Central Bank Act , 1989

PART I Preliminary and General

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Central Bank Act, 1989.

2 Commencement.

2.—This Part and Chapter VII of Part II shall come into operation upon the passing of this Act, and except where otherwise provided for, the other provisions of this Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by order or orders of the Minister, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Act.

3 Interpretation generally.

3.—(1) In this Act—

“the Bank” means the Central Bank of Ireland;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Finance.

(2) In this Act, a reference to a Part or Chapter, section or Schedule is to a Part or Chapter or section of or Schedule to this Act, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended.

(3) In this Act, a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended.

4 Repeals.

4.—The Acts specified in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

PART II The Central Bank

Chapter I Preliminary, Alteration of Penalties and General Offence Provisions

5 Definitions (Part II).

5.—In this Part—

“the Act of 1971” means the Central Bank Act, 1971;

“the Principal Act” means the Central Bank Act, 1942.

6 Construction and collective citation (Part II).

6.—The Principal Act, the Central Bank Act, 1961, the Central Bank Act, 1964, the Act of 1971 and this Part shall be construed together as one Act and may be cited together as the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989.

7 Laying of regulations and orders before Houses of the Oireachtas.

7.—Every regulation and order (other than regulations under section 15 or to which section 23 (3) relates or an order under section 79) made under this Part shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation or order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation or order is laid before it, the regulation or order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

8 Alteration of penalties under Principal Act.

8.—The Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in section 55, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) If any person makes, or causes to be made, or uses for any purpose whatsoever, or utters any document purporting to be, or in any way resembling, or so nearly resembling as to be calculated to deceive, a bank note or part of a bank note, he shall be guilty of an offence under this subsection and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both.”;

(b) in section 56, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) Every person who makes, provides, issues, re-issues, or gives or receives in payment any document in contravention of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both.”;

(c) in section 65, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) (a) It shall be the duty of every person on whom a notice is served by the Bank under subsection (1) of this section to comply with such notice within the time or on the periodic occasions (as the case may be) specified in such notice, and if he fails so to do, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000.

(b) Where a person has been convicted of an offence by virtue of paragraph (a) of this subsection and, after the conviction, the failure to comply continues, the person shall be guilty of contravening this section on every day on which the contravention continues after that conviction and for each such offence he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.”.

9 Offences and penalties under Act of 1971.

9.—The Act of 1971 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 58:

“58.—(1) Any person who contravenes section 7, 14, 17, 18 or 27 of this Act and a holder of a licence who—

(a) has obtained a licence through false statements or any other irregular means,

(b) contravenes section 19, 20, 26, 31 or 33 of this Act,

(c) commits by act or omission a breach of a condition duly imposed and which relates to a licence,

(d) fails to comply with a direction under section 11 (3) (c) (inserted by section 34 of the Central Bank Act, 1989), 21 or 22 of this Act, or a requisition under section 23 of this Act, or

(e) contravenes regulations under section 24 or 25 of this Act,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or

(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both,

and, if the contravention, breach or failure in respect of which he was convicted is continued after conviction, he shall be guilty of an offence on every day on which the contravention, breach or failure continues after conviction in respect of the original contravention, breach or failure and for each such offence he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100 or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £5,000.

(2) Where there is a contravention in relation to a unit trust scheme of section 14 (2) of this Act, the manager under the scheme shall be deemed to have contravened section 14 of this Act.

(3) In any proceedings for an offence under this section which relates to section 27 of this Act, it shall be a good defence for the accused to prove that he was, at the relevant time, a person whose business it was to publish or arrange for the publication on behalf of some other person of advertisements or other solicitations and that the relevant advertisement or other solicitation was received for publication in the ordinary course of that business and that he did not know and had no reason to suspect that to use it to advertise or otherwise solicit could be an offence.”.

10 Prosecution of offences by Bank.

10.—An offence under the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, which is being tried summarily may be prosecuted by the Bank and a statement made by the person conducting such prosecution that the prosecution has been commenced with the authority of the Bank shall be sufficient evidence that the prosecution was so commenced.

