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Abandoned aircraft.
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41.—(1) Where an aircraft is left at a State airport and the company is of opinion that it has been abandoned, the company shall serve a notice in writing on the registered owner or operator of the aircraft requiring either or both of them, within a period specified in the notice, to remove the aircraft from the airport.
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(2) A notice under subsection (1) shall state that failure to comply with the notice shall be an offence and that the company may, where the notice is not complied with, remove, sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft to which the notice relates.
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(3) A person who fails to comply with a requirement in a notice under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.
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(4) Subject to the provisions of this section, the company may after the expiration of the period specified in a notice under subsection (1) remove, sell or otherwise dispose of an aircraft to which the notice relates.
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(5) A sale under this section shall operate to vest the aircraft in the purchaser freed of all mortgages, liens, charges or other interests therein whatsoever.
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(6) Where the company sells an aircraft, registered under section 9 or 10 of the Act of 1946 or section 58 of the Act of 1993, in accordance with this section, it shall, by notice in writing, inform the Authority of the sale and such notice shall contain particulars of the sale.
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(7) The proceeds of any sale under this section shall be applied as follows and in the following order, that is to say—
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(a) in payment of any duty (whether of customs or excise) or value-added tax chargeable on the aircraft, in the State,
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(b) in payment of any expenses incurred by the company in the exercise of its functions under this section,
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(c) in payment, in accordance with subsection (8), of—
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(i) any airport charges owed to the company by the operator or registered owner of the aircraft to which the sale concerned related, and
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(ii) any charges under section 43 or 44 of the Act of 1993 owed to the Authority, Eurocontrol or the Minister by the registered owner or operator of such an aircraft.
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(8) The proceeds of a sale under this section shall, in payment of the charges referred to in paragraph (c) of subsection (7), be applied, as between those charges, in such amounts as are proportionate to the sums owing in respect of those charges.
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(9) The company shall, after the application of the proceeds of a sale of an aircraft under this section, retain the balance (if any) of such proceeds until claimed by the registered owner of the aircraft or a person authorised by the registered owner to so claim, but if the said balance remains unclaimed for a period of 6 months from the date of the application of such proceeds in accordance with subsection (7), the said balance shall become the property of the company.
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(10) A person who obstructs or impedes the company or its servants or agents in the exercise of the functions conferred by this section shall be guilty of an offence.
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(11) A notice under this section shall be served on a registered owner or operator, as the case may be, in one of the following ways, that is to say—
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(a) by delivering it to him or her,
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(b) by addressing it to him or her and leaving it at his or her usual or last known residence or place of business,
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(c) by sending it by prepaid registered post, or other form of recorded delivery service prescribed by the Minister, to him or her at his or her usual or last known residence or place of business, or
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(d) in the case of a body corporate—
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(i) by delivering it or sending it by prepaid registered post, or other form of recorded delivery service prescribed by the Minister, to the secretary or other officer of the body at its registered office or principal place of business, or
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(ii) where the registered office or principal place of business of the body cannot by reasonable enquiry be ascertained, by affixing it in some conspicuous place on the aircraft to which the notice relates.
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