UNDEVELOPED AREAS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1963

AN ACT TO EXTEND THE DURATION OF, AND TO AMEND, THE UNDEVELOPED AREAS ACTS, 1952 AND 1957. [20th February, 1963.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Interpretation.

1.—In this Act—

“the Board” means An Foras Tionscal;

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

“the Principal Act” means the Undeveloped Areas Act, 1952.

2 Amounts of grants under sections 5 and 6 of Principal Act.

2.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the total amount of the grants made by the Board in respect of an industrial undertaking under sections 5 and 6 of the Principal Act shall not exceed—

• (a) where the total amount of the grants is not more than two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, two-thirds of the total amount of the costs in respect of which the grants are made (being costs of the kind referred to in subsection (2) of the said section 6 or incurred in relation to matters of the kind mentioned in paragraph (vii) of subsection (1) of the said section 5), and

• (b) where the total amount of the grants is more than two hundred and fifty thousand pounds—

• (i) one-half of the total amount of the costs aforesaid, or

• (ii) the sum in pounds that equals the figure obtained by multiplying by one thousand the number of persons that, in the opinion of the Board, will be employed in the undertaking when it is in full operation, less such number of persons (if any) as were employed therein immediately before the incurring of the expenditure in relation to which the grants are paid,

whichever is the less.

• (2) The Government may approve of the making of grants by the Board in respect of an industrial undertaking under the said sections 5 and 6 the total of which exceeds two hundred and fifty thousand pounds and exceeds one or both of the limits specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, and where in relation to any grants an approval has been given under this subsection, subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in respect of those grants.

3 Consent of Minister and of Minister for Finance for certain grants exceeding £500,000 for an undertaking.

3.—The Board shall not make grants under sections 5 or 6 of the Principal Act (other than grants in relation to which an approval has been given under subsection (2) of section 2 of this Act) in respect of an industrial undertaking exceeding in total five hundred thousand pounds without the consent of the Minister and of the Minister for Finance.

4 Grants for the enlargement or adaptation of undertakings.

4.—(1) The Board may make grants on such terms as they think proper towards the cost of enlarging an industrial undertaking in an undeveloped area or of adapting the machinery, plant, equipment, buildings or other works of the undertaking so as to enable the business of the undertaking to be carried on more efficiently or to enable the undertaking to engage in the manufacture of products not manufactured by it before the making of the enlargement or adaptation.

• (2) A grant under this section shall not exceed one-quarter of the cost of the enlargement or adaptation in respect of which the grant is made.

• (3) A grant shall not be made under this section in respect of the enlargement of an industrial undertaking or the adaptation of the plant, equipment, buildings or other works thereof if a grant can be made under any other provision of the Undeveloped Areas Acts, 1952 and 1957, in respect of the enlargement or adaptation.

• (4) A grant may be made under this section in respect of an enlargement or adaptation commenced on or after the 14th day of December, 1961, and before the date of the passing of this Act.

• (5) A grant shall not be made under this section after the 31st day of March, 1965, in respect of an enlargement or adaptation unless the enlargement or adaptation is approved by the Board before the said 31st day of March, 1965.

• (6) Grants under this section shall be made out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5 Repeals.

5.—Section 1 and subsection (2) of section 6 of the Principal Act and sections 2 to 13 of the Undeveloped Areas (Amendment) Act, 1957, are hereby repealed.

6 Short title and collective citation.

6.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Undeveloped Areas (Amendment) Act, 1963.

• (2) The Undeveloped Areas Acts, 1952 and 1957, the Industrial Grants (Amendment) Act, 1961 (in so far as it amends those Acts) and this Act may be cited together as the Undeveloped Areas Acts, 1952 to 1963.