Merchant Shipping (International Labour Conventions) Act, 1933

Medical examination of young persons.

3.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no young person shall be employed in any capacity in any ship, unless there has been delivered to the master of the ship a certificate granted by a duly qualified medical practitioner certifying that the young person is fit to be employed in that capacity:

Provided that—

(a) the foregoing provisions shall not apply to the employment of a young person in a ship in which only members of the same family are employed; and

(b) the competent authority may on the ground of urgency authorise a young person to be employed in a ship notwithstanding that no such certificate as aforesaid has been delivered to the master of the ship, but a young person in whose case any such authorisation is given shall not be employed beyond the first port at which the ship calls after the young person embarks thereon, except subject to and in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section.

(2) A certificate under this section shall remain in force for a period of twelve months from the date on which it is granted and no longer:

Provided that, if the said period of twelve months expires at some time during the course of the voyage of the ship in which the young person is employed, the certificate shall remain in force until the end of the voyage.

(3) In this section the expression “the competent authority” means a superintendent of mercantile marine or a consular officer in the service of Saorstát Eireann or any other person recognised by the Minister for Industry and Commerce to be competent to give the authority mentioned in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of this section.