HEALTH SERVICES (FINANCIAL PROVISIONS) ACT, 1947

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE MAKING OF GRANTS IN RESPECT OF HEALTH SERVICES, AND FOR CERTAIN OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTER AFORESAID. [27th December, 1947.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “health authority” has the same meaning as in the Principal Act;

the expression “health service” means any service relating to the protection or improvement of the health of the people and the care and treatment of the sick and infirm, administered by local authorities;

the expression “joint authority” means any body, being—

• (a) a joint mental hospital board, or

• (b) a board of assistance, or

• (c) a board of public assistance, or

• (d) a joint committee of management under the Tuberculosis Acts, 1908 to 1945, or

• (e) the Dublin Fever Hospital Board, or

• (f) the board to be established under section 13 of the Cork Fever Hospital Act, 1935 (No. 44 of 1935), or

• (g) any joint body to be established under section 101 of the Principal Act;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Health;

the expression “minor receipts” means—

• (a) payments by paying patients,

• (b) payments in respect of services rendered,

• (c) the proceeds arising from the sale of farm, garden and other produce, offals and stores,

• (d) fees in respect of licences, registrations and certificates,

• (e) sums received in respect of law costs,

• (f) rents of residences,

• (g) fees received by officers and payable by them to health authorities, sanitary authorities, or joint authorities,

• (h) such other receipts as the Minister, having regard to the nature thereof, declares should be treated as minor receipts;

the expression “net health expenditure”, when used in relation to a particular body and in respect of a particular year, means that part of the expenditure (other than capital expenditure and expenditure on loan charges) in respect of that year of that body certified by the Minister to have been properly incurred on recognised health services which is not met by—

• (a) if that year is the standard year, State (1947-48) grants and minor receipts, and

• (b) if that year is not the standard year, minor receipts;

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947);

the expression “recognised health service” means any health service which, by virtue of section 2 of this Act, is for the time being a recognised health service;

the expression “standard expenditure” when used in relation to a health authority and in respect of a particular year, means the sum which is, by virtue of section 3 of this Act, the standard expenditure for that health authority in respect of that year;

the expression “the standard year” means the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1948;

the expression “State (1947-48) grants” means—

• (a) moneys provided by the Oireachtas in respect of the standard year for the salaries and expenses of the office of the Minister, and

• (b) moneys payable out of the Local Taxation Account in respect of the standard year, other than moneys payable in respect of the agricultural grant within the meaning of the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Acts, 1939 and 1946;

the word “year” means a local financial year;

the expression “the year 1948-49” means the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1949.

2 Recognised health services.

2.—(1) The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the 1st day of April, 1948, declare that such health services as he thinks proper shall be recognised health services, and thereupon, subject to subsection (3) of this section, the health services to which the declaration relates shall, as on and from the 1st day of April, 1947, be recognised health services for the purposes of this Act.

• (2) The Minister may from time to time declare that any health service which is not then a recognised health service shall be a recognised health service, and thereupon the health service to which the declaration relates shall, subject to subsection (3) of this section, be, as on and from the 1st day of April next after the making of the declaration, a recognised health service for the purposes of this Act.

• (3) The Minister may from time to time declare that any health service which is then a recognised health service shall cease to be a recognised health service, and thereupon the health service to which the declaration relates shall, subject to subsection (2) of this section, cease, as on and from the 1st day of April next after the making of the declaration, to be a recognised health service for the purposes of this Act.

3 Standard expenditure for health authorities.

3.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the standard expenditure for a health authority in respect of the year 1948-49 and each subsequent year shall be the sum of the following—

• (a) the net health expenditure in respect of the standard year of such health authority,

• (b) the net health expenditure in respect of the standard year of each urban sanitary authority whose district is situate in the functional area of such health authority,

• (c) the proportion chargeable to such health authority of the net health expenditure in respect of the standard year of each joint authority or port sanitary authority,

• (d) the proportion chargeable to each such urban sanitary authority of the net health expenditure in respect of the standard year of each port sanitary authority.

• (2) Whenever the Minister makes a declaration under subsection (2) or subsection (3) of section 2 of this Act in relation to a health service, he shall, before the 1st day of April next following the making of the declaration, adjust, in respect of any health authority concerned, the sum, which is then (by virtue of subsection (1) of this section or, if an adjustment has been previously made under this subsection, this subsection) the standard expenditure for such health authority, by—

• (a) if the declaration is made under subsection (2) of section 2 of this Act, increasing the said sum by such amount as he considers proper, or

• (b) if the declaration is made under subsection (3) of the said section 2 by reducing the said sum by such amount as he thinks proper,

and the said sum as so adjusted shall, subject to any subsequent adjustment under this subsection, become and be, in respect of each year following the adjustment, the standard expenditure for such health authority for the purposes of this Act.

