Great Northern Railway Act , 1958

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Great Northern Railway Act, 1958.

2 Power to Minister to enter into agreement.

2.—In this Act—

“the Act of 1953” means the Great Northern Railway Act, 1953;

“the Board” means Córas Iompair Éireann;

“the Company” means Dundalk Engineering Works Limited or such other company as the Minister may by order designate as its successor for the purposes of this Act;

“the transfer date” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7;

“land” includes land covered by water and any easement, profit or right in or over land or land covered by water;

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

“the Ministry”means the Ministry of Commerce for Northern Ireland;

“the Minister of Commerce”means the Minister of Commerce for Northern Ireland;

“the outgoing Board”means the Great Northern Railway Board;

“the scheduled agreement”means the agreement entered into in pursuance of section 3.

3 Power to Minister to enter into agreement.

3.—The Minister is hereby authorised to enter into an agreement with the Ministry in the terms of the draft set out in the Schedule.

4 Exemption from stamp duties.

4.—Section 12 of the Finance Act, 1895, shall not operate so as to require the Board to deliver to the Revenue Commissioners a copy of this Act or of an order under section 8 or to pay any stamp duty under the said section 12 on any such copy.

5 Expenses.

5.—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 moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6 Repeals.

6.— (1) The following provisions of the Act of 1953 are hereby repealed as from the transfer date: Part II (except sections 6, 17, 18 and 19), Part III, sections 28 and 34, subsection (2) of section 35, Part V and Part VI.

(2) The Act of 1953, so far as unrepealed by subsection (1), is hereby repealed as from the date of dissolution of the outgoing Board under section 20.

PART II. Transfer of Assets and Liabilities of Great Northern Railway Board.

7 Transfer of undertaking.

7.—(1) The part of the undertaking of the Great Northern Railway Board within the State shall vest in Córas Iompair Éireann (in this Act called “the Board”) on the 1st day of October, 1958 (in this Act called “the transfer date”).

(2) The transfer effected by this section shall extend to all land vested in the Minister or the outgoing Board under the Act of 1953 together with all assets to which the Minister is entitled under the scheduled agreement and all powers, rights, licences and privileges held or enjoyed in connection with or appertaining to the said land and assets but does not include land and assets dealt with under subsection (4) or under section 8.

(3) The outgoing Board shall, at the request of the Board, execute all such instruments and do all such acts as may be necessary to enable the Board to have effectively transferred into its name any assets vested in the Board by this section.

(4) The assets of the outgoing Board in respect of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee and the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway Company and all powers, rights, licences and privileges held or enjoyed in connection with or appertaining to the said bodies shall, to such extent as the Minister may agree pursuant to paragraph 5 of the scheduled agreement, vest in the Board as from such date as may be so agreed.

8 Vesting of Dundalk Works.

8.—(1) The Minister may by order vest in the Company such land (being land vested in the outgoing Board or vested in the Minister and used or occupied by the outgoing Board for the purposes of the Dundalk Works or parts of any such land) and such chattels used or acquired in or in connection with the Dundalk Works as may be agreed between the outgoing Board and the Company or, failing agreement, be determined by the Minister and, in either case, indicated in the order.

(2) The order shall operate to vest (on payment by the Company of such consideration, if any, as may be specified in the order) such lands and chattels in the Company on such day as may be provided for by the order for all the estate, right, title and interest of the outgoing Board or the Minister, as the case may be.

9 Liabilities and contracts.

9.—(1) The Board shall, to the exclusion of the outgoing Board, be subject to all liabilities (other than liabilities in relation to land not vested in the Board) to which the outgoing Board was subject immediately before the transfer date.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to any statutory obligation of the outgoing Board to repay any moneys advanced in respect of anticipated losses.

(3) All contracts, deeds, bonds, agreements and other instruments and all working arrangements subsisting immediately before the transfer date and affecting the outgoing Board (otherwise than in relation to land not vested in the Board) shall be of as full force and effect against or in favour of the Board and may be enforced as fully and effectually as if, instead of the outgoing Board, the Board had been a party thereto.

(4) The ultimate liability of the Board for the liabilities and obligations of the outgoing Board shall be determined in accordance with the scheduled agreement.

(5) The Board shall stand in the place of the Minister under paragraphs 1 to 6 and subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 7 of the scheduled agreement and shall be responsible, to the exclusion of the Minister, for the discharge of the liabilities assumed by the Minister under those provisions.

(6) The Company shall stand in the place of the Minister under subparagraph (d) of paragraph 7 of the scheduled agreement and shall be responsible, to the exclusion of the Minister, for the discharge of the liabilities assumed by the Minister under that subparagraph.

