comply with such requisition.

23 Duties of the Board in regard to public roads and bridges.

23.—(1) Where the Board is empowered by this Act to close, divert, remove or otherwise interfere with a public road or bridge for the purpose of the execution of any work or otherwise under this Act, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) where the execution of such works involves the closing of such road or bridge to traffic, the Board (unless relieved therefrom under subsection (2) of this section) shall either, as they shall think proper, construct and (while such road or bridge is so closed to traffic) maintain a temporary road or bridge sufficient to carry traffic of such quantity and character as normally uses the said closed road or bridge, or appoint, with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, an alternative route to be used while such road or bridge is so closed to traffic;

(b) the Board (unless relieved therefrom under subsection (2) of this section) shall, at or before the completion of the execution of such works, do whichever of the following things they shall think proper, that is to say:—

(i) restore the said closed road or bridge, or

(ii) after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, construct a new permanent road or bridge sufficient to carry the like amount (in quantity and character) of traffic as the said closed road or bridge was, before its closure, able to carry and not substantially less convenient in gradient and curve than the said closed road or bridge, or

(iii) with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, so improve (by reconstruction, strengthening, widening, or otherwise) an existing alternative road or bridge that it will be sufficient to carry the traffic which will be likely to use it and will not be substantially less convenient than the said closed road or bridge;

(c) where the Board constructs a permanent new road and such road is, in the opinion of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, substantially an improvement of a pre-existing road, such local authority or local authorities as the said Minister shall direct shall bear and pay to the Board such portion of the cost of the construction of such road and (in the case of two or more such authorities) in such proportions as the said Minister shall direct;

(d) where the construction of a new road by the Board involves the construction of an embankment or similar work or of a bridge and the Minister for Local Government and Public Health is of opinion that portion of the cost of the maintenance of such work or bridge (other than the road surface) should be borne by the Board, the Board shall bear and pay such portion of the said cost of maintenance as the said Minister shall direct;