Health Act, 1970

Functions of health boards.

6.—(1) Subject to section 17, a health board shall perform the functions conferred on it under this Act and any other functions which, immediately before its establishment, were performed by a local authority (other than as a sanitary authority) in the functional area of the health board in relation to the operation of services provided under, or in connection with the administration of, the enactments specified in subsection (2).

(2) The enactments referred to in subsection (1) are—

(a) the Health Acts, 1947 to 1966,

(b) the Mental Treatment Acts, 1945 to 1966,

(c) the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1863 to 1952,

(d) the Notification of Births Acts, 1907 and 1915,

(e) the Acts relating to the registration of marriages,

(f) the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1936,

(g) Part I of the Children Act, 1908, and sections 2 and 3 of the Children (Amendment) Act, 1957 ,

(h) the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919 ,

(i) the Blind Persons Act, 1920 ,

(j) the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1930 and the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1962 ,

(k) the Registration of Maternity Homes Act, 1934 ,

(l) the Midwives Act, 1944 , as amended by the Nurses Act, 1950 ,

(m) the Adoption Acts, 1952 and 1964,

(n) the Poisons Act, 1961 .

(3) A reference in any enactment (other than the Health Services (Financial Provisions) Act, 1947 ) or any statutory instrument to a health authority shall be construed as a reference to a health board or, if the Minister by order so determines, the chief executive officer of a health board.

(4) Section 10 (1) (a) of the Vital Statistics and Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1952 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “the health board” for “the public assistance authority under the Public Assistance Act, 1939 (No. 27 of 1939),”.