11 Offences in relation to certain bodies.

11.—Where an offence under the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any wilful neglect on the part of, another person (being a director, manager, secretary, member of any committee of management or other controlling authority of such body or official of such body) that other person shall, as well as the body corporate or the person so purporting to act, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Chapter II General Provisions Relating to the Bank

12 Additional powers and functions of Bank.

12.—(1) The repeal of the Currency Act, 1927, by section 4 shall not affect any function, power or duty exercisable by the Bank by virtue of section 6 (1) of the Principal Act.

(2) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the powers and functions exercisable by virtue of section 47 of the Act of 1971 include the powers—

(a) to acquire, hold, sell, assign or otherwise deal in securities or any other property,

(b) to extend loans and advances, and

(c) to give guarantees and make payments on foot of such guarantees.

(3) The Bank shall, for the purpose of—

(a) the protection of the interests of persons, or any class thereof, maintaining deposits with any other person in respect of which the business of that other person is supervised by the Bank, or

(b) the orderly and proper regulation of the business of any person in respect of which he is so supervised,

have the following powers, where they are not already exercisable by the Bank, that is to say the powers—

(i) to acquire, hold, sell, assign or otherwise deal in securities or any other property,

(ii) to extend loans and advances, and

(iii) to give guarantees and make payments on foot of such guarantees.

13 Fees in respect of supervision by Bank.

13.—(1) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister may, after consulting the Bank, by regulation prescribe the fee to be paid to the Bank by any person supervised by it under any enactment and different fees may be prescribed for different classes of persons.

(2) Regulations under this section may provide for such incidental or related matters as are, in the opinion of the Minister, necessary to give effect to such fees.

(3) Where the Minister proposes to prescribe a fee under subsection (1), he shall—

(a) notify the persons of the class to which the proposed fee relates of that proposed fee, and

(b) only prescribe the proposed fee or a lesser fee after he has considered any representations made to him within such period, being not less than two months after the date the notification was sent by him to each person concerned, as he shall specify in the notification.

(4) In this section “person” includes a financial futures and options exchange within the meaning assigned to it for the purposes of Chapter VIII.

14 Composition of Board of Directors.

14.—(1) Subject to subsection (3), the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3) of section 5:

“(3) The Bank shall be conducted and managed in accordance with this Act by a Board of Directors consisting of—

(a) a Governor, and

(b) such number of other Directors (not exceeding nine and not including at any one time more than two service Directors) as the Minister shall from time to time determine.”;

(b) by the deletion of sections 14 (5), 23 (7) and 29;

(c) by the substitution of the following section for section 24:

“Tenure of office of the Directors.

24.—(1) Every Director (other than a service Director and a Director appointed to fill a casual vacancy) shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns or becomes disqualified, hold office for five years from the expiration by effluxion of time of the term of office of his predecessor.

(2) Every Director (other than a service Director) who is appointed for a purpose other than filling a vacancy amongst the Directors (other than as aforesaid) shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns or becomes disqualified, hold office for five years from the day as on and from which he is appointed.

(3) Every service Director shall hold office at the pleasure of the Minister and may be removed by the Minister at any time.

(4) A person appointed to fill a casual vacancy in the office of Director (other than the office of a service Director) shall hold office for the residue of the term for which the Director whose death, resignation, or disqualification created the vacancy would have held office if he had not died, resigned or become disqualified.”;

(d) in section 28 (which relates to notices of vacancies and appointments of certain Directors) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) This section applies only to Directors who are not service Directors.”.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Act of 1971 is hereby amended by the deletion of section 53.

(3) (a) Any person who, immediately before the coming into operation of this section, was a banking Director shall, unless his term of office expires on such coming into operation, continue to hold office for the period of 3 months thereafter unless he sooner dies, resigns or becomes disqualified.