(7) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), a proceeding (including an arbitration) or cause of action pending or existing immediately before the transfer date by or against the outgoing Board shall not abate, be discontinued or be in any way prejudicially affected by reason of anything in this Act, but the proceeding or cause of action may be continued and enforced by or against the Board as it might have been by or against the outgoing Board if this Act had not been passed, but not further or otherwise.

10 Discharge of certain liabilities of Board.

10.—(1) The capital liability of the outgoing Board to the Minister and to the Minister of Commerce, directed by subsection (2) of section 35 of the Act of 1953 to be shown in the accounts of the outgoing Board, is hereby discharged with effect as from immediately before the transfer date.

(2) The liabilities of the outgoing Board to the Minister in respect of payments made under subsection (3) of section 30 of the Act of 1953, or under subsection (3) of section 33 of that Act, are hereby discharged with effect as from immediately before the transfer date.

11 Transfer of public service vehicle licences.

11.—On and after the transfer date any public service vehicle licence under the Road Traffic Act, 1933, held immediately before that date by the outgoing Board shall stand transferred to the Board and shall have effect as if the Board were named therein as the holder.

12 Existing bye-laws.

12.—All bye-laws made or deemed to have been made by the outgoing Board and in force immediately before the transfer date shall, on and after that date, continue in force in relation to the undertaking vested in the Board by this Act and be deemed to have been made under section 22 of the Act of 1950 and shall be capable of being amended or revoked by bye-laws under that section.

13 Existing rules and regulations.

13.—All rules and regulations made by the outgoing Board or by the former Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland) and in force immediately before the transfer date shall, on and after that date, continue in force until revoked, altered or superseded.

PART III. Staff.

14 Transfer of officers and servants of the outgoing Board.

14.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), every person who, immediately before the transfer date, was an officer or servant of the outgoing Board and was then resident in the State shall on that date become an officer or servant of the Board on the same terms and conditions of service.

(2) (a) Any such officer or servant who, immediately before the transfer date, was a member of the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund shall continue to be an officer or servant of the outgoing Board and shall, on and after that date, be seconded for duty to the Board.

(b) The obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, of the outgoing Board under the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund in respect of every such officer or servant shall continue to be binding on the outgoing Board and, after the dissolution of the outgoing Board, shall bind the Board.

(c) All moneys from time to time required by the outgoing Board to discharge its obligations in respect of any such officer or servant shall on demand be paid to it by the Board.

(d) All the rights and obligations conferred or imposed on the outgoing Board by the contract of service or by law in respect of an officer or servant so seconded shall, save as provided by paragraph (b), be rights and obligations of the Board.

(e) On the dissolution of the outgoing Board every seconded officer or servant then in its service shall become an officer or servant of the Board on the same terms and conditions of service.

(3) (a) The obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, of the outgoing Board under the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund in respect of every person who, immediately before the transfer date, is entitled to benefit under that Fund and who was resident in the State when he first became so entitled shall continue to be binding on the outgoing Board and, after the dissolution of the outgoing Board, shall bind the Board.

(b) All moneys from time to time required by the outgoing Board to discharge its obligations in respect of any such person shall on demand be paid to it by the Board.

15 Continuance of existing superannuation schemes in relation to employees and former employees of outgoing Board.

15.—(1) In this section—“existing superannuation scheme” means a pension or staff fund referred to in the scheduled agreement in so far as it applies to—

(a) any former officer or servant of the outgoing Board transferred or seconded to the Board, or

(b) any person who, immediately before the transfer date, is entitled to benefit under any such fund and who was resident in the State when he first became so entitled;

“member” means any such former officer or servant or person so entitled.

(2) The outgoing Board shall transfer to the Board the securities and moneys held by it for the purposes of an existing superannuation scheme certified by an actuary appointed jointly by the Minister and the Ministry to be appropriate to its members to be held by the Board for the same purposes.

(3) The Board, subject to the approval of the Minister, shall from time to time appoint trustees for the purposes of any existing superannuation scheme and shall transfer the securities and moneys held by it for the purposes of the scheme to the said trustees.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this section, every existing superannuation scheme and the management thereof shall, on and after the transfer date, continue in being.

(5) For the purposes of any enactment and of rules and regulations relating to any existing superannuation scheme, the following provisions shall, on and after the transfer date, have effect:

(a) any power of the outgoing Board or any officer thereof in relation to the said scheme may be exercised by the Board or any officer of the Board authorised by the Board in that behalf;

(b) the service or employment or dismissal under or by the Board of any officer or servant of the outgoing Board who is employed by the Board shall be deemed to be service or employment or dismissal under or by the outgoing Board;

(c) where under the rules of the said scheme the outgoing Board is empowered to appoint officers and servants to any managing committee, the Board in exercising those powers shall appoint officers or servants of the Board who are members of the said scheme or who, but for this Act or the Act of 1953, would have been eligible for appointment to such managing committee.