4 Grants to health authorities.

4.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, there shall, in respect of the year 1948-49 and each subsequent year, be paid, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, to each health authority, a grant equal to the amount by which the health expenditure in respect of that year for such health authority exceeds the standard expenditure in respect of that year for such health authority.

• (2) If, in a year, the health expenditure in respect of that year for a health authority exceeds twice the standard expenditure in respect of that year for such health authority, the grant payable to such health authority under subsection (1) of this section in respect of that year shall be reduced by a sum equal to one-half of the excess.

• (3) Every grant under subsection (1) of this section to a health authority shall be made at such times and by such payments as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may appoint and subject to compliance by that health authority with such conditions (including the submission of estimates of expenditure and receipts and returns of expenditure and receipts) as the Minister may appoint.

• (4) For the purposes of this section, the health expenditure in respect of a particular year for a health authority shall be the sum of—

• (a) the net health expenditure of such health authority in respect of such year, and

• (b) the proportion chargeable to such health authority of the net health expenditure of each joint authority in respect of such year.

5 Diversion of portion of licence duty grant.

5.—In respect of the year 1948-49 and every subsequent year, the sums payable out of the Local Taxation Account under the following enactments, namely, subsection (2) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, and subsection (2) of section 5 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902, shall, in lieu of being paid in the manner provided by the said enactments, be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.

6 Diversion of portion of estate duty grant.

6.—In respect of the year 1948-49 and every subsequent year, the amount payable out of the Local Taxation Account under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 3 of the Probate Duties (Ireland) Act, 1888, shall, in lieu of being distributed in the manner provided by the said paragraph (b),—

• (a) as regards three-eighths thereof, be distributed among councils of counties and corporations of county boroughs as or on behalf of public assistance authorities in the respective proportions in which the said amount was so distributed immediately before the 1st day of April, 1948;

• (b) as regards five-eighths thereof, be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.

7 Cesser of payment of estate duty grant to the Guarantee Fund.

7.—(1) In this section—

the expression “the Act of 1891” means the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891;

the expression “the Guarantee Fund” means the Fund established by section 5 of the Act of 1891.

• (2) The sum payable to the Guarantee Fund under section 19 of the Finance Act, 1894, as adapted by the Estate Duty Grant Order, 1927 (S.R. & O. No. 94 of 1927), shall, in respect of the year 1948-49 and every subsequent year, cease to be paid to the Guarantee Fund and shall be paid direct to the Local Taxation Account.

• (3) In respect of the year 1948-49 and every subsequent year—

• (a) subsection (1) of section 5 of the Act of 1891 shall have effect as if subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) were deleted, and

• (b) subsection (2) of the said section 5 shall have effect as if paragraph (a) were deleted.

8 Repeals.

8.—(1) The enactment mentioned in column (2) of Part I of the Schedule to this Act is hereby repealed, as on and from the passing of this Act, to the extent specified in column (3) of the said Part I.

• (2) The enactments mentioned in column (2) of Part II of the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed, as on and from the 1st day of April, 1948, to the extent specified in column (3) of the said Part II.

9 Adaptation of enactments.

9.—(1) In this section—

the word “enactment” includes an order or regulation made under an Act;

the expression “Local Government enactment” means any enactment conferring or imposing powers or duties on the Minister for Local Government and not on the Minister.

• (2) The Minister may by order make, in respect of any enactment (not being a Local Government enactment), any adaptations or modifications which appear to him necessary to enable that enactment to have effect in conformity with this Act.

• (3) The Minister for Local Government may by order make, in respect of any Local Government enactment, any adaptations or modifications which appear to him necessary to enable that enactment to have effect in conformity with this Act.

• (4) Every Order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the Order is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the Order is laid before it, the Order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

10 Expenses.

10.—All 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 moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

11 Short title.

11.—This Act may be cited as the Health Services (Financial Provisions) Act, 1947.

SCHEDULE.

PART I.

Enactment Repealed as on and from the date of the Passing of this Act.

PART II.

Enactments Repealed as on and from the 1st Day of April, 1948.