(b) In respect of each Director to whom paragraph (a) applies, the provisions of sections 14 (5), 23 (7) and 29 of the Principal Act and section 53 (3) of the Act of 1971 shall continue to apply to him, until he ceases to be a banking Director in accordance with paragraph (a), as if this section had not been enacted.

15 Offices and staff of Bank.

15.—(1) The Bank may purchase, take on lease, build or otherwise acquire and may equip and maintain such offices and other premises in such places as it considers necessary for the due performance of its functions under this Act and may sell or let any such premises which it considers to be no longer necessary for that purpose.

(2) The Bank shall appoint a secretary and such other officers and servants as the Bank shall from time to time consider necessary for the due performance of its functions under this Act and every secretary, officer, and servant so appointed shall hold office upon such terms and subject to such conditions as the Bank shall determine.

(3) (a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), every appointment under subsection (2) of an officer or servant of the Bank shall be made by competition (including a qualifying or competitive test in Irish) to be conducted according to regulations to be made by the Board and the Board may, in relation to any such competition, impose such conditions of entry, limitations, and safeguards as it thinks proper.

(b) Paragraph (a) shall not apply to appointment to a position in respect of which appointment by competition is, in the opinion of the Board, unsuitable.

(4) There shall be paid to the secretary and the other officers and servants of the Bank such salaries and remuneration as the Bank may determine.

(5) (a) The Bank may, with the approval of the Minister make such further scheme or schemes for granting pensions, allowances and gratuities on retirement or death to or in respect of such of its officers and servants as it thinks proper and may, out of funds available under the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, for defrayal of the expenses of the Bank, pay in respect of such persons on retirement or death the pensions, allowances or gratuities in accordance with the relevant scheme and the Minister may determine the said funds to be public funds for the purposes of the Superannuation Act, 1892.

(b) The Bank may from time to time, with the approval of the Minister, make a scheme amending a scheme under paragraph (a).

(c) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, a scheme under this subsection may provide for the granting of superannuation benefits (including pensions, allowances and gratuities) to widows and children of officers and servants of the Bank and for the payment of contributions in respect of such benefits by the officers and servants to whom the scheme applies.

(6) Every scheme made under subsection (4) of section 31 of the Currency Act, 1927, shall, to the extent that it is still in force immediately before the coming into operation of this section, continue in force as if that subsection had not been repealed by this Act.

(7) Subsection (2) of section 54 of the Act of 1971 is hereby amended by the insertion of “(as continued in force by virtue of section 15 (6) of the Central Bank Act, 1989)” after “the Act of 1927” and the said subsection, as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

(8) Every scheme made by the Bank under subsection (5) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if either such House, within the next subsequent 21 days on which it has sat after such scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling such scheme, such scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

TABLE

(2) The Bank may from time to time, with the approval of the Minister, make a scheme amending a scheme under section 31 (4) of the Act of 1927 (as continued in force by virtue of section 15 (6) of the Central Bank Act, 1989) or section 33 (1) (c) of the Act of 1942 or a scheme under this subsection and a scheme under this subsection may, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for the granting of superannuation benefits (including pensions, allowances and gratuities) to widows and children of persons to whom those schemes apply and for the payment of contributions in respect of such benefits by the persons to whom those schemes apply.

16 Disclosure of information.

16.—(1) A person, who at the commencement of this section is, or at any time thereafter is appointed, Governor or a Director, officer or servant of the Bank or who is employed by the Bank in any other capacity, shall not disclose, during his term of office or employment or at any time thereafter, any information concerning—

(a) the business of any person or body (whether corporate or unincorporate) which came to his knowledge by virtue of his office or employment, or

(b) the Bank's activities in respect of the protection of the integrity of the currency or the control of credit,

unless such disclosure is to enable the Bank to carry out its functions under the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, or under any enactment amending those Acts.

(2) The provisions as to non-disclosure contained in subsection (1) shall not apply to any disclosure—

(a) required by a court in connection with any criminal proceedings,