(6) The obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, of the outgoing Board in respect of any existing superannuation scheme and in respect of every member of the said existing superannuation scheme shall be binding on the Board.

(7) All persons who are or have been members of any existing superannuation scheme and all persons claiming in right of any such members shall be entitled to the same benefits, rights and privileges and subject to the same obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, as such persons would have been or might have become entitled or subject to but for this Act.

(8) Any former officer or servant of the outgoing Board transferred to the Board who is not a member of any existing superannuation scheme shall, so long as he remains in the service of the Board, have the same right (if any) to become a member of any such scheme as he would have had but for this Act if he had remained in the service of the outgoing Board.

(9) An officer or servant of the Board who is a member of an existing superannuation scheme shall not be eligible to become a member of a superannuation scheme established before the transfer date for employees of the Board.

(10) The Board may whenever it thinks proper prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme amending (whether by addition, omission or variation) an existing superannuation scheme or amending, as aforesaid, or revoking an amending scheme under this section for the time being in force, and subsections (2), (3), (4) and (6) of section 44 of the Transport Act, 1950, shall apply in relation to every scheme submitted under this section.

(11) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Board from amending an existing superannuation scheme in accordance with a power in that behalf contained therein.

(13) References in this section to an existing superannuation have been set up under an irrevocable trust.

(13) References in this section to an existing superannuation scheme are to the scheme as adapted by section 40 of the Act of 1953.

16 Continuance of existing superannuation schemes in relation to employees of Dundalk Works.

16.—(1) In this section—

“existing superannuation scheme” means a pension or staff fund referred to in the scheduled agreement in so far as it applies to any former officer or servant of the outgoing Board employed by the Company, such fund being taken as having continued to apply to him after such employment;

“member” means any such former officer or servant.

(2) The outgoing Board shall transfer to the Company the securities and moneys held by it for the purposes of an existing superannuation scheme certified by an actuary appointed jointly by the Minister and the Ministry to be appropriate to its members, to be held by the Company for the same purposes.

(3) The Company, subject to the approval of the Minister, shall from time to time appoint trustees for the purposes of any existing superannuation scheme and shall transfer the securities and moneys held by it for the purposes of the scheme to the said trustees.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this section, every existing superannuation scheme and the management thereof shall, on and after the transfer date, continue in being.

(5) For the purposes of any enactment and of rules and regulations relating to any existing superannuation scheme, the following provisions shall, on and after the transfer date, have effect:

(a) any power of the outgoing Board or any officer thereof in relation to the said scheme may be exercised by the Company or any officer of the Company authorised by the Company in that behalf;(b) the service or employment or dismissal under or by the Company of any former officer or servant of the outgoing Board who is employed by the Company shall be deemed to be service or employment or dismissal under or by the outgoing Board;

(c) where under the rules of the said scheme the outgoing Board is empowered to appoint officers and servants to any managing committee, the Company in exercising those powers shall appoint officers or servants of the Company who are members of the said scheme.

(6) The obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, of the outgoing Board in respect of any existing superannuation scheme and in respect of every member of the said existing superannuation scheme shall be binding on the Company.

(7) All persons who are or have been members of any existing superannuation scheme and all persons claiming in right of any such members shall continue to be entitled to the same benefits, rights and privileges and subject to the same obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, as heretofore.

(8) Any former officer or servant of the outgoing Board employed by the Company who is not a member of any existing superannuation scheme shall, so long as he remains in the service of the Company, have the same right (if any) to become a member of any such scheme as heretofore.

(9) Where a member of an existing superannuation scheme leaves the service of the Company the trustees of the scheme may, on the application of the member and if the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances, so thinks proper, transfer the proportion of the amount to the credit of the scheme properly attributable to him to any other superannuation scheme of which he becomes a member.

(10) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Company from amending an existing superannuation scheme in accordance with a power in that behalf contained therein.

(11) An existing superannuation scheme shall be deemed to have been set up under an irrevocable trust.

(12) References in this section to an existing superannuation scheme are to the scheme as adapted by section 40 of the Act of 1953.

17 Compensation for employees of Board and former employees of outgoing Board in cases of dismissal or transfer.

17.—(1) This section shall have effect in the following cases:

(a) where, as a consequence of the vesting on the transfer date of the part of the undertaking of the outgoing Board within the State, the Board, within five years after the passing of this Act, dispenses with the services of an officer or servant (including an officer or servant transferred or seconded under section 14) or transfers him to another position in its service;