66.—(1) Bye-laws may be made—
(a) by the Agency, in relation to a railway, or
(b) with the consent of the Agency, by a railway undertaking in relation to a railway it operates or under its control,
in relation to any one or more of the following matters—
(i) the general regulation, subject to any statutory provisions in that behalf, of—
(I) the travelling upon or use of a railway, (including a requirement to travel with a valid ticket or pass and the issue of such), or
(II) the working of railway transport services by a railway undertaking,
(ii) the prevention of the commission of nuisances in or upon a railway,
(iii) the prevention of damage to railway infrastructure,
(iv) the removal from or the prohibition of the use on a railway of any vehicle or thing which is or may become a danger to life, health, the operation or maintenance of a railway or would otherwise interfere with the proper operation of a railway,
(v) the regulation of parking of vehicles on or adjacent to a railway,
(vi) the safe custody and return or disposal of any property found on a railway,
(vii) the repair, improvement, extension and development of a railway,
(viii) subject to any statutory provisions in that behalf, the regulation of works that would affect the operation or maintenance of a railway or would otherwise interfere with the proper operation of a railway.
(2) Bye-laws under this section may contain such incidental, subsidiary and ancillary provisions as the Agency or the railway undertaking making the bye-laws, considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of the bye-laws.
(3) The Agency, or, as the case may be, a railway undertaking may provide for reasonable charges in respect of matters provided for in bye-laws made by it under this section.
(4) Whenever, after the passing of the Railway Safety Act 2005, the Agency or a railway undertaking proposes to make bye-laws under this section, the following provisions have effect—
(a) the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, shall publish notice of the proposal at least once in at least 2 daily newspapers published in and circulating in the State or the area to which the bye-laws relate,
(b) the notice shall include—
(i) a statement of the purposes for which the bye-laws are to be made,
(ii) an intimation that a copy of draft bye-laws is open for public inspection at the principal offices in the State of the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be,
(iii) an intimation that any person may submit to the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, objections to the draft bye-laws at any time during the period of 30 days commencing on the date of the first publication of the notice,
(c) the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, shall, during that period of 30 days, keep a copy of the draft bye-laws open for public inspection during ordinary office hours at its principal offices,
(d) any person who objects to the draft bye-laws may submit his or her objection to the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, in writing at any time during that period of 30 days and the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, shall consider the objections, and
(e) on the completion of that period of 30 days, the Agency or the undertaking, as the case may be, shall as it thinks proper, refrain from making the bye-laws or make the bye-laws either without modification or with modification as it thinks proper.
(5) Such details of bye-laws under this section shall be displayed on a railway, where practicable, in conspicuous places in such manner as—
(a) the Agency, where the bye-laws are made by it, or
(b) a railway undertaking, where the bye-laws are made by it, subject to any general direction of the Agency,
considers best adapted for giving information to the public. The absence of any such display is not a defence to a contravention of or failure to comply with such bye-laws.
(6) Bye-laws under this section shall not be made without the consent of the Minister.
(7) Every bye-law made under this section, after the passing of the Railway Safety Act 2005, shall be laid, where they are made by the Agency, by the Agency and where they are made by a railway undertaking, by the railway undertaking, before each House of the Oireachtas, as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the bye-law is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the bye-law is laid before it, the bye-law shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to anything previously done under it.
(8) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a bye-law under this section is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €1,000.
(9) The liability of an offender to a fine under subsection (8) does not prejudice the recovery of any fare, tariff or fee payable by him or her to the Agency or a railway undertaking for any damage caused by him or her to property of the Agency or a railway undertaking.
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